The Himalayas are a bucket-list destination for riders (and non-riders) the world over, a pinnacle of the splendor of nature. Here, the scenery varies from high-altitude desert to abundant rhododendron forests, with spectacular forested gorges rising to skylines of snow-capped peaks.
The Himalayas are home to almost 50 million people and span Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, China, Nepal, and Bhutan in a 1,550-mile-long (2,500-km) arc. It’s a region unlike any other, with green, yak-dotted pastures and high passes festooned with colorful prayer flags, and is home to red pandas and snow leopards.
And the roads! Those endless mountain roads promise unforgettable adventures for motorcyclists, who have a unique opportunity to be one with the environment on nothing but two wheels.
Let’s be honest: it’s also ludicrously dangerous – all the merry chaos of subcontinental traffic, plus extreme weather, thin air, wildly varied road surfaces, limited access to emergency services, an abundance of opportunities to drop off sheer cliffs, and some outrageous scenery to take people’s attention off the road.
I’ve personally spent many summers and thousands of miles riding in the Indian Himalayas. The experience has been incredibly rich, but frequently humbling. Mistakes? I’ve made a few; if it’s true that we learn from our mistakes, I am a well-educated man.
So, I’ve compiled a list of five mistakes that I’ve personally made while riding in the Himalayas – so that you don’t have to. Here are the top 5 things you shouldn’t do while riding in the Himalayas yourself.
1. Not letting your body adjust
Utkarsh Sood / New Atlas
You’re not in Kansas anymore – this is a very different environment from what most of us are used to. You’re quite high up in altitude, the temperatures can be extreme, the weather often changes by the minute and you’ve got to suck in a lot more air and put in more effort to take in your normal amount of oxygen.
So however you arrive – be it on a flight, a bike, or for the truly brave, riding a public bus – once you do finally reach your hotel, take a day or two to rest, acclimate, and recharge before you go about exploring.
If you don’t, well … I’ll be exhibit A here. Having left my bike back at the B&B with a view to doing some shopping, I’d decided to take a nice, relaxing bus ride into a rather famous hamlet called Kasol in the Himalayas. As is typical in India, the bus was jam-packed with fragrant humanity, and I was squeezed into an aisle holding on for dear life as the bus lurched its way through town.
A few minutes into the bus ride I started feeling dizzy. In no time, my head started spinning and I felt the nausea starting to rise. Considering myself a seasoned traveller, my ego kept me from alerting those around me. And boy, did I learn a lesson. One sharp hairpin turn later, I was scrambling over my fellow passengers’ laps for the nearest window, to let loose a theatrically loud torrent of vomit.
Safe to say, this caused no end of merriment at my expense – from pretty Himalayan girls and small children to the elderly, everyone else on board had a grand old laugh as I sat there wondering if my face was closer to red or green. Boy, did I learn a lesson …
When traveling in high-altitude areas, taking a few days to acclimate helps your body adapt to the decreased oxygen levels and lower air pressure. It helps you avoid altitude sickness and makes it less likely you’ll barf your way through your trip. To add to that, eat light, and don’t hog your breakfast like it’s the last meal of your life. That bus ride taught me well.
2. Not keeping yourself hydrated
Utkarsh Sood / New Atlas
The main threat to motorcycle riders is fatigue, regardless of where you’re riding. In the Himalayas, where the massive landscape extends for thousands of miles, it’s very easy to lose track of time, and forget to hydrate.
Like the time I was riding to a small settlement called Mori, on the banks of the Tons River in Uttarakhand, a Himalayan state in northern India. It had been a long, hard day in the saddle, the sun was harsh and relentless, and by midday, my mind was getting hazy and I felt slightly off my game. By mid-afternoon, a sense of dramatic exhaustion was creeping through my whole body – to the point that I simply wanted to get off the bike and lay down under some shade … And throw up.
It took me a while to work out why – I was severely dehydrated. It was a bit of a surprise to me considering I’d made sure to consistently sip some water each time I took a pit stop. But a few sips of water every now and then don’t go far under a harsh sun at high elevations.
So since then, I’ve made sure to ride with a hydration bag over my shoulders that I can sip constantly while riding, and I make sure to keep rehydration salts handy too. Up in the mountains is no place to be off your game!
3. Solely relying on GPS navigation
Utkarsh Sood / New Atlas
We are children of a digital age, and we sleep soundly knowing that wherever we want to go, our phones can always tell us exactly how to get there.
Except when cellular service is sparse … Say, in an area that’s highly prone to landslides and road blockages, or where passes frequently need to be shut down due to snow in the colder months.
Earlier this year, I was riding in a less-explored Himalayan belt. It was well past dark, and I still had to get into Arunachal Pradesh, one of the major Himalayan states in northeastern India.
If you’ve ever been in the subcontinent, you’ll know how erratic the mobile networks can be here. Sure enough, I lost all cell coverage by the time I had to start ascending the tricky sections of a border check post that appeared to have been hit by a landslide. Most of the road signage was rendered useless, and there were precious few locals out at this hour.
I remember working my way through the slick muck up one tricky section, only to realize I was on the wrong path and I’d have to get back down. It took a good 20 minutes to turn my bike around in all the slush, slipping and sliding my way down on headlight vision alone. By the time I eventually found the check post, I was out of breath, my wheels were caked in mud and slipping all over the place, and I must’ve looked like I’d crawled out of a lagoon.
