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It has been a month since I have returned from solo cycling trip in Indian Himalayas.

Impressions clearly overloaded my brain. This was first time I’ve been to Real Mountains - the highest pass, Kunzum, was at 4500m. And this was my first time I’ve been to a non-Western country (not counting my home Russia, which I’d put “on the border”).

The route was easy: start at Shimla, and follow the National Highway 22 (with some variations in the beginning) until Manali. Oh the highway… Never have seen anything like this before.

Numbers, mostly of interest to cyclists only:

• 9 ride days
• 750km covered
• Total altitude gain is still not counted, although three biggest gains were 1600, 1300 and 1000 meters

What else:

• Was caught in a snowfall in Lossar, 4000m:
  
• In the plains (Chandigarh), the temperature was in +30 range
• On the National Highway 22, passed landslides three times. Two of them, the bike could just ride through, like this one:

  

  once had to wait until it’s cleaned (I waited just half an hour, but others were there from the morning to the evening):

  

• Stayed in the tent two times, in hotels and various “rooms” 11 times.

In fact the impressions of India as a country overweigh the “mountain-cycling” impressions. It deserves much more than one blog post - even much more than one book. All my perception of the surrounding world is now a little bit different than it was before. Probably such thing is called “cultural shock”. I’m so happy that this happened; now I see how terribly narrow view I previously had.

Of the real India, I have seen only Chandigarh, which is described in all guides as most comfortable city in the country. Still it is, of course, Indian city (just like my home Saint Petersburg is the most European of the Russian cities, but still fully Russian).

I’m feeling own deficiency of not being a good writer to describe my thoughts about these two weeks. I will certainly do what I know I can - produce a technical report, with details for cyclists such as what tires to put on your bike and how much food to carry.

All pictures (unprocessed) piled here.

We managed to get out for an almost real snowbiking on a weekend. Suomusjärvi - Karjaa, about 60 km on gravel roads.

One forest road was not cleaned of the snow, and we had to drag bikes for several kilometers. What a joy! That was the first - and I’m afraid the only - day in this winter when I enjoyed the snow.

All other roads were either clean asphalt, or covered with smooth ice. Good for the one who had both studded tires! I’m so much missing the real winter; well now I’ll have at least one memory of it.

I’m leaving to St. Petersburg today with the intention to take the train to Polar Ural in three days.

I have been there in 2001, six years ago, and longing to get there again.

This region is a known touring place. Nowadays there are not so many places on the Earth where you can wonder for several weeks and meet not a single human being. Backpacking there is nothing like “hiking trip from a hotel to a restaurant” along marked route. There is no services - you just go wherever you can. No cellular network (and we don’t take a satellite phone, as it weighs over kilo). All food has to be carried - we plan to fit in 700g/day, which makes 15kg of “consumable” start weight.

More facts:

• The region is extremely wet. Expect your feet to be wet all the time. There is positively no reason to dry down the boots, as they fill up with the water during first 15 minutes of walk-time.
• The temperature can be anything between 0°C and 25°C. At 0, the rain with heavy wind makes for a rich experience. Snow is possible starting from beginning of August.
• If the weather is warm, there can be really much mosquitos and gnats. Normal situation is when you must wear mosquito mesh and gloves to protect. It is impossible to eat with the mesh; so eating becomes challenging and people eat either inside the tent or walking/running around.

We’ll have 3 weeks of full autonomy. My heart is already in the mountains.