Day 5. On to Banjar.

The bags were packed. Everyone leisurely arranged their rucksacks and had a quick breakfast. We were supposed to select our safety gear and everyone obviously clamored to get the best stuff. I had other things on my mind.

It seemed that the Firefoxes were already claimed by certain people. Uncle got one - presumably because of his age, so did expert cyclists Harry and Manish. The last Fox was abruptly mooched by one of the men from Vishakapatnam and that left the rest of us with Thunder cycles. All is not lost, as there are four more waiting for the first four to reach the camp.

A photo-op and a send-off later, we were good to go. Chetan and I exchanged glances - it was time to fly. We had to reach first if we wanted the bikes. It was a race - with a prize!

Chetan sped away after the flag off. After a while, I too picked up the pace. Rear cog third to fourth. Gears clanging every few seconds. Shifting the front cog to second. Then third. Finally going on to effective gear number 18. You feel like you are pedaling against a block of iron. But the bike flies. Full power, till it was only the both of us at the lead.

We approached the first major 'obstacle', which was the 3 km tunnel. Straight, level road, but very few lights. It was impossible to even get accustomed to the darkness for every now and then a vehicle would come from the front blinding us with high beam. Still, we carried onshifting lanes from the left to middle occasionally to receive maximum light. Harry joined us quite effortlessly and advised us to slow down. But we were on a mission.

Tunnel over, a bridge crossing later we were on the route. This was the first leg of the climb. There were some uphill climbs, interspersed with some downhill slopes and level terrain. The road was asphalt, with potholes only on some occasions. It was a little hot, but probably a pleasant ride - if one were to take it easy.

As expected Chetan and I tired ourselves pretty soon. But we were so far ahead that a few pitstops wouldn't make much of a difference. Harry was cool as ever - he told us that he was a national level cyclist. He tried to get us to cycle in single file alternating with lead positions like they do in Tour de France - but it didn't really work out.

A word on the cycles. These bikes have been used and abused on this trek. Ours was the last batch so we were left with cycles pushed to the limit.
The Hero Thunder is a light mountain bike. Brakes are average, gears are responsive and for the better part, error free. The front fork does very little to absorb shocks - and your hands rattle so much on downhill speed runs that you brake just to stop your hands from shaking.
Its seat is uncomfortable but bearable. And it has a rear pannier which we used to hold our bags on uphill climbs.

Even though this stretch was touted as the easiest of the climbs on this trip, it seemed like it would never end. I couldn't make sense of any of the milestones and we seemed to be going at a measly pace. We just kept having glucose biscuits and boiled sweets to keep us going.. but the heat and the exertion surge we had earlier were taking its toll.

Finally we reached a bridge; and lo and behold - Banjar Camp up ahead. But somewhat more importantly - Four Firefoxes were parked outside the camp.

Chetan and I went up to the members of the previous batch who were from Rajasthan. They were nice folks, and gave us their cycles. The job was done.

About 20 minutes later the others started appearing. By that time I knew that there was no way I could reproduce the kind of energy I had for this stretch for the coming two days - and I was right.

On exploring a little, we found a familiar looking plant. (See pic)












We later went to the river, and the water was noticeably clearer than at the base camp. You could feel the freshness of the place - it was invigorating. We actually immersered our heads in the water - just for kicks of course - but that was a mistake as the water was freezing and it was still quite hot outside.



We had lunch. I don't remember what it was but by then I decided I couldn't take this much longer. I think it was cauliflower and potato bhaji with rotis and rice. And the obsequious pickle made out of all known vegetables in Himachal. Followed by sheera for dessert. I think I just had rotis and sheera.















It started to rain and I tucked myself under the blankets. I was tired and a little feverish. It was the freezing river water. I slept like a log.