Aut-Banjar-Jibhi-Sojha cycling 07-10 June 2012

After registering for Himalayan Biking Expedition 2012 in February, I was waiting for June and finally D-Day arrived. Me and Nithesh met at Chennai Railway Station on
June 2nd, boarded Tamil Nadu Express to reach New Delhi on June 04th morning.

Checked into a Hotel @ Pahar Ganj, had breakfast at an eat-out near to the place where we stayed. Summer heat was too much so didn't roam around much, went around few shops in Connaught Place. Nithesh bought solid-nice jerkin in Palika Bazaar followed by

takeaway lunch from McD's.

We took Howarh -Kalka mail from Old Delhi Railway station @ 09:15PM
which dropped us in Chandigarh @ 03:00 AM. We waited till dawn, met
a doctor whose heading to Dharmashala. We had to report at Aut, Base camp YHAI
on June 05th. We reached Chandigarh Bus Station by auto @ 6AM to complete
our last part of journey by road to Aut.

It was chaos and confusion as Himachal Roadways staff were on strike.
Our bus was scheduled to leave Chandigarh at 08:30AM. Got refund from HRTC staff
& was waiting-checking-inquiring our ways to reach Aut, Himachal.
After several conversations & discussion, group of 8 folks finally hired a
Innova which dropped us in Mandi, it was around 03:40 PM. Paid Rs600 per person.
From Mandi to Aut (40km) we hired another taxi to Aut.
Charges were Rs 700 for two. We had lunch somewhere after Bilaspur around 2pm.

Finally on June 05th around 05:30PM, We reached Aut, base camp of YHAI.
I was spell-bound with such spectacular views on both sides of the road.
Totally exhausted, T-I-R-E-D after traveling for almost 9hrs. Met other guys & saw few girls who were already reported ahead of us. Took bath, had tea after completing the registration & slowly started getting used to chill weather, huge,sky-tall mountains and river flowing some 30 feet below our camp site.

Put our stuff-baggage's in the room near to tent, started talking with other folks.
Most of the group members were from Mumbai, good number from Gujarat, mix of people from other places and last to arrive were 4 blokes from Bangalore check-in for that day.
The amount of day-light is quite astonishing-almost for close to 15-16hrs. Had dinner & retired to sleep.


June 06
Mohan Rao eldest member of our group was in the same room with 4 Bangalore guys and can't remember others. He was trying to wake all of us & get ready for the day ahead.
I got-up at 04:45 AM seemed like it was already around 7:30/8AM or so. Tea was served at 5AM & walked gazing at stunning views all-over. Had Breakfast @ 8AM & getting used to surroundings, weather, getting introduced to other members of the group. We walked few times to the market to have Tea & to kill time. Most of them climbed the hill opposite to place where we stayed.

After having lunch, Me & Nithesh decided to trek up the hill than to head to Kullu/Manali.
Started walking on the road that's when I met this dude named, Ajinkya -funny yet lively laugh which is very infectious, he introduced as Ajinkya here.

After getting acclimatised ourselves, We collected Helmet, ruck-sack, elbow-knee pads, gloves, sleeping cloth. Finally @ 5PM or so cycles(bikes) were given & we all went on 3-4km orientation ride. Dimple, Thanmai were so careful & made sure that the group was together. After having dinner at 9PM; Thanmai briefed us the schedule for the next 3 days of up-hill pedaling.

Camp-fire was a ritual -with a candle lit by Thanmai-Mithoon after which the group questions were answered. Sad that there was a house-hold fight between a couple in the building we stayed. 2 drunk guys were beating-up a woman was what we heard & few guys wanted to intervene who was stopped by organizers 'non-interference of others internal affairs'. Anish with 3 other guys from Bangalore said that they were dropping-out due to personal reasons. Packed ruck-sack with things/stuff required for the next 4-5 days of cycling. End of Day 1 with minimum activity. slept at 10:30PM

June 07
Woke-up at 4:30AM; had tea @ 5AM & breakfast @ 8AM.
Mohan Rao's mobile & pouch was stolen. When Anish woke-up, he also stated that his pouch & mobile was missing/stolen. Anish pouch was later found rather miraculously appeared under blankets. His wallet & Mohan Rao's polythene containing pouch was found under the window of 1st room. Due to all this chaos and confusion; start was delayed. Finally at 09:40AM, National Himalayan Biking Expedition 2012 Jalori pass was flagged-off after important instructions by some short guy. He massacred English.

I reached camp-site, Banjar at 12:30PM after pedalling for 17km. Aut=3500ft;Banjar=4000ft.

We had packed lunch in tent & freshed-up in Beas river, ended up spending time by the river while waiting for others to reach camp site. We had soup followed by Tea & went to the river side and sat-down talking with few folks.

Dinner time @ 8PM. Yapped, talked endless by pulling each other's legs and dumsharas till 10:30/11PM

June 08
Got-up at 5AM. Had tea by 6AM & breakfast at 7:30/8AM; packed lunch.

We started cycling at 08:40AM from Banjar(4000ft) reached Jibhi (6000ft) at 12:10PM after pedaling 13km. Om Shanti cafe was our camp-site. About 1-1.5km ahead of Jibhi, had Tea @ Madhuban Haven - It was THE BEST TEA I had in Himachal.

I cleaned-up & went to JBC had 2 Teas, siddu & some butter crisps along with
Nithesh, Mohit, Rohit, Wais Ahmed.

Had lunch in tent after bathing. There was a heavy down-pour & thankfully sun was out briefly. Folks who were cycling at the end got completely drenched in rain. After Tea, people started singing, reciting poem with Ajinkya's special effects. Even a Punjabi family joined us with their Punjabi songs with Mithoon doing MC honors. soup was served followed by dinner & I slept early by 09:50/10PM

June 09
Plan was to reach Sojha(8500ft) from Jibhi(6000ft) a distance of 7km.

Lucky to have cleaned-up in hot water after I woke-up to guys talking outside tent at 06:30AM. Left Jibhi from Om Shanti Cafe @ 9AM, completed 3km by 09:50AM & 4km by 10:20AM. Rohit was my company during this up-hill of 2500ft full of kaccha road with demoralizing steeps. Most of the time, I was pushing than pedaling as there was no energy left. Many times would pedal-up for few meters & had to get off as cycle wasn't moving ahead. The views were spectacular, spell-bound while reaching Sojha. I clicked loads of photos on my way towards Sojha.

After Mithoon went past me, I reached Sojha @ 11:35AM. Bathed,changed & had coffee, omelets, noodles at Fort View Restaurant. Along with Mithoon, Viral & Rohit went down-hill trek for about an hour in the evening.

There's definitely some things MONEY can take you to do - breathtaking places on earth afar away from routine-hectic urban life.While having dinner @8PM there was un-necessary, im-mature argument on simple thing-littering & How it was being handled? Bournvita was served at 09:15PM-which I somehow never tasted. 3days of up-hill cycling done.

June 10
Day started at 6AM. Tea & Breakfast was a routine as always which is kind-of a warm-up.
Went to Fort-view restaurant and had coffee, Maggi. At 8AM started to walk towards Jalori pass from Sojha. We clicked pictures, had tea & Omlet at Jalori pass (10500ft) and after spending some time and then came down to Sojha by bus.

Left Sojha after having lunch.
Sojha-Jibhi = 7km. I stopped by Madhuban Haven at Jibhi sadly it was closed.
Jibhi-Banjar=10km
Banjar-Aut  =20km. I reached Aut after briefly stopping at 2-3 places. 

Finally reached base camp, YHAI Aut at 03:20PM shook hands with Dimple.
deposited elbow-knee caps, ruck-sack, gloves, sleeping cloth. After which collected my bag and completed feedback form along with check-out slip.


June 11
After having tea, Breakfast at base camp, Aut. collected biking expedition certificate.
We went to market to have tea & bought 3 mufflers.We all left @ 10AM by bus to Bhuntar.

I was crazy enough to travel on top of bus for the 1st time. At Bhuntar a van picked us to the rafting spot. Anil - our rafting guide said we were to raft in river beas for 14km.
After very vital instructions, Ajinkya, Pranav & me rushed in; I let them occupy 2 seats at the back. I took the front middle seat. Sagar and Eshwar were paddling in front & Sailesh and Nithesh were behind. It was 1 hour pure-fun rafting in such white-chill-coldy waters. Had tea at the end, posed with Anil & changed and Mahindra Balero dropped us back to Bhuntar bus stop.

 
Had lunch at Maamu ki DHABA Tandoori roti, Dhaal Mutter, Dhaal Fry, Rice, Curd, Masala Pepper Paapad. We took a bus at 03:30PM to Kullu -which was some 10-15mins ahead. This time we were all seated inside the bus. Nithesh, Mohit, Sailesh & me got off at 4PM in Kullu while Ajinkya, Eshwar, Pranav and Sagar went to Manali.

We dropped luggage at bus station; went for walk by the market and reached Shobla restaurant and Bar. After spending some time left Shobla Bar @ 06:20PM reached bus station by 7:10PM. Bid adieu to Mohit & Sailesh who were heading to Delhi by 07:30PM bus. Our 9:00PM bus to Chandigarh came about 10PM at Kullu which dropped us in Chandigarh at 05:30AM.

June 12-13-14 

We freshened-up, reached Chandigarh Railway station by 07:30AM waited till 6PM for shatabdi express to Delhi. Eventually boarded Rajdhani express to Chennai just in time at 3:50PM. reached home-sweet-home at 09:10PM on June 14th.