The next morning, the Bullet refused to start. I spent about 30 min trying various tricks with no avail. The locals helped me - particularly one boy who even helped me tie my shoe lace (as I couldn't park the Bull without the stand). Finally, Artur got up and suggested I run the Bull down the slope and I did and it puttered to a start - but the sound wasn't normal - I rode it around for awhile and finally zoomed past Rumste - I didn't have time to say bye to the locals and still feel bad. With adrenaline pumping, I was eager to reach Leh - I mean, come-on I'd seen enough on this ride from Manali, I want to get to Leh now.
Throughout my ride, some phrases stuck - my mind would drift and all kinds of thoughts keep plaguing it - what if I have another puncture, what if the chain breaks, what if...and I'd say, "focus, focus, focus" bringing it back to the road. After a point, I'd gotten used to these drifts and decided to just go with the flow - whatever, I'll "figure it out."
The best and worst part is over after Rumste - the ride into Leh is spectacular and beautiful - the highway is superb and nice and you begin to see people all along the way. Seeing army around also offers a different kind of assurance. I reached Leh early in the day and really, really enjoyed the breakfast - bread and omlette in Mona Lisa restaurant. I felt so good, so good - I did it - one of the toughest roads ever - Manali-Leh and I did it. I SMSed folks. One of the people in the restaurant started a conversation, "aapko tho yahan satisfaction nahin milegi - aapko tho Khardung La jana hai" - yes, of course - Khardung La was tomorrow. I spent the rest of the day taking the Bull to a mechanic called Juma - he worked on it for a few hours - cleaned the carburretor, changed the engine oil, fixed the foot rest and the stand etc. but the Bull still didn't sound alright. I insisted that it's pick-up seemed bad and something seemed wrong with the tuning, he insisted that it was because of the height and where we were (Leh). Hmm...I slept a little uneasily - I don't think I slept very well that night - I was too excited about Khardung La the next morning.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment