Manali-Leh-Khardung La Tour

For the last few weeks I have been busy gathering information about this famous route on the Himalaya. The best information I got if from Laura Sloane's Himalaya By Bike book that provides details of the route including its maps and profiles. The details in the book are so informative and updated. So I guess, I will be making only some copies to bring along on the tour to cut down the weight. ha ha..

The plan is to fly to Delhi, travel by bus to Manali, acclimatize, super slow ride to Leh for 6-7 days, ride up to Khardung La and back, and fly back to Delhi. I'm yet to study in details but hope that the whole trip/ tour can be done in 2 weeks' time. Preferably in July-August 2010 before the month of Ramadan.

So far 2 of my other buddies are keen to join me. But our main concern will be the AMS. We might have climbed few 7,000ft high mountains but we have never done any high altitude bike touring before. The Manali-Leh-Khardung La is climbing from 6,000ft to 18,000ft high over 500km of winding, narrow and some bad roads. But in July, I think the weather will be warmer and it is more suitable for us. From my past winter ride experience, I will definitely try to avoid the snow again!

It will be an unsupported bike tour on hardtail, will travel light with a bar bag & panniers.

We will sleeping in tent and accomodations available along the way as it's not expensive. The food is fine with us as we are used to eating north indian food- pakoras, chapati, chai, rice, dhal etc.

In the meantime, I will spend time getting more informations, studying the details and continue our training. So... Himalaya, Here We Come!

Source: photo from himalaya by bike, dirjournal.com & indiamike.com