Day 5 - Manali India - 53 kms !

It was scripted as a warm up ride to allow riders with their own bikes and the 3 hirees (incl me) to test out their settings and to acclimatize to the tough ride ahead.

The 53 kms was an out and back affair meaning the lovely descants to start off became 600 metres of climbing on the way back - doesn't sound too bad but in the humid conditions, riding on roads that made the English lanes look like autobahns, dodging cows, wild dogs, buses, belching trucks and some of the 1 billion people over here a real doozy !

The groups is comprised of pretty experienced riders with most have done altitude &/or Tibet so the testosterone kicked in early with a pretty quick pace although when it came to hills a few really stood out including a guy who is a Scottish immigrant but now an Australian citizen - obviously the Australian climate has helped !

We descended through villages and lovely forest areas at one stage passing 1/2 the Indian army blocking our small road with their 20+ trucks making us think that maybe Pakistan had been doing some sabre rattling again.

An early stop was at the house of our guide Rajid to take in some great views, meet his family and 18 month old son and took part in a refreshing drink of two. Rajid is an accomplished trekking guide doing both summer and Winter treks cross country with the nearby Mtns providing some good skiiing and level of snow !

Reaching Mahri we took in a much needed lunch and break before turning around to climb using a fair bit of "granny" to a 15th C fort with magnificent views over the valley. Its historical notes on a small board were dwarfed by a large board over the ticket entrance listing a good 20 or so Bollywood movies that had been filmed there as its main attraction !.

With our Bollywood fix out of the way it was time to painfully climb back to Manali and even though it was only 2,00 meters a few of us (read mainly me) were breathing much heavily than normal to compensate - 5,600 metres is looking decidely difficukt !

A couple of mandatory temple stops gave us a chance to look at local life and take a few photos and video which judging by two other riders who have go pro cameras could mean a feast of editing when back in OZ.

Back in Manali there was more torture test left and it included 2km climb back to our hotel dodging tuk tuk drivers riding on potholed roads climbing up 15-20% segments before collapsing over the finish line at the hotel.

It was definitely time for a beet to allow hearts to return to normal. Some washing needed to be done remove the mud from the roads and a good carb fix planned for this evening with tomorrow's ride taking us up short of the Rohtang pass to camp at an altitude of 3,300 metres !

Its likely also that we will be off the net for 7-8 days so i expect to post when I can !