Day 8:
The Ungrateful Rack:
After a sleepless night woke up to a Himalayan chai offered by the incharge of Gurudwara , they are family of four who were serving this place for almost 10 a decade.
Descended from the top to reach the Highway , slowly cycling through steeps started hearing a continuous unpleasant squeaking .
Its the front cargo rack , the welding of the bracket to the base of the carriage broke which makes its irreparable , had to go through painful process of shifting the entire luggage to the rear rack.
Outcome is there is no distribution of weight now , on the whole a total 35kg of luggage shifted to the rear , now its almost like pedaling a loaded rickshaw uphill.
May be when one is really close to their destiny , the cosmic powers try to test if one is really worthy of it , this is the point where one either quit or keep going anyway , well I chose latter.
You know what I mean , if you have ever heard of the story : “Three Feet From Gold“
Pedaling the hills, while suspecting if my rear rack could bear the all this extra weight or how would this impact my performance on the much awaited Ladakhi roads ahead.
However I was assured that I’ve bought a durable rear rack after a lot of research presuming this kind of situation.
I was glad I made this decision in the later part of my journey , I do owe them one, not promoting but just to create awareness on durable racks under reasonable prices : Axiom Journey Racks .
The Interview:
Biked 20km uphill fantasizing about a super natural power where I command gravity which makes my work easier.
Made a pitstop for a water-piss break and also to capture the scenic view just to make use of my extremely heavy tripod I’ve been carrying all this while which was seeming pointless for a while now.
While capturing the scenic to make use of my use of extremely heavy tripod which was seeming pointless for a while now , see a white SUV approaching .
Stopping next to me a tall man got down holding a vlogging camera, with no introduction or hint he started interviewing me.
Though seemed awkward initially but was happy to share my journey with a local and learn more about the place around , It was an interview for his YouTube channel.
Camping At The Edge Of The Mountains :
Later stopped at a market and bought one onion , tomato to cook something tonight, came across this vlogger again on his way back , told our good byes and started biking in the search of place to camp.
After yesterdays claustrophobic sleepless night in the huge dark my heart wants to camp in the woods.
Found a perfect place at the edge of the mountain facing the beautiful valley , just to make sure went to the tea stall on the other side of the road.
Its a small Dhaba style setup build with all bamboo and three charpoi’s outside usually for the customer’s to rest who are mostly truck drivers.
After usual chai pe charcha , the owner invited me over to sleep at the stall itself which is much safer but my heart was fixated on camping open air while I cook listening to the nature’s melody.
Art Of Securing Your Bike:
Pitched my tent , secured the bike with three locks : a cable lock to front tier and downtube of the frame , a U-lock through seat tube locking rear tyre and last but not least a steel chain looping through top tube or rear tyre depending on the position of the bike while the other end of the chain through tent poles , interlocking the ends with a padlock .
This was the method I have developed after a lot of trial and error , I cant assure its one hundred percent foolproof but worked for until the end of my tour.
First two locks disables cycle from pedaling or pushing while the latter(chain lock) is more like a warning where the entire tent moves if someone tries to move it.
Just when I was settling in , I see the rear tyre’s flat. Thank god to all those century rides which taught me basics skills required for long distance bike tours .
Being a noob took an hour to repair the tube and put everything back to its place , by now its past 6PM , dark , cold and cloudy,
Sticky feeling from all that sweat led to an urge to take a cold refreshing bath, earlier I saw a ground water pump at the tea stall .
Also from where I’m camping I could see few truck drivers washing their clothes and bathing.
Pulled out the foldable water can out from the pannier, filled it up to bath at the camp. Cold bath at the edge of the mountains accompanied by breezing winds and slight drizzle gave a chill through spines but in a good way.
Made a few calls to family while I cook the veggies from the morning on my portable kitchen , In the mean time local walking by my camp shouted out loud ‘ bhai zara bachke , gir javogey’ (brother be careful , you might fall below) .
Layed the ultra light yoga mat inside my portable bedroom , tucked myself into the warm sleeping bag and closed my eyes listening to drizzle and weird sounds of the forest.