Preparations: Renting bikes

We all decided to take Enfield Bullets for the trip (hardcore look and all eh!). Two of our members (Puneet & Praveen) had their own bullets so we needed to rent 8 bullets from Delhi. We had finalised on 4 thunderbirds and 4 classics. We all wanted to ride solo so we had total 10 bullets with us on the trip.

Renting bikes from www.ikerz.com

The bike / gear team shortlisted www.ikerz.com for our needs. Its a highly respected bike rental outfit in Delhi's Karol Bagh run by the young and dynamic Rahul Trehan. They have their own fleet of over 60 bikes ranging from scooters to even Harleys! Rates are very reasonable, bikes in excellent condition and the support given by Rahul is unbelievable. If you ever need to rent a bike from Delhi, then Ikerz is the go to place!

Initially we had planned to ride bikes from Delhi to Jammu to Srinagar but later decided to start riding from Jammu itself. Rahul coordinated transport of the bikes from Delhi to Jammu (for nominal transportation charges) and even sent a mechanic along so that we could inspect/ fix bikes at Jammu, if required! Again really good service by the Ikerz team!

Rahul Trehan (owner of www.ikerz.com - bottom right specs guy) with us after the trip

ADVICE: You can take any bike to Leh/Ladakh. Its not necessary to take a Bullet. Any bike above 150cc will suffice. If you have your own bike, we would recommend you take that. For bikes other than Bullets, mechanics in Leh do a small modification which costs 60 INR to enable them to scale Khardungla pass. No matter which bike you choose, do rememeber to get it checked up by a mechanic at Leh. They will do a good job checking cables, brakes, engines, oil etc so that you don't face problem later. The best mechanic for Bullets would be mechanic Tashi (on fort road in Leh - 9419242643).

Contact: 

RAHUL TREHAN 

www.ikerz.com

1749/55, Naiwala Street,

Karol Bagh, New Delhi-110005

Preparations: Stay places

As mentioned in previous post, we had prebooked stay at a few places. We are sharing details of the places we pre-booked, finalised on route and recommended them to bikers on a budget.

SRINAGAR:

Kashmir Holiday Inn

CONTACT: Amin: 8491071246 

Address: Harwan, Rainawari, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir 190025 

Phone: 0194 246 1350

View from Kashmir Holiday Inn 

DRASS:

J & K Tourist Guest House DRAS

Mobile: 9403683599

View from Drass JKTD Guest House

LAMAYURU:

Hotel Niranjana

Next to Lamayuru Monastery (Gompa)

Phone:01982 224 555

Contact: Captain Tashi

View from Hotel Niranjana

Hotel Niranjana right next to the Gompa

LEH:

We had prebooked The Gurgu Homestay on main Tukcha Road but for some reasons could not stay there. Instead we ended up staying at a guest house right next to their property by the name of Shani La Guest House. It has nice spacious rooms, a beautiful garden and some amazing rose bushes!

DISKIT:

There are a few stay options at Diskit and they are comfortable. You can even do camping at Diskit or Hunder though they are more expensive. The highlight of our hotel was a stream flowing right next to the hotel. The owner had used the water for drinking and it was a joy to drink mountain fresh mineral water directly from the flowing stream!

ADVICE: We would recommend you try staying at the Monastery or near it. We did not get the chance but would highly recommend it. They have all basic facilities, individual rooms with solar heaters and power. Plus you get bragging rights that you stayed in a monastery!

SPANGMIK (near Pangong Lake)

We had prebooked our stay at Dorjay Delbu Guest House at Merak but were unable to make it there as we reached Pangong pretty late at night. It was risky going a further 20 kms as the road is pretty bad and we didn't want to take any unnecessary changes. We ended up spending the night at Spangmik instead.

Dream Land Wooden Cottages

Pangong Lake Road

Contact: 094195 36311

http://www.dreamlandwoodencottage.in/

The mesmerising view of Pangong Lake from DreamLand

The cottages themselves

ADVICE: It was bitterly cold at Spangmik. You will need to wear thermals and preferably use a good sleeping bag even though they give you warm blankets. Do request for a bonfire! They will charge you a nominal fee for the wood but nothing like a good old bonfire by Pangong Lake!

KARU:

There are hardly any places to stay at Karu. We recommend you should stay at Hemis or even head back to Leh and get a comfortable night stay. At Karu we managed to get a homestay which the owners had basically converted their upper floor and 3 rooms to let out. There was just 1 bathroom so getting ready early next morning was an issue.

JISPA:

We managed to reach Jispa very late at night and everything was fully booked. We got lucky and got reference from another hotel for a place called Himalayan Guest House. We managed to get only 2 rooms for the 10 of us but got extra bedding so managed easily.

View from Himalayan Guest House at Jispa

MANALI:

Many stay options at Manali to suit every budget! We stayed near the Bus stand at Manali. However we would recommend you stay at any of the guest houses/hotels by the river side and away from the mad hustle bustle of main street.

AMBALA:

We had planned to stay on the outskirts of Chandigarh but ended up staying at a hotel just 10 kms away from Ambala. Countless options available at Chandigarh.

DELHI:

Can find any type of accomodation easily!

ADVICE: Don't prebook your hotels. Reach destination early, search for a place to stay and bargain hard!

Preparations for Leh Bike trip (June 2016): Physical fitness

As we gathered after our weekly weekend cricket matches, one of us suggested we go to Leh on bikes. Initially we had thought only 3-4 friends would be interested but as we asked the group, almost all were excited and eagerly said "YES"!

This was approximately 135 days before THE DAY. Reading various blogs and forums we concluded that since most of us were pot bellied, middle aged and some even approaching 'old age' we need to work on our fitness on priority. Leh/Ladakh has less oxygen coupled with biking 6- 8 hours of daily biking added to our anxities.

Enter ENDOMONDO!

Incase you don't know, Endomondo is one of the best fitness tracking apps available for both Android & iOS. It allows you to add friends, setup group challenges, watch and encourage friends fitness activities. It caught up fast among us and most of us were soon jogging 5 kms at a stretch. We even managed to reach 10 km jogging and cycling from Pune to Lonavla (45kms each way) and track our calories burnt on the app.

Nikhil was a leader in calories burnt for 2 straight months, burning 15000 to 25000 calories monthly. Praveen was our cycling expert and our most senior member.

Advice: Nitrojains really recommend Endomondo if you are serious about getting physically fit for the Leh trip.