Motorcycling to Ladakh : Powered by Castrol POWER1

The mere mention of the word ‘Ladakh’ makes a wanderer on two-wheels go all misty-eyed and dreamy. Irrespective of whether he/she has ridden to Ladakh or not. That’s the passion-pull this remote, cold, rugged and awesomely beautiful Himalayan Desert exerts on the living thumping heart of a motorcyclist. Endless brown, green and white mountain vistas interspersed with turquoise blue lakes and tumultuous rivers are the rewards of braving the chills, the bone-shattering roads, the altitude sickness and the sheer loneliness that this ride presents. It hurts, it fatigues, it sickens and yet they come again, year after year and at times by the hordes to perform this pilgrimage of the quintessential motorcycle tourer. Only in this blessed and mystical land can you ride your motorcycle at heights that are frequented in jet aircraft by other ordinary mortals. This is a ride to the land of superlatives.

But a ride of this magnitude, one that covers thousands of kilometers, takes you thousands of feet above sea level, brings up thousands of possibilities of things going wrong and mercilessly reveals a thousand ways of losing life and limb needs serious planning for safe execution.

In this article, we bring you this comprehensive guide on ‘Motorcycling to Leh’. A concise, customized, succinct and yet detailed guide to planning, executing and living through this mother of all motorcycle rides in modern times. And needless to say, the information here applies to the entire spectrum of motorcycles that you would want to ride on, right from the 100cc commuters to superbikes and whatever lies in between.

For the ease of reading, we’ve divided this guide into the following chapters:

Motorcycling to Ladakh : Part 1 : Route & Time

Motorcycling to Ladakh : Part 2 : The Motorcycle

Motorcycling to Ladakh : Part 3 : The Rider

Motorcycling to Ladakh : Part 4 : Capturing it

Motorcycling to Ladakh : Part 5 : Winter

Motorcycling to Ladakh : Part 6 : Superbikes

Note: This guide was also published in the April-May 2011  issue of the xBhp magazine. You can buy a digital copy of this issue for your Android/iOS/Windows phone/tablet from here !

Disclaimer: The information provided in this guide is purely advisory and the result of personal experiences of people who have traveled to Ladakh more than once on motorcycles! The medical advice especially should just be treated as indicative and qualified medical opinion should be sought before attempting preventive or post treatment.