Pang - Leh (19th June 2006)
19th June 2006
Start Trip Meter: 1165.6 km
End Trip Meter: 1430.2 km
Route: Pang - Debring - Rumtse - Upshi - Karu - Leh
Stay & Cost: Leh, Shanti Guest House 250 rupees.
I wake up to a chilling pang cold morning at 5 AM. I mounted the bike, with the saddle bag. The temperature meter of my bike shows -10 centigrade. The water on the ground was frozen. I check the tyre pressure. The bike was hard to crank... This is the first time i had to wait for the bike to warm up ;) So i have a hot tea (remember no one in north India has any idea how to make strong south indian coffee) and crank the bike 20 times.
Then i choke the bike and start it. and kept it with accelerator just enough to keep it at 800 rpm.. idle engine settings wont work in the cold. I then ride for almost 2 kilometers at 1,000 rpm, 1st gear, slow speed to warm up the bike. And its only then i start to go with the normal speed of the bike.
Please be very kind to your bike, if it goes crazy, you will end up pushing a 300+ kilo machinery, in the middle of a high altitude plain/dessert/mountain/whatever, with Acute Mountain Sickness (if you haven’t acclimatized yourself in properly),,, you don’t want it to be just another day do you ?
Well i have a problem, My bike is not climbing!, its stuttering and then climbing.. Then as i decelerate, and accelerate again, it stutters again. What would you do?
a. Check and clean the Air Filter
b. Open the CV Carb drain screw and self clean the carb
c. Open the fuel tank lint filter and clean it.
d. Check loose contact between adapter and spark plug.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Answer: I do not know about you, But I do all of them. First i open the CVCarb screw and drain fuel into my drinking cup. Then i close the fuel supply and take the lint filter and put the petrol into the cup too.. Then i blow the adapter and i clean the airfilter with petrol (from my drinking cup and then tank), dry it and reassemble it back.
My engine roars.. and never stutters again.. I have heard a lot of good men say in their best faith (including my all time favorite mechanic), ditch the airfilter.. i would say the air filter of my bike was so dirty..if it was not for it, the engine would have got it all. Remove the air filter and case only when you are about to climb an impossible incline.
I then reach Tanglangla pass, and i see a relatively strange device for heating up the room. This device is made of aluminum and it is heated with burning wood. the smoke is is send thru a smoke pipe outside. What’s strange is firewood is scarce in these hostile climates.
There is only one home at tanglang-la run by a ladhaki couple and his daughter. The army comes over and a Naik Subedar talks to them. The army provides them with kerosene, and are really very kind to them. The NS then says that he will return by evening after going to pang and offers to buy what they want. I am so amazed at this eco-sphere.
1st High Altitude Puncture
So as i head down tanglang la, towards Rumtse on icy roads, and spooky blind curves, i suddenly lose control and skid. I have a flat rear tyre. I must admit that i was really afraid. I am not used to such cold areas. I start thinking, did i check the pressure? Did i lose air due to a bad valve ? I place my bike in a wide road, reverse the bike so that the mountain is on its left and close enough for it to lean. I start operating on the bike, dismantle the tyre, rub my bare hands inside of the tyre to check for sharpels and then I replace the tube. You have to press the footpump like mad at high altitutes. At Tanglangla, i could only fill in 30 psi, against the usual 38 psi in low altitude areas like delhi or bangalore.
i lean the bike against the mountain with my outer layer gloves as cushion and fit the wheel. Operating at many times in bare hands (while fitting the tube), My hands are so cold that its pink in color. The gloves proove useless.. the first layer was woolen, the second rexene and the last leather.
Bike up and running, i leave to rumtse... I meet 2 Royal Beasts enroute Waseem, Amit enroute. They tell me that Saji (An old RTMC guy, Now a Royal Beast?) is at pangong tso. So it gives me all the more enthuasm to reach leh and hunt for him.
I reach the indus valley civilization start:
I get into LEH, my disk brake shoe is worn out and then i directly locate shanthi stupa, shanthi guest house to claim my pass to nubra and the lake circuit organized by MAT due to my request to Simi and Dushi.
I then go to sleep and a few hours later, i hear a thump on my door. Its MAT (Rahul) from the Road Survivors. I tell him of my plan and he says lets hope the pass comes. That evening we plan for a party that NEVER happened.. These guys were back from the lake circuit.
That night all the passes arrive, I GET THAT PASS AND I SAVED ONE WHOLE DAY of waiting and dealing with the District magistrate.
I then head to the market to see what’s available. I go to check my email. Leh has satellite internet and its priced at a ridiculous Rs 2 per minute.
One thing amazing about these guys is the way how they coerce and bring their wifes into rides like this.....in these numbers! LOL!
MAT was very busy talking to the owner.. Rumour has it that he was negotiating the price for this hotel.... but i know he was asking for those secret routes.. I skip formalities, and have food (i never knew i had to order any, so i was eating into the team's share or rather left overs) and go to sleep.
Start Trip Meter: 1165.6 km
End Trip Meter: 1430.2 km
Route: Pang - Debring - Rumtse - Upshi - Karu - Leh
Stay & Cost: Leh, Shanti Guest House 250 rupees.
I wake up to a chilling pang cold morning at 5 AM. I mounted the bike, with the saddle bag. The temperature meter of my bike shows -10 centigrade. The water on the ground was frozen. I check the tyre pressure. The bike was hard to crank... This is the first time i had to wait for the bike to warm up ;) So i have a hot tea (remember no one in north India has any idea how to make strong south indian coffee) and crank the bike 20 times.
Then i choke the bike and start it. and kept it with accelerator just enough to keep it at 800 rpm.. idle engine settings wont work in the cold. I then ride for almost 2 kilometers at 1,000 rpm, 1st gear, slow speed to warm up the bike. And its only then i start to go with the normal speed of the bike.
Please be very kind to your bike, if it goes crazy, you will end up pushing a 300+ kilo machinery, in the middle of a high altitude plain/dessert/mountain/whatever, with Acute Mountain Sickness (if you haven’t acclimatized yourself in properly),,, you don’t want it to be just another day do you ?
Well i have a problem, My bike is not climbing!, its stuttering and then climbing.. Then as i decelerate, and accelerate again, it stutters again. What would you do?
a. Check and clean the Air Filter
b. Open the CV Carb drain screw and self clean the carb
c. Open the fuel tank lint filter and clean it.
d. Check loose contact between adapter and spark plug.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Answer: I do not know about you, But I do all of them. First i open the CVCarb screw and drain fuel into my drinking cup. Then i close the fuel supply and take the lint filter and put the petrol into the cup too.. Then i blow the adapter and i clean the airfilter with petrol (from my drinking cup and then tank), dry it and reassemble it back.
My engine roars.. and never stutters again.. I have heard a lot of good men say in their best faith (including my all time favorite mechanic), ditch the airfilter.. i would say the air filter of my bike was so dirty..if it was not for it, the engine would have got it all. Remove the air filter and case only when you are about to climb an impossible incline.
I then reach Tanglangla pass, and i see a relatively strange device for heating up the room. This device is made of aluminum and it is heated with burning wood. the smoke is is send thru a smoke pipe outside. What’s strange is firewood is scarce in these hostile climates.
There is only one home at tanglang-la run by a ladhaki couple and his daughter. The army comes over and a Naik Subedar talks to them. The army provides them with kerosene, and are really very kind to them. The NS then says that he will return by evening after going to pang and offers to buy what they want. I am so amazed at this eco-sphere.
1st High Altitude Puncture
So as i head down tanglang la, towards Rumtse on icy roads, and spooky blind curves, i suddenly lose control and skid. I have a flat rear tyre. I must admit that i was really afraid. I am not used to such cold areas. I start thinking, did i check the pressure? Did i lose air due to a bad valve ? I place my bike in a wide road, reverse the bike so that the mountain is on its left and close enough for it to lean. I start operating on the bike, dismantle the tyre, rub my bare hands inside of the tyre to check for sharpels and then I replace the tube. You have to press the footpump like mad at high altitutes. At Tanglangla, i could only fill in 30 psi, against the usual 38 psi in low altitude areas like delhi or bangalore.
i lean the bike against the mountain with my outer layer gloves as cushion and fit the wheel. Operating at many times in bare hands (while fitting the tube), My hands are so cold that its pink in color. The gloves proove useless.. the first layer was woolen, the second rexene and the last leather.
Bike up and running, i leave to rumtse... I meet 2 Royal Beasts enroute Waseem, Amit enroute. They tell me that Saji (An old RTMC guy, Now a Royal Beast?) is at pangong tso. So it gives me all the more enthuasm to reach leh and hunt for him.
I reach the indus valley civilization start:
I get into LEH, my disk brake shoe is worn out and then i directly locate shanthi stupa, shanthi guest house to claim my pass to nubra and the lake circuit organized by MAT due to my request to Simi and Dushi.
I then go to sleep and a few hours later, i hear a thump on my door. Its MAT (Rahul) from the Road Survivors. I tell him of my plan and he says lets hope the pass comes. That evening we plan for a party that NEVER happened.. These guys were back from the lake circuit.
That night all the passes arrive, I GET THAT PASS AND I SAVED ONE WHOLE DAY of waiting and dealing with the District magistrate.
I then head to the market to see what’s available. I go to check my email. Leh has satellite internet and its priced at a ridiculous Rs 2 per minute.
One thing amazing about these guys is the way how they coerce and bring their wifes into rides like this.....in these numbers! LOL!
MAT was very busy talking to the owner.. Rumour has it that he was negotiating the price for this hotel.... but i know he was asking for those secret routes.. I skip formalities, and have food (i never knew i had to order any, so i was eating into the team's share or rather left overs) and go to sleep.
posted by Adarsh @ 7/07/2006 07:40:00 AM
2 Comments:
congratulation to ve finished the journey that m planning this august.I ve a doubt which makes me vacillate between confusions. can u tell me route to nubra valley from leh and if possible to cover pangong at same? How many days and KMs do i cover from mentioned places? It would be very helpful.
thanks ! There seems to be a new pass from wari la, shakti. I have'nt seen it. but you could probably route your journey - leh - k-top - nubra - diskit, round in to panimik, come back to the triangle and find that new pass to shakti. I would rather suggest you carry a tent and loads of fuel. This is a very adventurous route !
I don't know how long this new route may be - but my old route, i have listed kilometer readings in this blog
best of lucks dude - ady!
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