Members of the Bhubaneswar Cycling and Adventure Club, most of them IAS and IPS officers, recently undertook an adventurous bicycling trip from Manali to leh, covering a 500-km-distance at a height of 17,500 feet from the sea level in just 11 days.
The elite members comprised Manoj Ahuja, lalit Das, Susanta Nath, Sanjeeb Kumar Panda, Rajdeep Mohanty, Arun Patnaik, Subrat Kumar Panda, Jai Vijay Vedi, Rajesh Mafidar from Bhubaneswar and their friend Amitabh Kukcketi from Chicago, America.
They started the tough journey from Manali on September 19 and reached leh on September 29 experiencing chilly wind, scorching heat, less oxygen and heavy snowfall en-route.
Members said they had a dream to ride through the roads which cling and twist through some of the most spectacular terrain in the world. During cycling, they encountered five mighty passes of the world, the Rohtang pass (15,500ft), the Barachala pass (16,500ft ), the lachung la pass (16,600ft), the Nakeela pass (16,500ft) and the Tanglang la (17582 ft ). The Tanglang la is the second highest motorable road in the world.
They also cycled through Gata loops, lachung la, Zingzingbar, Whisky Nala, Sarchu, Pang, Rumste and Moore plains. It was heavily snowing and zero visibility marked at the Moore Plains (17,000ft).
The members enjoyed conducting a prayer at a beautiful place on the bank of Indus, 50 km from leh.The Indian Army provided due help and Himachal people’s hospitality were all comfortable, members said.