Gurudogmar Lake: The hard riding..

Yesterday night i slept very late. Guess what i was doing? I was drying clothes with an electric iron for 2hours. In gangtok i washed most of my clothes, thinking that since we were going to be there for 2 nights the clothes will dry. But they dint and i had been carrying these wet clothes since 2 days now. So when i saw an iron in kitchen, this idea of drying the clothes came to me.
At 3 in the morning Amit came to wake us up. I was very sleepy and totally unwilling to get up. Till we left it was 4.30. It was still dark. Ride till Chumthang was smooth.

But after that it was hell. Roads were badly broken up. Rain was again the culprit.



Also today was a blanket ban on photography as we had to do a lot of distance and stopping for photos would slow us down. The road improved for some distance.

Here Gopi and i did some fast non stop riding with him leading and me on his tail. It was fun riding on those narrow twisted but traffic free roads trying to keep up with the RTR. In all the 30 odd km stretch from Chumthang took us around 2hrs. We reached Lachen at 7.30.
took some pics when we breaked for rest..



Since the ride ahead was steep we decided to dump the luggage in some hotel. Anup was not feeling well today also. So he too got dumped with the luggage. Here we met 2 guys from Kolkata who had been to the lake the day before on a pulsar. They said there were no roads after Thangu. One of them had a bandaged wrist. He said he had got a sprain from continuously twisting the accelerator. We unloaded, had breakfast and left at 8.30. The roads after Lachen were badly broken up. There were lots of potholes and sometimes stretches of mud. Also lots of Army trucks on the way made the progress slower. As we crossed Thangu we realised that the 2 guys were right. There was just gravel and big stones that made up the road. Or there were layers of wet mud in which the rear tire just refused to follow the front tire. Or there were deep pot holes filled with rain water. In short the road made sure that it kicked your butt. It fun practicing my off-roading.
watering the plants.. the third one is also doing the same to the right..

To make things worse, oxygen levels were falling with the increase in height. And height was increasing pretty fast as the climb was steep. Lachen is at 8800 and something feet. And we were now higher than that. Bike was gasping for air and slowly loosing power. Soon a was riding on the 1st and 2nd gears. It is said that post afternoon the wind at Gurudogmar Lake became so violent that it ever took trucks with it. Dint stop for photography as we had to reach Gurudogmar before 1. Soon we reached an Army checkpost. What amazed me was their hospitality. Till the time i took out the permits, a soldier came running with a plate of hot gulab jamuns. I got an extra one as the officer and some of his men were from Haryana. I asked Jithu for water and suddenly appeared another soldier with tea. After the checkpost the road started having less rocks and more gravel.

Riding fast now involved lesser bumps. Road was running along a river and rising and falling. My bike was finding it difficult to climb. Also i was taking care that i dont strain the clutch plates much. So i had to maintain my momentum and break less. But this resulted in more bumps as i was not slowing when hole or rocks came. With my shoulders and back starting to pain, we reached another check post. Here we met more soldiers from Delhi and Bombay. The officer in charge was first not letting us go ahead. He said that there wasnt any road and there were a lot of paths cutting from the way and many of them lead straight to China. He said that if we ventured by mistake into China, there was nothing he or the government do to bring us back. After a lot of discussion i was able to convince him that if he gave me the directions we wont get lost. So we started again. Now the road was made of fine gravel with big stones scattered here and there. Also the terrain had become brown and barren with not very hills. Snow covered peaks were visible at the horizon.

Also as he said there were lots of paths going in every direction. The Army officer had said that we had to always keep right. Also there was no one to ask the way. We took care while taking any shortcut that we dont loose sight of the road. Once we even ventured on the wrong path but realised that quickly and back tracked. Soon we reached a sharp ascend. I could see that if i stopped once there was no way i could make it to the top without pushing the bike but if i climbed with lot of momentum, there was a chance i might reach the top. So i gathered as much speed as i could, took god's name and started climbing uphill. I would have probably made it. Halfway i saw an army truck coming down. Damn the truck. There wasnt enough room for both of us and so i breaked. When the truck passed, i tried climbing again. With a lot of acceleration on half clutch, the bike moved 2 inches forward and in the dust on a steep slope also slid 4 inches backward.
my bike stuck (you can judge the slope of the incline by seeing how small Jithu and his Karizma look in the background)..

Even leaving the clutch at 8000/9000 rpm wasnt making the bike move forward. I knew i was in for a tough time. Soon the others came and i signalled them to not stop in the middle of the incline and keep going. I expected they'll climb till the top and then come to help me. But no one came. I honked a lot but still no one. I got down and started pushing with all my energy as i left the clutch and accelerated. The bike moved but a few mts of climbing left me badly out of breath. It was 17000ft!!! Then my bike reached a point where the climb was so steep that no amount of pushing could make it climb. i reversed a bit and took a different line. Again more pushing, gasping, then pushing and more gasping. I took a break to catch my breath and then again started pushing. This time bike was on the right line and started climbing. Now i was running with it. This meant more breathlessness and more dry throat. Finally i reached the top, literally fuming with anger. I shouted at all for not coming to help. I was totally out of breath. My eyes were watering. Gopi got concerned and asked my why i crying but i could even speak.. I sat for some time. Felt better. took out my camera and got to work.

first view of the lake..

There was temple on the hill and steps leading down to the lake.
the temple..

way to the lake

I climbed down and sat at the edge of the lake. Soon my pulse rate became normal. Now i actually noticed the lake. Atlast i was here. It was a beautifull scene but the clouds were spoiling it.
panos of the lake..

the temple from below..

the lake again..

Some armymen were filling the sacred water. They told us that since we had drunk it today we should not have meat or alcohol.
armymen filling water and the prayer stones..

the water flowing to the other side..



back to the top, view on the other side..



view from the top..



After half an hour we started back. The wind had started to pick up. Some pics of the roads..



The Army officer had also warned us not to leave the main paths because of this...

Also we could feel drops of water in the air. Soon it started to rain. Slowly and carefully, cold and frozen we returned to Lachen. Although originally we had planned to go till Gangtok, we were too tired to continue. I just opened my sleeping bad and went to sleep.

Distance traveled in the day: 188kms
Total distance in the trip: 987kms

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