Himanshu

Being a sports person (formula car racer), staying fit and enjoying exercise has always been a likeable activity.

In school days, it was mostly football, badminton and table-tennis, then when I started racing, the goal was endurance so cycling and swimming became the main activities along with other strength building exercises.

Initially, I used to cycle alone for an hour on a single speed bike. My father & brother also used same bike at different times to exercise. I also used it for short commutes to work. This attracted some of my friends and they too started to push pedals whenever possible. Exercise is something to enjoy, and if one enjoys some activity, he or she continues to do it.

In between I did a trip to Ladakh on motorbikes, had a fall while riding pillion with my friend and my left shoulder dislocated. It had to be operated upon and I set a goal to ride from Manali to Leh on bicycle whenever my treatment got complete.

I upgraded to a light weight geared bike and started to train with my friends & brother, most of them also got new bikes and it is always fun to explore surroundings with mates. We generally rode for an hour and a half daily on good roads to no roads, through villages and forest trails. We also did some rides to nearby hill station to climb and hone our riding.

Then it was time to fulfil the desire to climb Himalayan passes and we had to drive to Manali in our vehicle with camping items and bicycles. Finding a good driver while we were riding became a task and nobody stepped up but four of us were fired up and didn’t cancel our plans. We reached Manali on day 2 in the evening. We had to hire a previously known local person from Manali to drive our Scorpio as backup vehicle.

We had to brave rain, snow and chilly mountain passes in very unpredictable weather conditions. The experience was beautiful and surreal, there were problems but we overcame them and reached Leh after riding 500kms and crossing passes above 5000m. The route is also more tough due to low oxygen levels.

We again rode in Himalayas, this time to Sach pass and cliffhanger route, which is one of the toughest path in the world, to again face the very lonely, rocky thick jungle roads, braved a fall, lack of oxygen and snow on our way up. This time we had a non-riding friend to help the driving duties. In both the trips we ourselves drove our vehicle.

We do have our shares of falls, punctures and some other problems, but hey thats part of cycling to distant places but we have made many memories and umpteen new friends all over and hell of a lot of stories to tell!

As I, an introvert, was pursuing car racing in India, I have habit of trying to achieve my personal goals even if it takes too much time. I am also a habitual reader, photographer, nature enthusiast and traveller. My friends who continue to run stores or have a day job now see the world in a different light and know that determination, grit and will go a long way in life and experiences of this kind always help in a cool and calm way to make decisions be it any condition. It is very hard for us now to visit places as common tourists as there is hardly any sense of achievement.

I crossed 25000kms on my geared bike last year and continue to ride while searching for our next destination. The activities I do are not to prove anything to anybody or even to myself, they are just to enjoy life as it unfolds, Cheers!

P.S. Please search for “2himanshu” on team-bhp.com to read the travelogues or search “KonarkSampatAdventures” on YouTube.com to live the adventures with us. You may follow me on Instagram (@to_himanshu) too.

Thanks, warm regards and best of luck!!

Story Witter : Himanshu, Karanja, Maharashtra.