but as calm as the Dali Lama. With
Toby and sweep rider, Topi, bringing
up the rear and the support truck
falling into line, we spent the day
accustoming ourselves to the bikes
and the unique traffic and roads
around Minali, which seemed to flip
between some bizarre and dangerous
video game and then the best roads
in the world.
The bikes were certainly different
with their relatively steep steering
angle, forward set pegs and lazy
power delivery. The fuel injection
might be up to date, but the ride is
still 1956, yet despite this curious
anachronism the Enfields are
everywhere – KTM can only dream of
such market domination - there are
literally no other brands on the road.
The following morning some of the
guys wanted to try paragliding, but
with two weeks riding ahead of me,
I decide against rolling the dice on a
broken ankle on just the second day.
Once the aerial contingent was
back to earth, we set off north to the
vast Rohtang Pass, one of the main
arterial routes that allow access
north. The ride up was stunning
as we snaked through forests and
hairpins on the way to the summit,
our progress only interrupted by
one of the many seemingly pointless
checkpoints. Anu had sorted all the
paperwork, but it would be easy for
solo travellers to be caught out by
these baffling bureaucratic hoops
that have to be jumped through.
After lunching, just before the
summit, the ride down the other
side of the pass suddenly got serious.
Gone were the maintained surfaces,
to be replaced with a network of
good tarmac, terrible tarmac, sand
sections and full on rock sections that
would not look out of place in the
Dakar. And all this could be within
100 metres! Factor in the numerous
hairpin bends, blind corners, and an
extraordinary number of enormous
and overloaded trucks, plus the
occasional convoy of 20 or more
army trucks and this is adventure
motorcycling Indian style.
You know those videos where you
see a rider meet a truck on a single
track with a rock face one side and a
100-metre drop on the other? That
happened right in front of us. It was
bowel loosening yet deliciously life
affirming. The bikes handled the
terrain surprisingly well, despite
standing on the pegs made difficult by
the forward set pegs and wide tank.
We swapped the lead behind Anu
on numerous occasions, as different
lines proved more or less effective.
Surviving the ordeal unscathed,
we arrived at our first stop in Keylong
and everyone was ready to stop and
reach for the Kingfisher. The next
day promised even more extreme
riding, as we’d climb to our highest
campsite on the tour, so it was time to
regroup to sleep and savour the last of
the Internet before all our technology
became useless.
TRAVERSE 101