highlandsflyer
Retro Wizard
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Re:
Epic!
Epic!
1991(?) Cignal Silverado
- Thread starter Titiritero
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Very humbling. Admirable. Thank you for sharing.
stefanano57
Pace Fan
Bike of the month for me.
Titiritero
Retro Guru
Re:
Thanks! Yes, maybe one month the topic for the BOTM should be retrobikes on travelling duties...! (and with pictures "on location", not clean and pretty on a staged image)
stefanano57":1mngqgjr said:
Thanks! Yes, maybe one month the topic for the BOTM should be retrobikes on travelling duties...! (and with pictures "on location", not clean and pretty on a staged image)
Titiritero
Retro Guru
Re:
Yes, it always is. It was even better in our honeymoon in Cuba, where we donated both our bikes at the end (purchased for 75 and 85 EUR respectively in Germany). Bikes are the main and in many cases the only private vehicle in Cuba, and even when unboxing the bikes in Habana at the beginning of our trip many people were already asking to buy them. Considering we donated them with the racks and 1 set of panniers, and given the ingenuity of Cubans to make things work forever, those bikes will have a long and useful life...
Even more pleasant, if also selfish, was the satisfaction in India of leaving a couple of Germans behind in a 4900mts pass. They were in an organized tour (luggage carried for them, support vehicle, driver, cook...), and the previous day when we met on the road they had made some condescending comments about our bikes. They had full suspension bikes, one with full XTR and the other guy with the SRAM equivalent, whatever is called. But they struggled with altitude and we left them behind despite our fully loaded "clunkers", he, he...
Leighcal":1vkd8a3d said:
Yes, it always is. It was even better in our honeymoon in Cuba, where we donated both our bikes at the end (purchased for 75 and 85 EUR respectively in Germany). Bikes are the main and in many cases the only private vehicle in Cuba, and even when unboxing the bikes in Habana at the beginning of our trip many people were already asking to buy them. Considering we donated them with the racks and 1 set of panniers, and given the ingenuity of Cubans to make things work forever, those bikes will have a long and useful life...
Even more pleasant, if also selfish, was the satisfaction in India of leaving a couple of Germans behind in a 4900mts pass. They were in an organized tour (luggage carried for them, support vehicle, driver, cook...), and the previous day when we met on the road they had made some condescending comments about our bikes. They had full suspension bikes, one with full XTR and the other guy with the SRAM equivalent, whatever is called. But they struggled with altitude and we left them behind despite our fully loaded "clunkers", he, he...
Re:
Don't know how I managed to miss this thread! :facepalm:
Amazing story, and it should not be understated how difficult it is to ride that route (Manali to Leh), altitude, bad road surface etc.. plus it's over 1000kms!!!
I have been planning to do it for years, but on a motorbike, not a bicycle! :shock:
Did you train hard for the trip, or were you super-fit anyway?
Do you have any more pics somewhere, e.g. Flickr?
Cheers,
Andrew
Don't know how I managed to miss this thread! :facepalm:
Amazing story, and it should not be understated how difficult it is to ride that route (Manali to Leh), altitude, bad road surface etc.. plus it's over 1000kms!!!
I have been planning to do it for years, but on a motorbike, not a bicycle! :shock:
Did you train hard for the trip, or were you super-fit anyway?
Do you have any more pics somewhere, e.g. Flickr?
Cheers,
Andrew
Titiritero
Retro Guru
Re:
Thanks for the interest. I've meant to do some online gallery for a while, mostly because I took most of the pictures and my cycling friend keeps asking for them, but haven't got yet around it. Nevertheless, if you have questions about the trip, logistics, etc. feel free to ask.
We didn't start in Manali but in Shimla, and then went all the way up Kinnaur (Jeori, Reckong Peo, etc.) and then Spiti Valley (Nako, Tabo, Kaza...) before connecting to the Manali - Leh in Gramphu. If you only do the Manali -Leh part, the overall distance is below 500km. From Shimla, about 1000.
We trained a bit but not crazy before going. We tried to keep all stages at a reasonable distance, with an average of 60 km/day, with some longer or shorter depending on where there was the next village with accommodation. We did not camp or cook as prices are cheap and we didn't want to carry the extra weight. Starting in Shimla is much longer, but beautiful and gives you a better chance to acclimatise to the altitude as it goes up day by day starting at 2100, while from Manali the first climb already takes you to 4000 in one go. We did it in 15 days, but we were extremmely lucky with weather, health, and landslides. You should always leave buffer days as anything can happen. After our arrival in Leh the road was closed during 3 days because a truck f*cked up a bridge.
andyz":3p0095eh said:
Thanks for the interest. I've meant to do some online gallery for a while, mostly because I took most of the pictures and my cycling friend keeps asking for them, but haven't got yet around it. Nevertheless, if you have questions about the trip, logistics, etc. feel free to ask.
We didn't start in Manali but in Shimla, and then went all the way up Kinnaur (Jeori, Reckong Peo, etc.) and then Spiti Valley (Nako, Tabo, Kaza...) before connecting to the Manali - Leh in Gramphu. If you only do the Manali -Leh part, the overall distance is below 500km. From Shimla, about 1000.
We trained a bit but not crazy before going. We tried to keep all stages at a reasonable distance, with an average of 60 km/day, with some longer or shorter depending on where there was the next village with accommodation. We did not camp or cook as prices are cheap and we didn't want to carry the extra weight. Starting in Shimla is much longer, but beautiful and gives you a better chance to acclimatise to the altitude as it goes up day by day starting at 2100, while from Manali the first climb already takes you to 4000 in one go. We did it in 15 days, but we were extremmely lucky with weather, health, and landslides. You should always leave buffer days as anything can happen. After our arrival in Leh the road was closed during 3 days because a truck f*cked up a bridge.
