Bike
MTB
17 Day Journey to Ride the Himalayas
Fighting the weather to ride for a few hours.
Rene Wildhaer MTB Leh
© Mesum Verma
Not so long ago, an MTB rider gave us an account of dropping into the Himalayan valley on his bicycle – Riding Past Old Monks. This is a behind-the-scenes account by the photographer Mesum Verma.
Mesum Verma is the co-founder of the first ever mountain bike magazine in India (Freerider) and is also the founder of mtbmagindia, where he is the CEO, editor in chief and the photo director.
Somehow we weren’t prepared for coming to India; in terms of endurance and fitness. We came from Japan after many photo shoots there. After we climbed in a day, the highest mountain – the Fuji San, my legs were painfully sore. But luckily I didn’t have a marathon ahead of me, only the biggest long-distance downhill race in Japan. I could hardly walk. It took us three days to get to Manali from Tokyo with stops at London and New Delhi. We knew patience would come handy, but beyond that we could not know what was in store up high deep in the mountains with no road access, no electricity, fast-changing weather conditions, sleeping in a tent for 16 nights, being on the trail for 17 days.
Gearing up.
© Mesum Verma
This may be tough.
© Mesum Verma
We acclimated in Manali, and then did some small bike tours around Manali. With this project, we were the first ever professional mountain bike crew in India, and we would be the first ever professional crew to do the trail with a bike. I've been to Ladakh before, I’m a little into hiking. Whenever I go I'm always looking for some turns that I can climb or if there’s something I get really excited about I walk on a normal trail, I chant a mantra, “where is the bike, where is the bike, where is the bike.” I heard that the famous “Kings - Trek“ from Darsha to Lamayuru used to take about 20-24 days to cross 11 passes by foot. I asked some local travel agencies about the trek and if it is possible with a mountain bike. None of them said it's possible. Everybody said that you need to be a super good mountain bike rider. Of course, they did not know that I was coming with one of the best mountain bikers in the world. And I can ride pretty average and manage technical obstacles with no difficulties. I just go slower than Rene.
Where no bike has been before.
© Mesum Verma
Wading with two wheels.
© Mesum Verma
Long way to the top.
© Mesum Verma
When I needed a local guide, Dorjie, a freelancer from Manali whom I met during a snowboarding project for Red Bull came to my mind. Six months of preparation later, we were good to go. Foreign trekkers told us it's impossible to ride the steep downhill sections on the passes, even though we were already on the way.
For me, the most difficult situation for shooting (from the whole trip) was when I woke up in the morning on the foothill of Shingo La, the highest pass (5100m above sea level) we had to cross. I woke up at 6:00am, it was somehow darker than all the other mornings, and the tent was almost collapsing. I opened the tent and what did I see? It was snowing! I wanted to go back to the tent, but it was not comfortable and not warm at all. We decided to go over the pass.
Never too small to ride big.
© Mesum Verma
Never leave an opportunity to ride.
© Mesum Verma
We packed our stuff under heavy snow, loaded the mules and started to walk. Rene pushed his own bike, and I had my 16kg heavy camera bag on my back, my bike was on a mule. It never stopped snowing. About 4 km before the top of the pass, a local guy with donkeys passed us on his way down. We asked him how the conditions were on the pass. He said, it's snowing but fine. So we just walked and walked. Now I wasn’t chanting “where is the bike“, I was chanting, “keep going, keep going, keep going.” Even though I did not feel like unpacking my bag to take some pictures, I had to do it. 3km in front of the ridge (top of the pass) we could not see any path anymore in the snow, not even from the guy we'd just met. The horse man could not get his horses to go, they were afraid to take steps further, they just stood still. Our guide and the kitchen staff were way behind us. We waited an hour under the heavy snowfall to hear them say, “We don’t know the way, we can’t see anything!” Luckily Rene and I are mountain guys, skilled and trained in the Swiss Alps. We found the way hidden under 60cm of fresh powder. So we broke trail for the mules, and they also decided to come with us. I was happy that we arrived on the other side of the pass, totally wet, super exhausted, frozen, in the dark around 8pm. Still it wasn’t over; we had to unpack all the stuff in the ice while it’s still snowing. So damn cold. I did not even notice that my sleeping bag was totally frozen, I just was too tired.
After that, we had the most amazing bike ride of my life! Single trails in successions! Super nice downhill tracks, and we knew triumphantly that we were the first riders ever, riding down this mountain on a mountain bike!
Spot the rider!
© Mesum Verma
Close call.
© Mesum Verma
Not many jumps, but it offers big drops.
© Mesum Verma
No man’s land is a biker’s paradise.
© Mesum Verma
