Riding a bike for a long distance ride brings on a whole new level of adventure. Add a few other riders, select a strong bike and one of the world’s toughest rides and it will be a great experience. Margao-based Rohit Mehta recently returned from the Ride to Zanskar. Zanskar in the Ladakh region is a high altitude semi-desert lying on the northern flank of the Himalayan Range. The ride took him nine days to complete, covering 2000 kilometres on his bike, Harley Davidson Pan America.
His journey began from Dehradun, Manali, Gemoor Khar, Padum, Kargil, Drass and back from Drass to Dehradun. There were total 14 Harley Davidson riders from across India. “This was one of the toughest rides I have attempted. I didn’t expect it to be such a learning and wonderful experience to ride in that terrain. Ride to Zanskar is always a special ride because it’s always a new terrain over every landscape and something new is waiting for you up in the mountains. This ride by far is considered to be one of the world’s toughest ride. In this terrain usually its off-roading and my bike has been an absolute off-roading gem. We were cutting through the mountains, climbing up to heights of more than 17,000 feet or coming down the mountains at 60 degrees or 70 degrees incline up to 9-10 kilometres with tough terrain or under-construction roads. It was just slush and snow under extreme weather conditions like snow, rain, a little of rain storms, you could not predict what we would encounter next,” says Rohit Mehta about the intense ride.
Despite having a fully-fledged family business, Rohit pursued his dreams of building his own company from scratch. Apart bike riding, which he began in 2014, Rohit also loves travelling, music and sports. He has done a lot of long distance trips before. “In 2018, I rode 10000 kilometres across India traversing through various cities such as Hyderabad, Kolkata, Gangtok, Kaziranga, Cherapunji, New Delhi, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Jaipur, Ahmedebad, Mumbai etc. However, riding in Ladakh terrain is on a totally different level altogether. In 2019, I was one of the few riders of the Harley-Davidson Group which rode to Ladakh covering the Khardung La Pass, Chang La Pass, Pangong Lake, Umling La Pass, amongst others and were the first biking group to ride to Siachen Base Camp. This year, it was a totally different experience as it was an off-roading ride on an off-roading bike to Zanskar which is one of the world’s toughest ride,” explains Rohit, who bought the bike in Dehradun especially for the ride.
He further adds, “Since this was a very difficult terrain, there were definitely falls. But the bike is made in such a way, that even if there is a fall, there is minimal damage to the bike. A rider, if he falls, he will just pick up the bike and continue the ride. So that’s the way we go and we don’t look back at what happened. We had two tyre puncture incidents, but we had puncture removal kits with us. Usually if there is a tyre puncture, then we repair it on the go and proceed on the ride. We were blessed that we had no breakdowns. All the bikes and riders went safely and came back safely home.”
This is the first time Rohit did off-roading on bike. He explains that in off-roading the concept is absolutely different. “The first few days whilst we were riding at temperatures like -6, -5, -4 or zero degrees, your legs go numb in the initial period, because your legs are getting used to standing and riding the bike. Since most of the ride is off-roading, if you sit and ride, there is high possibility of damaging of your back, if you stand your legs have a better ability to absorb the shocks and bumps which you face on the bad roads. Initially, the toughest part was standing and riding on the bike. However the temperatures, the road conditions worsen things for you, but there is no terrain that you cannot cross.”
Former director of Harley-Davidson Goa HOG Chapter till 2020, under Rohit’s able leadership Harley-Davidson Goa HOG Chapter won the Best Chapter Award for 2019. “In 2023, I will be attempting a record ride which is first of its kind in India to my knowledge, starting from the lowest point in the country to the highest motorable point in the country,” says Rohit, about his next ride.
