It started when Sunil mentioned two years ago that he would like to ride his bicycle to Leh. My imagination took hold of that idea and a plan started forming.
But then I went and ran the Boston Marathon this year and did not have enough leave days left. So, my 13-year-old son and I decided to make it a 5-day round trip in Himachal. I rode to Sushant’s orchard once, but did not quite reach it. This time, we were going to get there (and back).
It took a lot of planning. I had to buy a bicycle since mine was stolen some time ago. We had to get other equipment and gear, get fit, plan a route, and book hotels. Finally, when the time came, my son was sick, so we postponed it a week, I changed my leave, cancelled hotels, and hoped and prayed that he would be fit to ride. Then, I got sick, which rarely happens, and even had to stay in bed for a day. But, I recovered and we were off on Saturday morning. I had quite a heavy backpack, carried a pump, other tools, extra water, and a container full of energy bars that my wife made (and proved to be a lifesaver)
Day 1 – Mohali to Kunihar (87km, 4176m ascent)
To ease us into it, I planned two relatively light days. We got caught in Baddi by a rainstorm and waited it out in the lobby of a hotel.
After that it became steep, but we reached Kunihar just after sunset. The Nakshatra resort was a great place to stay. It had lovely views of the mountains. We had to wash our clothes since we both carried only one spare set.
Day 2 – Kunihar to Tatapani (62km, 2534m ascent)
The next day was the shortest, taking us up over very steep ridges, but then taking us down into the Satluj river valley at Tatapani. My son was going ahead at some point as he used to do during the downhills. There was a truck parked half in the road and I saw a car coming, but he did not. As he rounded the truck and saw the car he had just enough time to break. He miraculously did not fall and the car stopped just in time to avoid an accident. It was a close call. After that, he became more cautious and kept on the outside of the road around blind turns.
That was the one and only day we reached in the daylight. We saw some people on Jetskis playing on the dam. It felt almost like the seaside with a beach and everything. Our hotel was a disappointment since they had a marriage party planned and they did not notice my booking. After a while, they reluctantly let us in. There was quite a racket that night with drunk men singing, but we hardly heard them since we were so tired. After washing our clothes, and taking a shower, I watched a movie on my tab and then we were out.
Day 3 – Tatapani to Dalash and the orchard (94km, 4186m ascent)
The first 50k of the next day was delightful. We followed the Satluj River valley until Luhri. There was some traffic, but sometimes, when it became quiet you could hear the rushing of the river below. Coupled with beautiful sights, it was almost mystical.
We had momos and chowmein for lunch at Luhri and felt hopeful that we could reach the orchard before nightfall. It wasn’t to be as that next 40 kilometres were the hardest and the steepest on the worst roads we have done.
For some part of it, the roads were good, but they were steep and we could not find any place to buy water. Eventually, I climbed up these stairs and asked people at their house for water. They graciously gave me all I could carry.
We followed Google who obviously chose the shortest route, but that was a big mistake. Sushant called and was surprised that we chose the route through Togi. His caretaker on the orchard came down for moral support. It turned out that he was a great help. We had countless stretches where we could not cycle up and had to push our cycles. When the offer came to carry my son on the motorbike, we took it. We parked his bicycle at someone’s house, and Kamal took my heavy bag and my son with him to the orchard.
Meanwhile, I remember the last time I could not make it and decided that I would not throw in the towel again. Without the heavy bag, I was able to cycle most of the way up and reached about an hour later. Sushant showed us wonderful hospitality through Kamal and his family. We ate and slept. Somewhere during the night, I was woken up by something or someone else in the house. When I pointed my flashlight at it, there was a huge rat who ate his way through the plastic covering of the bread that was lying on the cupboard.
Day 4 – Orchard to Narkanda (66km, 3322m ascent)
That next morning the dogs woke me up. They realized that someone was there and were barking excitedly. As I opened the trap door, seven or eight dogs came surging up the steps, overwhelming us with their love. We had eggs and coffee for breakfast. Kamal escorted us down to my son’s bicycle and went with us all the way to Senj which was where we got on the highway that would take us to our next stop: Narkanda.
That was the highway of suffering. I hoped that we would be able to cover the 30k or so, quickly enough and then go further down towards Shimla. But, that was not to be. It was hot, and it was very steep. We walked for long stretches, later adopting a 1k ride followed by a 200m walking routine until 1k became too far. We ate somewhere in a hotel and stayed there longer to try to avoid most of the afternoon sun.
It became dark before we entered Narkanda. We stopped at the first hotel we could get. It wasn’t wonderful, but it had a soft bed. We could not wash clothes since it would not get dry. It was cold that night – we showered and slept.
Day 5 – Narkanda to Mohali (180k, 6239 descent)
We looked forward to the last day of riding. There was still 180k left, but we knew that most of it would be downhill. That was true enough, but between Narkanda and Kufri was quite a lot of uphill and then again around Solan. We flew through Shimla, elated with our progress and the relative ease of navigating through the traffic. There were two tunnels in Shimla – the one was too dangerous to ride, so we walked on a raised sidewalk with other pedestrians. Just outside Shimla, I had my brush with a nasty fall as I hit some kind of ridge on the road at high speed. It was just a fraction of a second that I lost control, but I was scared senseless. I thanked God for his protection and carried on.
At Solan, we hit the uphills and the afternoon heat. I think I must’ve been on the brink of heatstroke and when I realised it, I headed for a cafe, ordered a cold drink, asked them to turn up the fan and sat there for an hour. I finally felt okay to ride again. When we came to Dharmpur, I knew that from there on, it would be downhill. We came back the same way during our Kasauli trip a few weeks ago. We enjoyed the speed, came to Panchkula around sunset and rode like hell to get home before it was too dark.
When we finally got home, it was just before 8. Throughout these five days, my son stayed positive. In the beginning, he struggled a bit with the uphills, but towards the end, I was falling more and more behind. He had to wait for me, but did it graciously – no gloating. I cannot be prouder of him.
It was hard, but we did it. We both had our near-death experiences, but God protected us. We made a point to pray together before every meal, in the night before we went to bed and in the mornings before we started. And then countless times during the day, my thoughts turned to Him who created this beautiful world and who gave us the strength and health to be able to do what we did.
On a different “note” my album “I give it all up” has just been released on Spotify, Amazon, Apple Music and everywhere else. Listen to it here.
Running with a Friend 