Aug 24,2016
The initial plan was to join ultrarunner and alpinist Peter Van Geit for the Pangi-Zanskar exploratory and self-supported run. Due to a lack of training with trail runs, I decided to go for an MTB ride in those valleys. The initial plan was shared by my Belgian friend, while I was preparing the mountain bike for the ride. It was quite a new terrain for me, as I have done biking mostly on off-road tracks, dirt tracks, or as high as the mountains that are in Palani or Nilgiri mountain ranges. Cycling in the Himalayas crossing high-altitude passes was exciting and at the same time challenging. The plan was to start from Dalhousie, taking my bike from Chennai to Delhi, then by bus to Dalhousie. (From Delhi airport to Kashmere Gate ISBT I had to cycle). This was the first time, me doing a run-bike combination journey in the Himalayas.. We were highly skeptical about entering into Zanskar valley via Shinku La or crossing Sach Pass with a bike before the commencement of the journey. We came to notice that the Border road organization (BRO) was laying a new road into Zanskar from Darcha, but we were not quite sure whether a road existed as the project was just ongoing. With those doubts in my mind, the backup plan was if I have to go solo, I would rather head up to Leh without entering Zanskar by doing the Leh-Manali highway. To my surprise, I took a crazy decision to explore the other beautiful and well-known valley which made my cycling trip more exciting and adventurous in the end. The story begins….
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