While the sun pours down like raining fire, we move forward like a sloth. Staying 26 kilometres before the decided place was a big mistake. My skin crumbled with the warmth, and we sweated like the river Kisenganga was about to get a new tributary that day. There were times when we had to get off our bikes and push them up the slopes. This day was undoubtedly one of the most challenging things I have done during my lifespan. “I just want to lie down here; I have no intentions of moving my legs further,” Surabhi said while we took a break, and these breaks were becoming more and more frequent. She had joined this journey late, and as a result, she has trained herself for only a week, which was insufficient for the most challenging part of the journey. We were 45 kilometres behind schedule, and it was late in the day already. “We had to stop for the night; there is no other way,” I told her. We were pretty disappointed, but while sitting there at the height of 3300 meters, I think these landscapes have some extraordinary power which attracts us irrespective of such physical turmoil.
We were travelling around 197 kilometres, in which 70 kilometres was complete off-road. With our entry-level MTBs, we knew we were about to experience pain in the butt, quite literally. Yet, I was very excited as this was the first bike packing trip and Gurez valley was at the top of the bucket list almost for three years. This journey took us right from the heart of Kashmir, Srinagar, to its north-eastern borders, which it shares with Drass, Ladakh in India, and Pakistan. So, we were riding between the mountains of India and Pakistan. This region is among the remotest places in India, with no static electricity, terrible roads, no hotels, no restaurants, and a single cellular network.
We were travelling around 197 kilometres, in which 70 kilometres was complete off-road. With our entry-level MTBs, we knew we were about to experience pain in the butt, quite literally. Yet, I was very excited as this was the first bike packing trip and Gurez valley was at the top of the bucket list almost for three years. This journey took us right from the heart of Kashmir, Srinagar, to its north-eastern borders, which it shares with Drass, Ladakh in India, and Pakistan. So, we were riding between the mountains of India and Pakistan. This region is among the remotest places in India, with no static electricity, terrible roads, no hotels, no restaurants, and a single cellular network.
