Motorcycle diaries from the Himalayan Basecamp

A few days before Chonky (my Himalayan 450) and I left on a month-long ride from Mumbai to Leh, I was invited to attend the Himalayan Basecamp (HBC) organised by Royal Enfield in Ladakh. It sounded like the perfect end to my lengthy ride—a three-day celebration in the mountains that included kayaking, mountain biking, 4WD trails, adventure biking, and performances by artists like Taba Chake, Anuv Jain, and Ankur Tewari. Also on the agenda were chats with riding legends like Jamie Robinson and Adam Rieman. Think days full of adventure and dust, and cool evenings filled with acoustic tunes and warm voices.

On the first day, I made my way to the HBC venue in Chuchot village, about half an hour from Leh—a rewarding ride in itself. Once you leave behind the traffic of Leh city and make your way off the main highway towards Chuchot, the road opens up into the gorgeous Indus valley, at the end of which sits the HBC site. Decorated with its red Royal Enfield signage and tall flying flags, viewed from the top of the valley it looked like a caravan serai, except for modern-day adventure seekers. The prospect of a field full of motorcycles, riders geared up and ready to leave, was exciting.

Day 1: The ride to Sakti

After the initial usual production hiccups that go with the start of an event like this, I was introduced to my ride captain for the day, Tenzing Paljor, and my fellow riders on the group—a couple from Kerala who had made their way to Ladakh just for this event. We were off to Sakti village and enroute to Wari-La.

A quick note on the geography of the region. The ‘La’ in Ladakh, translates to ‘high mountain pass’. Ladakh is home to some of the highest passes in the world—Umling-La (currently the world’s highest motorable pass at 19,024 feet), Khardung-La, Shinku-La, and of course Wari-La, toward which we were riding today.

The ride with Tenzing in the lead was a lesson in itself—he rode with the skill, pace, and confidence of someone who knows these mountain roads like the back of his hand. Later, he jokingly told me that the route we took was akin to his daily office run. Ride captains like him lead large groups across long distances efficiently and safely. Having never experienced that before, I really was digging in. We stopped for some quick pictures at the picturesque Stakna monastery, perched high up against the blue sky and poplar trees, with the Indus meandering in the foreground.

The next stop: Ibex restaurant, where we were offered some refreshments, before carrying on towards Taktok Gompa in Sakti.

As with any ride, the first two hours always feel like a warm-up, and as we hung out outside Taktok, the couple and I were ready to keep riding ahead. Some convincing later, Tenzing offered to take us a little further up towards Wari-La. We passed meadows dotted with clumps of little yellow flowers, weather-beaten rocks, and boulders set against this stark brown landscape and the bluest of skies. On the way back to Sakti, the road was closed due to rockfall (an everyday occurrence), so Tenzing improvised and took us via a route that went past a small tributary, through some grassy knolls and gatherings of willow trees with their wide, rounded canopies of feather-like light green leaves.

At Ibex, after a rajma chawal meal, we headed back to our hotels, just in time to drop our motorcycles and head back to Basecamp for performances. I knew guitarist Taba Chake was headlining that evening, but the opening act, Dashugs, were the real surprise. Dressed like Ladakhi rockstars, their music was metal-inspired folk with the energy of an ’80s pop band. After singing along with the music on the open, windy, plains, we headed back to our hotel, Grand Himalaya, about 20 kilometres from the venue.

Day 2: Adventure riding for dummies

One of the draws of HBC is the chance to meet and learn from the real pros of the biking world. Which was why I signed up for a session on adventure riding by the trainers of Bigrock Dirtpark, an acclaimed off-road training facility in Bengaluru founded by motocross champion CS Santosh. By this point my bike and I had already spent a month on the road, but we were still not prepared for the level of athleticism that this two-hour session required. Under the tutelage of trainers Dhruv and Bheema, I drew circles and loops around a course while swinging my hips at odd angles and trying to remember to breathe at the same time.

The trainers were watchful, patient, and full of tips on vision, balance, and position. At the end of the day’s session, when I was taken for a guided trail, I was riding with much more ease and confidence, and the gravel surfaces looked a little less scary.

Once done with the session and pretty winded, I headed back to the comforts of Leh, skipping what looked to be a buzzy Anuv Jain for a steaming-hot meal at Amigo Korean Restaurant in Leh.

Day 3: A deep breath

I spent the last day of HBC checking out the food and clothing stalls—I had spotted a kebab shop, a Maverick & Farmer serving pour-overs, and stalls with awfully cool gear by Royal Enfield x Alpinestars and Reccy. While snacking on my kebabs I watched a live demonstration of how a toppled car is recovered and rescued—it involved two other SUVs, a lot of strong cabling, and a few mechanical thingamajigs.

Other members of the group wandered off for a guided meditation session, while some of us made our way to catch a talk by Jamie Robinson, also known as @Motogeo. Robinson, an ex-racer and now full-time adventure motorcyclist, was premiering a film he made, Motorcycle, about the various roles that motorcycles play across the world, including in firefighting and sensitive medical transportation.

In the audience were Palga Rinpoche, who apart from being a spiritual leader was also an avid motorcyclist, and Adam Rieman, a rider and popular YouTuber. Following the screening, the Palga Rinpoche spoke about his love for motorcycling, offering spiritual approval to something beloved by so many of us.

Buoyant on his words, I caught a few bars of Ankur Tewari’s gig as it kicked off, before heading out to catch my last sunset among these ancient mountains with Chonky by my side. Tomorrow I would leave the valley and HBC with a helmet full of dust and a head full of stories.