"Expect the best. But, prepare for the worst!"
Written on : 18-August-2017
This post is only about how to prepare for Manali to Leh Bike ride. A detailed blog post of the trip is in another blog post -
Manali to Leh Bike Ride
A country with over a billion people still has places which are visited by people but has no permanent residents. It is little hard to understand why people don’t live there unless you visit it. When we visit such places, it is important that we prepare ourselves the best. Trip to Leh is one such which needs good amount of preparation. The weather, the terrain everything makes it one of most challenging places in the world.
One of the important things you need to do is ignore the weather forecast you get in google. The weather in these ranges are so unpredictable that, even the best of the weather forecasting websites will fail to give you the right heads up. So, prepare assuming that you have no idea what is going to come in future. It might be the winter or it might be hard summer ahead on any day in these ranges. Oh yeah, if rain god is in a good mood, he might wish to meet you anytime.
Here is a list that I compiled after visiting Leh in July 2017. I might have missed few things. If I have missed anything or if you have any additional tips, do leave them in the comments section so that it will help the readers.
The list is considering bike ride from Manali to Leh. For other kind of trips to Leh, consider everything other than the bike gears.
Musts
DIAMOX tablets – In Big and Bold letters!
For people travelling from rest of India to Leh, altitude sickness (Acute mountain sickness) is a common one where you feel drowsy, feeling of head ache, vomiting sensation, tiredness, trouble sleeping etc. This can spoil your entire trip and hence do take Diamox tablet which helps you overcome these. This tablet is tried and tested by us and believe me, it works to the best. Except in Sarchu where we did not get good sleep, we did not have any other symptoms.
Take one Diamox in the morning and you are good for rest of the day. I prefer you take this at least first few days until you are acclimatized to the altitude.
Riding gears like Riding jacket, Gloves, Knee and Elbow Guards, Rain coat, Helmet are mandatory.
A complete checklist can be downloaded here – which includes the medicines.
Dos
Take best care of your health. Drinking water on regular interval is very important as it compensates the lack of oxygen.
Applying moisturizers and oil helps a lot to save from dry skin.
Apply sun screen to parts that are exposed to sunlight. Getting burnt hurts very bad in this place.
Sleep well in the night which refreshes you the next morning.
Don’ts
Do not walk, run, shout loud, laugh loud in places like Sarchu. It hurts really bad later. You feel confident while running but will turn out to be very bad later.
Racing is bad in this terrain. It might hurt you or the other person. Mutual respect to riders is a great feel to have.
Again –
If you have need complete checklist, click the download button here to get a .docx file containing complete checklist.
This list is for people who want to prepare themselves for the worst. If you are expecting the best case and want to travel with a bold heart, you can always do.
It may not always be required to wear a thermal wear + Jeans + Muflars + gloves. Because we met a lady who was 50 + years old who came with her son. She was wearning a saree with a shawl around her. That's it. While we were wearing all possible gears and panting to take next breath in Sarchu. She was calm tearing the next bite of Chapathi! Some people leave their stamp by just being normal in extreme conditions.
All the very best for the next ride you plan. Life is short, keep throttling.
