As a young girl my family spent most weekends on foot in the Scottish hills and mountains, they are a special place, and as a roadie I found myself dreaming and missing their magnificence so often. What more to satisfy this urge than the mighty Himalayas.
The hero mountain bike Himalaya was to be a 650km, 9 day stage race from Shimla to Dharamsla taking on 16,000m of climbing. With stages varying in distance from 55km to 91km to me this sounded very doable, I love climbing, and had completed quite a few stage races on the road with stages over 130km in length, so clearly I was well prepared for the challenge ahead.
With a shiny new light hardtail, I entered a couple of one day mountain bike races in the local area, and riding the mountain bike twice a week to try and gain some skills amongst commuting to work on my road bike hopefully I could wing my way through.... thinking it surely wouldn't be that technical right?......wrong!
Holy moly, was I in for a shock!
More on the race very soon, but the adventure started way before the race! Lets talk about India.
"Sometimes you have to surrender to win. Surrender is at the heart of the Indian experience"
In the western world we are used to a rather organised way of life, where we know what to expect and how events are likely to unfold. It was time to let go and surrender to a new way of thinking. In India nothing goes to plan, but somehow it just happens, in a relaxed fashion and it always works out in the end, usually with an unexpected twist that makes the whole experience better than you had imagined!
Arriving at Delhi airport my heart and head were racing, in anticipation of being reunited with my beloved bike and finding the bus station to travel on to Shimla I was stopped in my tracks by a sign with my name on it as soon as I hopped off the plane.
My heart sank as I was told that my bike hadn't made it from Singapore!
Did I go to Shimla and hope that my bike would be delivered to a small town the middle of the mountains in one piece before the start of the race, or to change everything and wait in Delhi? The thought of leaving Delhi with only a small bag of clothes in hand was somewhat frightening.
With a leap of faith, I decided to keep going to Shimla, forget about what could go wrong, and just surrender.
Leaving the safety of the airport behind, I jumped on the Delhi Metro and into the sweaty obtrusive heat of the day. Like a smack in the face I was transported into a different world, my senses were overwhelmed by the smells, sights and sounds of Delhi. "taxi mam?", "tuk tuk?", "hotel?", were touted at me, people were everywhere, there was dust, cars beeping and hooting all around, and the smell of spices wafted into the air from street stalls of food on every corner.
I was both excited and a little scared, but carried on. Off I went to catch the 10 hour bus trip along the twisting, turning, narrow roads to the mountains. After a very bumpy journey and arriving late that night I crashed into bed, and the next morning, just felt at peace as I looked out at a view of serenity in the mountains.
My room mate was Nienke, a fellow vet! What are the chances! We settled in, my bike duly arrived in one piece the next morning and soon it was time to register, and hear about the adventures ahead.
It didn't take too long to realise I was totally under prepared mentally, physically and technically for what the next 9 days were to hold! As the stages were explained in detail, I began to quiver from head to toe! local trails with nice flowy singletrack, a few tree roots and some fire road climbing, were definitely very tame in comparison to the terrain I was hearing about!
Stage 1 you will find yourself riding along some steep cliff edges... be careful here and stay to the inside....rocky sections, stairs, steep climbs were all to come, reality hit!
Prologue Day
On the eve of stage 1 there had been some rain for the unannounced prologue that had us riding around a 1km circuit in town and negotiating some greasy steps, thankfully our prayer to the weather gods had been answered and that was the only precipitation for the week.
Stage 1
" announcement riders, stage 1 will start at 9am, be at the start for 0845 sharp" Of course we all listened on day 1, only to learn that we could become a little more relaxed about the start times! After much excitement in town and a lot of hanging around, laughing and last minute toilet stops, the rider role call began.
It became a joke for the week, as each day just like in a school classroom...rider number 1?.....rider number 2?..... rider number 32a....rider number 93.....finally we were ready to set off into the mighty Himalayas, it was 11am! Indian time!
As soon as we were out of town, there was a steep rocky downhill section, and over 90 riders fighting for the front. " Dang" I heard and felt something hit off my back wheel....hoping it was just a noise I carried on regardless. My heart sunk as I felt the softness in my back tyre, 1km into stage 1- a puncture on my brand new tubeless tyres.... really?
Rushing past I was handed a gas canister and head, by a fellow India rider, I tried to see if this would work... but no, the air was spurting out, I had no choice but to stop and put a tube in. Rather a novice at this, luckily another charitable rider stopped to help me, thank goodness his pump was a lot better than mine, and 15 minutes later I was back rolling again.
Of course the whole race was now 15 minutes up the road, and I was in panic mode to try and get back, I didn't like the thought of being stuck alone with another mechanical. I had all the tools and parts, but not sure of my capabilities to fix the problem unaided!
Huffing and and puffing up all the hills, and trying to keep a positive mindset I was in disbelief hitting narrow single tracks where we were balancing on cliff edges, then descents with huge rocks that I just couldn't negotiate, even carrying my bike, I was in fear of slipping down into ditches and rivers.... was everyone else riding all of this? Oh my I was in for quite a week!
Finally I caught up with Nienke, Eve and Chrissy, they were also hike a biking, and seeming quite as distressed as I was with the terrain! A gush of relief hit me as I was reunited with my buddies. This was short lived as poor Nienke had actually fallen down a cliff and badly hurt herself, but carrying on headstrong, determined to get to the end!
We were all in struggle street, and just wanted to get to the finish, and oh what a relief it was when those MTB Himalaya flags were in view! Day 1 complete, if not a little battered!!
The campsite was beautiful and a taste of the enjoyment we had to look forward to each afternoon throughout the race. Such a sociable setting with everyone chatting in groups outside their tents, it was great to meet all of our fellow competitors. Around half of the field was Indian, and the other half from all over the world. Such an ecletic mix with people from Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Germany, UK, Australia, South Africa and Czech. It was great to hear stories from all the riders, with such varied backgrounds and experiences. There were seasoned professional racers, to people who had barely ridden a mountain bike.
My favourite time of day was normally Chai o clock, which was around 5pm. The Sweet spicy Indian tea was just too good, and we found ourselves delving into the never ending supply, it had become an addiction by the end of the race! We certainly were never going to go hungry, lunch after the race, chai and snacks at 5pm, and then dinner after that, a constant supply of delicious food!
However that night my guts began to dance in the middle of the night, and that night became a long one! I was feeling nauseas, and now the prospect of a long race the next day was getting tougher. The next morning I giggled to myself, if I were an animal with the same problems I would be admitted to the hospital for intravenous fluids. instead I was going to push my body through the mountains for a long hot day in the saddle.
Stage 2
The day began with a 4km climb, and I pushed to stay with the group, however as soon as we hit the first technical enduro section, the others were gone. A lot of the day was filled with long technical descents, super steep sections, slippy grassy slopes and lots of unexpected holes, you never knew what would be round the corner! I laughed as I shared the trail with a wandering cow too!
Next was a long hot climb, at over 40 degrees, dehydration was beginning to take its toll, and climbing at what felt like snail pace became increasingly arduous. The views were breathtaking and a welcome distraction. As I looked down the road below could be seen winding up the mountain just like an alpine climb, and off in the distance were snow capped jagged mountain peaks.
Stage 3
The next morning I woke up with a new lease of life for stage 3, thank goodness, as todays stage was the Queen stage with a total of 3000m of climbing over 50km through the mighty Jeloria pass. After we finally hit the top of the climb the most eventful part of the day was definitely the descent into Gada Gushani. The road was made of broken tarmac and bumpy gravel sections, and was open to cars.
Flying down the descent we were negotiating oncoming traffic, and even had to come to an abrupt halt to carry our bikes through the small gap on the side of the road to pass a traffic jam. The road was wide enough at many sections for one car only and every car was fighting to squeeze through small gaps. There were deserted cars planted nose first into the side of the cliff on one side of the road, and often a wide bus to squeeze past after a corner. In India everyone just beeps so you know they are there! My heart certainly was in my mouth, and it was a massive relief to make it down unscathed!
Stages 4-8
After the rest day on day 4 there were 5 more days of riding though the mountain passes, with many more surprises ahead, at least by now we knew what to expect! Stages 7 and 8 brought us finally to Dharamsala passing through the Kangra valley and looking at the breathtaking Dhauladhar mountains. Arriving in Palampur was a treat as we descended we watched the paragliders soaring in the skies above.
The final day ended with, of course another long steep rocky climb, where we crossed the final finish line on top of a hill overlooking Dharamsala. With a mix of elation and exhaustion we congratulated each other and enjoyed the views.
It was time to get to our race hotel for some celebration!
A small group of us set off towards the hotel, with "simple" directions, of course getting lost in the sweaty heat of the afternoon and asking bemused locals for directions! Finally we made it to the hotel and a very welcome shower and clean fluffy towel!
That evening the schuduled dinner was rather late, and ninety hungry cyclists loitered around the buffet table waiting for their dinner, until finally at 8pm it was served! Not quite the celebration that evening we were hoping for we all collpased exhausted into a comfy bed for some much needed rest. The next evening we certainly made up for it with some post race celebrations!
For the riders and organisers this race means so much more to the country. Each year the number of Indian participants is rising, and the awareness and accessibility of sport is increasing in the country. For the first time this year a female indian cyclist completed the race, such an acheivement!
Each day throughout the race a team of volunteers spent their days visiting local schools, and delivering books as part of an educational programme. For me this race was an amazing adventure, meeting some amazing friends, seeing remote and inaccessible places barely any tourists would be lucky enough to set eyes on, and experiencing a completely different culture and way of life. India sure does touch your soul!