Mansarovar Cycle Tour – a Short Summary
( 15th August – 1st September 2013 )
An Once-In-A-Lifetime Experience
CYCLISTS - Anand Dalal, Atul Karwal, Gaurav Shah, Haresh Mevada, Harsh Shah, Kumaril Patel, Rajiv Popli, Sanjeeta Singh, Satpal Singh Chhabada
SUPPORT - Anita Karwal, Anurita Rathore, Kuldeep Jadeja, Swati Shah, Supriya Shah
A few months back, the idea & planning for the Mansarovar Cycle Tour had started. At that time, it was a casual confirmation to go ahead. But as a few cyclists showed interest, the communication started with the Nepalese Travel Agency, and in a short while the dates got finalized and detailing began. Harsh, as the Tour Leader, spent the next 2-3 months exchanging over 330 pages of emails with the Agency, monies started getting paid and the Tour was ON. Cycle Training started, and all the participants got into the grind of cycling long distances, hill training, cycling the slopes of Mt. Abu etc.
Before one realized, 15th August 2013 arrived and the Team assembled at the Airport to depart. The last few days had been hectic with a lot of well-wishers dropping in at each of the team members home to say bye-bye. It was only then that the realization crept in that no one had really attempted to cycle on this route from Nyalam (China) to Mansarovar Lake (China). Hence, each of us had some anxieties but no one said a word.
We flew from Ahmedabad – Delhi – Kathmandu and were warmly welcomed by our Travel Associate – Explore Himalayas, and taken to our Hotel. We checked in, spent sometime knowing our Associates and the Nepalese Team who would come with us for the next 2 weeks. The basic equipment including Cycles, Tents etc was also checked and we were ready to roll. Next day, we were taken by Bus from Kathmandu to Kodari Border, and we crossed into China/Tibet from here. We were then taken by Toyota Land Cruisers from Kodari – Nyalam, and our Chinese Guide joined us along with the 4 cars and 1 Truck. In China, they only allow 4 persons/car and so then need to take 4 cars. The Cars/Drivers along with the Nepalese Team would form our complete support team. We stayed one more day at Nyalam, which is at around 12,500 feet to acclimatize before we started cycling the next day. Part of the day at Nyalam was also spent shopping for the few woollens that were missing and needed for the Tour.
We started cycling on 18th September 2013. It was a chilly morning, with some clouds and little fog. As we started cycling, we realized that immediately after Nyalam, it was all up-hill climb and the elevation went from 12,500 feet to 17,500 feet when we reached Nyalam Pass a few hours later. We had cycled over 60 Kms of up-hill and gone up by around 5,000 feet. The weather was below 5 degree C, the wind was howling and almost all of us were shivering and tired when we reached the top. Almost all the energy from the legs had been sucked out and we realized that we had done more than the Khardung La climb, on day one of cycling, without very good acclimatization. After the pass, it was a roll down of over 9 Kms after which we had to cycle another 30 Kms before reaching the campsite. We decided that we all had had enough and were tired. So the cycles were loaded on carriers and taken to camp. Everyone was dead tired, and we came to know that Saga, which was the next camp had over 60 Kms of broken roads before reaching the camp. Hence, we decided to skip the next day of cycling, take rest, move the cycles to Sage and then continue cycling.
Another revelation of the terrain was that almost a large part of the cycling was uphill, daylight would happen only after 7:30 am, and very very strong winds would start from around 11:30 am up to around 3 pm. The temperature would be between 0 – 5 deg C with wind chill, it would rain randomnly, it would be harsh sunny weather a few moments later and at times we would have hail. Hence, it became obvious that cycling more than 60-75 Kms/day would not make sense but more than that may be a little fool hardy. We reworked our cycling schedules over the next few days cycled around 350 Kms before we reached Mansarovar Lake.
During the entire journey of cycling, we would cycle between 50 Kms – 80 Kms every day, and camp by the roadside in Tents. We were 2 persons to the Tent, and the whole world outside our Tent was our bathroom. It may sound funny, but the Tibetans/Chinese have no concept of bathrooms and any space outside their place of stay is the washroom. We found out later, that they rarely have bath and so do not need bathrooms.
The entire terrain from Nyalam to Mansarovar is at a height of 12500 – 15000 feet with some passes at 16500-17500 feet. Hence, there is no green vegetation, and almost the entire terrain is flat with lots of ups and downs. If Morre Plains on route to Leh from Manali sounded extravagantly flat at that height, the terrain in these areas completely dwarfs Morre Plains. To put it in perspective, the Morre Plains are a baby compared to the Terrain in these areas. Flat Areas coupled with Chilled Weather, Strong Winds, Harsh Sun, Random rains or Hail made the entire journey quite tough and inhospitable.
After cycling for a few days, when we had crossed 300 Kms of cycling, we approached the last day when we were to cycle 40-45 kms to reach Mansarovar Lake. As we approached the end point, there was a long unending uphill which never seemed to end. Again, the energy in the legs was almost zapped, and we reached the top of the uphill, and the clear blue water of the Lake, which looked more like a Sea, appeared before us, all the energy returned, joy filled in and there was euphoria in the mind, as we realized that we had reached the final destination, Mansarovar Lake.
We spent one full day at the Mansarovar Lake, visited Rakshas Tal also, and then proceeded to Darchen for the Kailas Paikrama. Once you reach Darchen town, you can see the Kailas Mountain on a clear day. Next day, we proceeded to Yum Dwar, which is the starting point of the 3 day Kailas Parikrama, which total around 49 Kms of walk with starting point at around 15,000 feet and crossing 19600 feet on Day 2 at the Dolma La (pass). Day 1 of Parikrama took us to a place called Derapunkh which is about 14 Km from the starting point. The weather remained unusually clear on all the 3 days of the Parikrama, and we were lucky to have clear view of the Kailas Mountain on all 3 days including the 2 moonlit nights. Some of us decided to do a 2 day Parikrama and returned next day to Darchen, walking the 14 Kms back. Others proceeded to complete the Parikrama, including the very tough 2nd day. Almost at the end of the Parikrama we were told by our Guide, that one Indian Tourise aged 42 had died of a heart attack one day earlier, at the Dolma La.
All of us completed the Cycling Part of the Tour and the Parikrama Part of the Tour to the best of our abilities and at the end we rested for 2 days at Nepal, before returning back to India.
It was indeed one of the most memorable cycling tours, for me, till date, and all I can say is that it was a Once-in-a-Lifetime experience, which I will cherish for a long long time.
The narration has been done as a short summary, due to time constraints, and hopefully the full story will be told to all ABC members in the form of a Slide Show in the near future. All Members of the Team were ABC members, and those who were not full-time Members, did enrol as Event Members by paying the related fees, prior to the trip.
