suits and helping the panting behe-
moth up. I’m not sure she was grate-
ful as she didn’t say thank you or Dan-
ke as she wobbled off to the top. We
might not have made it to the top as
fast, but we certainly did it with class,
style and a lot of laughs.
Although there are another six days
in front of us, riding up to Khardung-
la feels like crossing a finishing line.
There is a genuine sense of euphoria
(or that could be a lack of oxygen, I
don’t know) and accomplishment as
you park your bike next to the sign
that proclaims Khardungla to be the
highest motorable road in the world.
We take photos and then decide to
climb the mountain for a better view
and to celebrate with a shot or two
of spiced rum or whisky or crème de
menthe, we’re not fussy. We make
our way back down to the bikes, have
a bowl of noodles at the highest café
in the world and after an hour or so at
the top, we spot a sign that says “stay-
ing for more than 20 minutes can be
harmful to your health” so think it
might be a good idea to head home.
One of the bikes gives up trying to
get the air to fuel mixture right so we
figured since we’re as high as we can
get, we might as well freewheel all
the way down the mountain … all 43
kilometres back to the hotel.
We set off slowly and silently,
sticking to the left so that cars and
bikes could pass us, but no one came
past. In fact, there we were, all of us
streamlining each other down the
mountain, laughing out loud in our
helmets as we caught and passed
cars and bikes. We got up to speeds
of 80km/h if we pretended to be Rol-
lie Free. It was on one of these Rollie
Free moments where I’m stretched
out over the tank, feet flapping in the
breeze, much like the corpse I’d seen
on Rohtang pass, that I came up be-
hind the behemoth. I wave Auf Wie-
dersehen and speed past dreaming
I’m on an electric bike. If they are as
exhilarating as this, then I’m all for
them!
TRAVERSE 31
People end up going in all different
directions but they all safely make it
back to the hotel where we celebrated
in fine and gentlemanly style. We’d
participated in the Distinguished
Gentleman’s Ride, raised money for
the Movember foundation in the pro-
cess, had an absolute blast getting to
and up to Khardungla; the highest
motorable road in the world and we
were only half way through our ad-
venture.
I was happier than 7-year-old Fuzz-
ball with his 13-flavoured frozen yo-
ghurt. RH
It's said that Rex Havoc has a fe-
tish, he wears a yeti suit on all of his
adventures, start to finish. Fetish?
Perhaps.
We just love the craziness of it, he
loves making the kids in the commu-
nities he traverses laugh.
Rex takes fellow travels along for
the ride, through the Himalaya's, with
his company Himalayan Heroes, the
whole time giving back to the com-
munities along the way. Himalayan
Heroes is a company that tries not
to take advantage of the locals, rath-
er preferring to help and encourage
them to be a part of the adventure.
Join up with Rex and his Heroes for
the next crazy installment of their ad-
ventures, you won't be disappointed.
www.himalayanheroes.com