The Post-Virgin Leh Diaries - Part 3

What They Don’t Tell You
About Riding
On The Roof Of The World. III




 
9.      You can light up at 17,480 ft.
Just make sure you don’t jump up and down like a silly idiot trying to get the best shot to put up on your social networking page. First ride through the 15,400 ft plateau of More plains like the cops are chasing you – fast, don’t forget to bank though! Then put that ‘teenager on speed’ mindset away and ride like my granddad walks.
I’d like to think that my natural instincts to embrace my old age kicked in – I conserved my energy to the point that I managed to smoke quite a few sticks and take out those ‘look, I reached the top, mom!’ photographs with ease.



 10.  Don’t forget that toilet paper.
At 14,000ft it’s cold enough for your fingers to freeze. As pretty as those crystal clear glacier springs look on your ride to Sarchu, you really don’t want to expose your delicate nether bits to it, do you?
So make sure you get more than one toilet roll… and strap them, tie them, hang them or just plain shove them in your bag, but for heaven’s sake don’t forget to take them with you!





11.   Ride that extra mile for a better tent.
 Don’t just jump off your bike in delight as soon as you hit Sarchu. Numb butt aside, you endure that a little more and get your sweet numb ass to those luxury tents.
We did, and were rewarded with a huge tent containing a bed above the freezing ground with a separate compartment housing a very comfy WC.
Video of Morning at Sarchu



12.Big Chief say Ride like wind – run from sun.
Considering that the Siachen Glacier is 76 kms, the ‘smaller’ ones could still swallow you whole. So do all your admiring of Sarchu the day before and set off as early as you can the next morning. Why, you ask? Because a cold ride is better than a freezing wet ride any day. We set off at 6am; the cold froze our already numb butts (listen when they say ‘it gets colder’ - they mean it). Those happy little streams we passed through flowing down the mountain roads would turn into angry rivers by mid-morning.

 .....................to be continued!

Comments

Melvin said…
Awesome Read Karen, awaiting the next part.
August 13, 2014 at 5:46 AM
Karen C said…
Many thanks Mel. Looking forward to writing the next one... hopefully soon!
August 13, 2014 at 7:11 PM
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