Section 1: In Anticipation > Chapter 5: Compulsory Catastrophe

I write this under the influence of antibiotics so please excuse any aberrations from the general writing style.


And so the day has finally arrived. I begin my 7000km+ journey to Leh and back in a few moments. The past few days have witnessed the dictum of compulsory catastrophe before any major life event. A last minute replacement of tyres to those that were better suited to icy roads led to the discovery of a bend in the wheel rim - lending to the possibility of my tubeless tyres losing air pressure. I could insert tubes if I so wished, but I decided to wait and watch. Riding on tubes inserted into tubeless tyres is like trying to walk with your thumb up your a$$ ie not very comfortable - or so I'm told about the former - about the latter I can only assume. As I held my breath these past few days, so did the air pressure. So far so good, but I will be keenly sensitive to even minor influences on the rear wheel for the first hundred kilometers.

The other blow came from my own stupidity. The tyres I purchased had a profile of a 110-70-17 which is very different from my stock which I believe are 100-80-17. Of course that was the whole objective, to go from 100 to 110 to increase the width of the tyres for better grip on the rockies. But doing this last minute is just bad karma. She (yes the bike) handles BEAUTIFULLY now and I wonder how I ever did without my Pirellis. So why is this a bad thing? She feels different. You don't want to change her right before the honeymoon. While a few pleasant surprises may be fun, you could land up with a few nasty ones as well. She'll take a little getting used to in her new avatar. Then again, I'm riding to Leh and consequently I'll have plenty of getting-to-know-her time in the days to follow, before I hit the terrifying terrain.

There's also the issue of me managing to catch a throat infection and a cold a day before the trip, waiting at a dispensary till about 1am (you heard that right!), giving the specifics of my trip to a very boy-like, wide-eyed doctor who expressed the hope that if not him, at least his medication will visit Leh with me, popping them pills and taking steam all night to think straight... but lets just gloss over it for now :-P

And finally, as of today, the two routes to Leh, Manali-Leh and Srinagar-Leh are both closed due to snowfall and rainfall respectively with nature showing no signs of letting up. We will only be able to decide on which route to take (if any is possible at all!) on our arrival at Delhi a few days hence. We can't wait for things to improve now. Those riding with me have approved leaves only for a specific term. Consequently we must ride on.

And as I contemplate the options, the sun explodes through the clouds with sun beams pointing to the door; the Universe whispers "Enough talk child. Let's ride."

Games you thought you'd learned
You neither lost nor won
Dreams have crashed and burned
You still keep on keeping on
Out on the highway with the road gang working
Up on the mountain with the cold wind blowing
Out on the highway with the road band working

~ Mark Knopfler