Anurag Bisht - The Vertical Outlaw: 2010

A public appeal to support relief efforts in Leh

New Delhi, August 08: Two days after flashfloods and cloudbursts wreaked havoc in Leh and surrounding villages, Save the Children fears that the toll could climb to over 1000 going by eye-witness reports with several villages surrounding Leh town remaining inaccessible and cut off from the rest of the world.

“As the lead NGO working on the ground in Leh, we are struggling to respond to this tragedy. We urgently and immediately need 5000 blankets, 5000 hygiene kits and tarpaulins. We appeal to the public to come forward to strengthen our relief efforts as the immediate and short-term needs of the affected population are huge,” Thomas Chandy, CEO, Save the Children, said.

Save the Children is coordinating its relief efforts with international medical humanitarian NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres and local NGOs in Leh. “Together with MSF, we are despatching supplies of blankets and hygiene kits to Leh immediately. We are thankful to Jet Airways and Kingfisher airlines for airlifting the much-needed supplies to Leh,” Mr. Chandy said.

People can call or SMS +918898619953/+91 9811320906. Alternatively, you can go to www.savethechildren.in to donate.

Rescue efforts are complicated by the fact that the majority of buildings in Leh are constructed using mud bricks and mud mortar. Finding bodies beneath the flattened debris is hampered by the muddy slush. Local people are extremely traumatized and fearful of more landslides and flooding.

“Our team in Ladakh is working in extremely difficult circumstances as they also have to cope with missing family members, colleagues and friends. We have families of colleagues taking refuge in the mountains or in the local mosque for fear of more floods,” Mr. Chandy said.

He added: “Save the Children has been working in Ladakh for over 40 years and we have not seen a tragedy of this scale in this beautiful region of Jammu and Kashmir.”

http://www.savethechildren.in/index.html

By Ryz Wrecked

“Attitude differs with Altitude, been there done that at sweet 20”..
This is an inimitable saga of grit, determination, fun and joy experienced by Ryz Wrecked and his biker buddies on the highest motorable roads in the world..
From trying to sleep with deteriorating health in a tent in extremely windy conditions at 16000 ft…to sharing biking experience with a gang of strangers by campfire in the freezing cold near China border ... to experiencing ‘Nirvana’, a rave party with Israeli tourists, spooky ghost tales, a Slumdog Millionaire loo and moments of collective pride on being recognized as Throttle Xtreme stunt team on top of the world... to hating to ride back to human civilization … to Mom welcoming home with the traditional ‘aarti’…
The ride never ends… just read on...

People who know me will tell you that I’m never the writer types and seldom read books except if it’s a bike magazine or a book on racing dynamics. First time in my life I took this initiative to write up something myself. I’d like my friends and everyone out there to read my so called hardwork (mind it, its hardwork indeed). Its all about my life from 24th June to 7th July 2010. If you are tagged that means you mean something and should be proud of your friend.

I knew this was going to be big. Didnt prepare much as it was the 1st time. What I did was just pack my backpack with minimal cold clothing (that’s just one inner wear only for legs), a tent and a sleeping bag to add flavour. Filled up the tank and gunned the throttle. It was the ride of a life time, Although I tried to keep it as short and as informative as possible. This is just a brief and not the whole story, belive me there’s more behind the scene incidents and stories to be told that are excluded fearing the narcotics snopping up my crib :P

Well jokes apart, The journey log was like this...

Ride Destination: Leh-Ladakh 2010 (+ ride back home in one piece)
Gear:
1. Gloves : Alpinestars Dual’ (for riding in the plains) Leather padded gloves (for the harsh cold terrain).
2. Jacket : Angles Racing. (includes armour for chest, elbows, spine and shoulders).
3. Helmet : Vega.
4. Boots : Puma ferrari edition (all leather).
5. Knees : Forgot the Fox Racing Armour in last minute hustle ! :(

Ride: The Bajaj Pulsar 200dtsi

Day 1 - 24th June:

Mom was worried to see her son leave home and go to a place where no one in the family has ever ventured out, that too on a bike, considering the fact that I’m just 20.

It is not just another 'place' The plan was to ride to the terrains of Leh Ladakh and converse with the world's highest motorable road, and going as far as the roads can take us within the country's border.

That meant going very close to the hostile border areas and returning back home in one piece(atleast that's what mom was hoping for !).

I Was waiting to catch up with Anirudh to leave Indore and reach Jhalawar till the night, but as everyone knows, nothing happens on time, even if we try to it never happens !
Last moment preparations were to buy clutch cables after having a brief talk with Mr. Vikrant Verma our chief mentor when it comes to our respective machines.

We start the motor and gun the throttle ripping through the city streets. Its already dark and starts to drizzle.

Anyone could mistake us for a couple of drunkards riding full out in the dead of the night sweeping corners at 115kmph. Atleast that's what i remember, It was just our efforts to reach Jhalawar as planned 9pm, but with the rains and burning eyes because of the dust, winds and drowsiness at high speeds and a halt for dinner in an unknown dhaba in an unknown zombie village, we reach Jhalawar at 1am approx, couldnt even remember the time.

Somehow we manage to reach the Rajasthan Tourism hotel after some hard riding and no wonder we knew what the next day would be like, considering the fact we didnt even shower up and just splashed cold water on our burning eyes and super cramped wrists and wonderful backache.

It was a hectic day, and we both knew it'll be one hell of a night !

Day 2 - 25th June:

The alarm rings at 5.30 as set last night, we did have an arguement on setting the alarm time, as we were not in a mood to get up early. But as the plan says we have to get up early. I shut the alarm glance at snoring anirugh and get back in my cozy bed.

Soon we realised we pampered ourselves too much with that extra sleep, we are not in a state to have shower, the back has devloped superultra cramps when we slept.

We gulped 2 cups of tea and paid 20 bucks to the hotel guys (mind it that was not the payment for the tea, it includes tea and room payment for the night, now's thats one real heck of a deal).

We fuel up and ride hard, you guessed it right we are in triple digit speeds crossing the desert landscape.

At some point we did wait half'n hour at a railway crossing for 6 trains to cross at the same time. And no kidding it was 48 degree celcius under the blazing sun with all the riding gear and helmets on and my bike giving smoke from the engine, it was the oil on the engine that came from the front fork oil seals at triple digit speeds (litreally experienced how it feels to be in a microwave oven).

The sweat entering the eyes and soaking everything from helmet to undies in 48 degrees is pure bliss ! (the sweat in the eye burns like as if salt and chilli flakes are smeared on your eyes, and never lets you sleep in the night !)

Somewhere in the desert Anirudh's bike caught fire, as his saddle bag breaks off and melts on contact with the exhaust pipes, the saddle bags had jerry cans full of unleaded petrol. I see fumes from the exhaust and stop him, If that had not been noticed, I could have witnessed some real hot firework display. That would mean disaster, but luckily we acted on time.

Later rode through massive sand storms in the desert. And finally we reach gurgaon in the night, Anurag and Siddhant recieve us on the Mall road and we head to DLF city to chill out our sore backs (again dont remember the time, but its almost 11pm approx).

I hated royally to reach late, as I missed meeting a gang of wellwishers for the real trip next day. Prachi was waiting really long with a swag full of delicious nutri bars for the power ride, oh how badly I was missing all of it (yes the nutri bars !) okay dont kill me, not just the nutri bars but you too :) After all the cribbing and well wishes on the phone it was time to sleep as ride to Manali next day is big, real big !

Day 3 - 26th June:

We leave gurgaon around 7pm, Its Me, Anurag and Anirudh. We were to meet the rest of the gang at a dhabha which is famous for smokin’ hot paratha's on the Chandigarh highway, but those punters hogged parathas and left without us :O

Finally we catch then up on the way and we eat parathas together in another dhabha :D
I meet my new friends Vaibhav, Akshat, Ankit and Ankit (there were two creatures of that weird name).

And then we started to get those curious looks from tourists at the dhabha, we bikers probably looked alien with all the gear and fully loaded bike.

The roads are good, we reach a nice spot for lunch and realise that Vaibhav's bike is leaking oil(that's
serious). So we mend the bike with a local mechanic and ride on to Manali.

Me, Anurag and Anirudh sweep corners and get better with each turn (rider skill upgrades)and belive it or not, somewhere later in Leh Anurag comments while he saw a picture of a guy in some magazine leaning his bike in a corner “dude, this guy in the magazine is leaning so hard while its not necessary, we guys were leaning more than him”. Aww, I still miss those twisties, we going back again !

When it got dark, at some point we get seprated and got lost on the way in the mountains and the best part is Vaibhav's kick start lever falls off somewhere in the wilderness. Its me who went back at snail pace to search his kick lever, I finally find it where we last stopped now i ride back hard to reach them quickly (again time wasted, its almost 12am).

After riding through a road (this is not the regular route to Manali) which is barely enough for one car to pass and no man or vehical in sight we reach the hotel in tattered condition at 2am approx. After 40 minutes Anirudh and the both the Ankit reach hotel with super bugged faces.

The day ends after a shave and hot shower which lasted unusually long (happens when hot water touches your skin and your body aches like never before, rejuvenation at its best).

Day 4 - 27th June:

Planned to leave Manali early to cross Rohtang Pass in time because if we miss it then our plan lags behind by 3 days as Sonia Gnadhi was in Manali and the pass was to be closed by 4pm for the next 3 days.

But as I mentioned earlier somewhere that even if we try to be on time it never happens (and it holds true for this day too). Both the rented bikes of Vaibhav and Ankit were giving problems so we had to halt and look for mechanic, even my left side spark plug adapter goes kaput and is replaced by a new one in 10 minutes flat.

Me, Anurag and Anirudh meet an Israeli DJ at the gas station (ahh, reminds me of the Israeli rave party we were to attend). Me and Anurag actually wanted to set up a tent at the fuel station and settle down for the day, Because we finally started towards Rohtang at 2.30pm !

Oh boy, climbing rohtang is very easy, if you dont agree according to your experience then I advice you to try the north face Rohtang descent (yeah, that is the hell ride). Its tremendous fun riding downhill especially the 250ft puddle in which cars are bound to get stuck, and if you put your feet down you're in deep trouble, you'll need to do that in a single go !

After descending Rohtang, the food at Nepali aunty's hut was so welcoming. And the route till Keylong is fun filled with lots of river stream crossing the road never minding we bikers interrupting it, and some had waterfalls dropping directly overhead on the road!

On the way Vaibhav Crashes into a 'century' old scooter at 50kmph approx (long story I'll die narrating, we all laughed till we cried on that incident). We reach Keylong in the night, The room at keylong welcomes us with bottles of beer immersed in a bucket of water in the bathroom (natural freezer,we all dig that!) to add icing we open up all the windows to start the natural air conditioner,

What we did next ? Simple, ordered food, popped the bottles and started the shivering party laughing out like never before on the scooter incident (why laugh ? because we totalled the scooter and paid just 1200 bucks and scooted off, I bet the villagers boozed with that money !) :D

Day 5 - 28th June:

Left Keylong in the morning (never mind the hangover, there was still leftover beer that was gulped with tea in the morning :D). Here after the scenic beauty changes rapidly.

We rode super surfaced corners and equally bad roads as we started the ascent towards the 'Baralachala pass at 16042ft ASL'. After descent its maggie and omlette feast in a tent in an unknown valley.

After an hour we start the ascent from the valley towards Sarchu, as we approached Sarchu the topography changes in a blink of the eye. The himalaya's are truly awesome. We make entries at the checkpoint at Sarchu and move ahead.

Now starts the extremely demanding and dangerous sets of 21 deadly harpin loops named as the 'gataloops' which elevates us to the 'Nakeela Pass at 15547ft ASL' and leads to a steep valley which has one single tent near a river where we had our lunch (no other option out there)

Somewhere here the nirvana* strikes my head, its mystical and cannot be stated on paper. And again a set of loops after lunch takes us to the elevation of '16616ft ASL at Lachulungla pass'.

One of the Ankit gives up, he throws up and falls down on the road, he isnt ready to go on further (he is later sent back to Delhi via flight from Leh)!

And after riding up and down thru 3 passes within the last 6 hours we reach Pang is the illest condition ever.

Health detoriates at 16000ft when you camp up there in a tent in extreme windy conditions(mind the sudden elevation in a day from Keylong 10104ft to Pang 16000ft).

Now dont ask how the night passed, I'm not telling you. Experience taught me, so will to you.

Day 6 - 29th June:

Morning definitely felt better, I'm leaving Pang but will remember it forever. Whenever I'll meet my team, Pang is sure to be on the discussion list !

We cross the epic 'Moreh Plains' a vast 21kms stretch of pure sand and moderate grassland plains flanked by mountains on both the side. The ride through these plains are epic wheather you ride it fast or slow.

Its 'plains' just for namesake, but its demanding and 200% fun to ride. We find turtled trucks on the 'plains full of desert grade sand' imagine what can happen to bikes then (we simply were drifting both the front end and the rear end of the bike).

Then starts the ascent (Some psychological incidents very personal hits you and the visor get all misty, again these cant be expressed on paper) some real hard inspiration and equally hard riding takes you to 'Tanglangla pass at 17582ft ASL'.

The the descent leads you to amazingly scenic newly constructed roads that lead you to Leh. We Have lunch at a dhaba where the cute Kashmiri girl serves us equally smokin' parathas ! We guys are all smiles and thank her :D

We reach Leh by 3pm. And 1st thing we do is to get the permits from the C.E.O of Leh Council. And then scout for rooms.

We had an amazing stay at leh, Loved the late night gossip under the umbrella tent in the lawn just outside our room (topic was spooky ghost tales) We dig that totally because the sounds of the raging river in the background and flanking snowpeaks added the much needed spine tingling, hair raising goosebump effects.

The hotel guy gets bugged and requests us to keep quite !
Reason ? The hotel guests are getting disturbed ! :D