Bajaj Avenger FLG Ride To Leh Ladakh – The Dream Ride

Bajaj Avenger FLG Ride

Comfort, style and cruiser design are the reasons for the Avenger’s sales

Leh-Ladakh is a must visit place for bikers and has been a dream ride location for me. I was planning to ride to Leh-Ladakh since 2012 and had a plan coming together for August 2017. But with a surprise, Bajaj came up with their new initiative, the FLG rides and asked for a media coverage for any of their rides. The list showed the ride to Leh in the month of July and without further thoughts, I signed up and was in for it. All I had to do was manage my travel till Chandigarh and back and the rest would be taken care by them. This is how a 11-day trip from Delhi to Leh and back happened with the shiny Bajaj cruiser, the Avenger Cruise 220.

Day 1: Flight to Chandigarh from Mumbai. Bajaj had asked if someone could join from Delhi as the ride actually started from Delhi, as it was me who wanted to ride, I had to manage by myself to fly to Chandigarh or Delhi and start the ride from there. During my flight time, the Leh-Ladakh FLG ride was flagged off from Delhi with their Day 1 destination to be Chandigarh. Here I met around 18 riders out of which the majority were from Delhi while a few rode to Delhi on their Avengers from Mumbai, Bangalore, Nagpur and even Ahmedabad. While I was getting to know the riders and the crew team in our hotel, I got to know that the whole trip for the riders costed only Rs. 11,000/- from Delhi and back. While it was just Rs. 9,000/- for riders joining from Chandigarh! Whoa, that was a serious bargain to ask for, even my flight from Mumbai and back costed me more than this.

Day 2: Ride to Manali. As this was actually ride Day 2 for a few, it was ride Day 1 for me and many others who joined from Chandigarh. A few riders from the group of BAC Chandigarh joined us and they were going to be the marshals for the rest of the ride. Leader Mr. Imran, Sweeper Mr. Sid, a running Marshal Mr. Rupesh and a Pilot Mr. Ketan were running all around the pact, managing the group of 34 bikes! Yes, this was probably the largest set of people who were making their way to Leh having one thing in common, the Bajaj Avenger. As we were riding towards Manali, the group was getting scattered as some riders were new and weren’t able to keep up the pace. With a few breaks including a lunch break, the total ride time of 6-7 hours was completed in 10 hours while the whole group reached Manali safe and sound.

Day 3: Ride to Jispa. Day 3 was the actual start to our adventure as we were going to have our first tent stay later in the evening in Jispa. But before everything we had to go through our first pass, the Rohtang pass. The road to the top was easy while we had to go through a check point where the permissions to enter Leh would be verified and we would get through. We had started early to get ahead of traffic and had our breakfast at the Rohtang top. While almost the whole convoy made it to the top, there was a small breakdown with one of the bikes about 10 kms back. The mechanic rushed to the motorcycle getting to know the chain was broken, made a call to the backup vehicle which rushed down later, got the chain fixed and they rode back up.

After almost an hour long break we headed towards Jispa. The roads were a combination of normal road and off-road situations. We had a little network till Keylong where we had our lunch and our phones were out of network reception by the time we reached Jispa. The road till Jispa was manageable as the we had started climbing considerable gradients while a few new riders were tackling through the gearbox to get the bike moving. I was introduced to the group as the media person but whenever I overtook anyone to get some lead for photos, many wouldn’t really understand this. However the same evening we had a bonfire and everyone introduced themselves while the marshals and a few guys passed on some riding knowledge among these roads.

Day 4: Ride to Tso Kar. With an early start, the whole group started moving but it wasn’t effective as we had to go through 3 Nala’s (river crossings), one of it was the Pagal (mad) Nala, the biggest and the wildest and with bad news, a truck was stuck in that Nala since 4 hours. With efforts being put through by the locals and the men around, a path to pass one car was made and the local taxi crowd moved through. Next up were the bikers, our group of 34 people with few Royal Enfield bikes. With some extra help, all the Avengers made it through but all the Royal Enfield bikes got stuck atleast once. With two more such nala crossings, serious off-roading and an amazing 50 km stretch of the More’ planes waiting us, the convoy had its pace and kept moving. On the way to Tso Kar, our lunch stop was at a Sarchu checkpoint. Everybody had their lunch but the break time went a little longer than expected.

Tourists travel and capture pictures, on our ride we were capturing memories

As everyone was trying to acclimatize to the high altitude, many failed to follow our doctor’s instruction of continuously keeping ourselves hydrated and hence a few fell sick. The lunch also became a problem for a few including me, as I went through a bad stomach ache in the evening. We had a support vehicle and the doctor came to everyone’s rescue. Oxygen cylinders for people running low on body oxygen and injections and medicines for people falling sick. On Day 4 itself, we got to know why it’s not an easy task to ride to Leh-Ladakh. By the time now, we had already crossed a few passes and were riding at about 16,000 ft. The roads were bad and the ride was getting exhilarating.

Day 5: Tso Kar to Tso Moriri. The tent stay at Tso Kar were just about alright as it was in a complete open plateau land. We could gaze at the stars over here but as it was cloudy, we couldn’t find any. The Day 5 ride was the worst of all the rides. 85 kms of complete off-road. Although the group started together, we split into multiple groups. At the end, the distance between both the leader and the sweeper was over 10 kms. This small patch had taken a toll over a lot of riders. But the view of the Tso Moriri lake made it worth a while. I was exhausted to such an extent that I couldn’t click a single picture over there. Also, we did not have electricity for two days which led to almost all our electronics going dead. I almost skipped lunch, slept the whole afternoon, got up for dinner and slept like a baby for the night in the windy tent area of Tso Moriri lake.

Day 6: Tso Moriri to Leh. I thought we would have to ride the deadly 85 kms of off-road back towards Leh. But with God’s grace, we had a split road after 30 kms and we could see tarmac with lesser off-road patches on it. As we were riding towards Leh, the roads got better. As we stopped at our lunch spot, the whole group was not far but the tail group took a lot of time to reach. They arrived with a bad news that one of the rider had an incident and was injured. The injury was slightly major and required hospitalization which was available at an Army camp 30 kms ahead of us. The doctor with the backup vehicle made it to the camp on time and got the basic first aid done for the rider. Post this incident, everyone stayed alert and together. As we entered Leh, the whole group of 33 bikes made an entrance like no other. Everyone in the town was recording us and clicking pictures. The convoy of Avengers did make a grand entrance in Leh.

Day 7: Khardung La Pass. We made it to Leh and we were very happy about it. It was the highest motorable road, Khardung La Pass, waiting for us. But everyone’s priority was to let their family know that they were alright. Because after Keylong, nobody had any network to communicate. Left early morning at 8 AM, half the road was tarmac while the other half was serious off-road. With the off-road, we got about 3 landslides which took about an hour to clear up and we made it to the top before noon. As we came back to our hotel, a few guys took rest while others on their own visited magnetic hill and were back by evening for some Leh market shopping. Except for a few handicrafts, badges and Leh t-shirts, the market was just like any hill station mall road.

Day 8: Leh to Sarchu. This was the longest travel day as we had to travel over 250 kms, the similar distance from Tso Moriri to Leh but crossing three passes and various different nalas. However, we ran almost 10 riders short as 6 riders split their way and rode via the Srinagar route while the other 4 had completed their ride and didn’t want to ride back. This time, the smaller group stuck together till the end and we made it to Sarchu before sunset. This was the last day of our tent stay and I must say, the tent stay at Sarchu was the most luxurious tent stay in the whole trip. I must say, all our stay and food arrangements for the price the riders were charged, they were pretty amazing. With a great get-together over dinner, everyone was sharing their experiences and there was a great level of bonding between every rider. Although the whole group had tiny groups within, everyone was finally having a really great time.

Day 9: Sarchu to Manali. As we headed off to Manali, everyone was having a smile on their face. This riding patch was a known patch as we were about to ride back the same route and it included serious off-road until the Rohtang top. The whole group was split into three, the lead group consisting of 8 riders going tyre to tyre on the corners, the middle scattered pack having the best time with a final view of the mountains and the tail pack including the rest of the riders with the support crew having their own fun time. Post lunch, it was the Rohtang pass where we could see the top covered with cloud. As we reached the top, it which was completely covered by dense fog. It took almost 2 hours to reach our hotel from the Rohtang top as the dense fog and the traffic at the end of the twisties took our time. The support vehicle also made it to our hotel in Manali by 6 PM which was a decent amount of time considering all the delays on the way.

Staying away from mobile network with just nature to admire is a different feeling

Finally, as we reached Manali, everyone had their network back and literally everyone was glued to their mobiles. Sending updates to their families, updating posts on social media and what not. By the evening, everyone visited the Manali market which they could not on the previous ride day. A few guys got some shopping done. While a few enjoyed the spa and relaxed their hearts out. Late evening we had a meeting before dinner where everyone shared their thoughts about the people and the arrangements done for them. The management team was called GIO Adventures which was outsourced/arranged by the Bajaj team as they were experienced in taking such rides and adventures earlier.

Day 10: Manali to Chandigarh. The final stretch included a few ghats and a little off-road while exiting Manali. Although in the whole trip we were not hit by heavy rains but experienced misty weather and slight drizzle. This was the section where the last part of the ghats came in and we were hit by very heavy rains. The rains continued till we entered Punjab and everyone got soaking wet. By the end, everyone experienced everything – rain, fog, misty weather, off-road, high altitude, nala crossings, ghats, etc. This happened to be a complete trip giving all kinds of experience of every situation to every rider in the group. As we reached Chandigarh, new riders had learned a lot while experienced riders had improved their skills, all this while having an experience of their lifetime.

Day 11: Chandigarh to Delhi. However, I did not ride to Delhi. I had joined from Chandigarh and my flight back to Mumbai was from Chandigarh. The media bike, the Bajaj Avenger Cruise 220, was loaded back into the Tempo Traveller in the morning. From Manali to Leh and back I got a fuel efficiency of 31 km/l while the stretch from Chandigarh to Manali and back was very nice and did not have any oxygen issues and the bike returned about 40 km/l. While I completed almost 2000 kms in the last 9 days, my back had given up. The Avenger surely is a comfortable motorcycle but not for all. There were different Avengers whose seats were modified and as I had a word with the owners, they did complain about the stock seat not being really comfortable for longer journeys. By this time, the 6 riders had made it to Chandigarh via Srinagar and joined the convoy heading back to Delhi.

Now the main thing, at Rs. 9000/- could the ride be organised? The answer is no. Over here, Bajaj contributed a part of the payment per rider to the organizing team while the Bajaj Avenger owners could take the benefit of a great discount and enjoy the ride. For the whole ride, there was a single Bajaj representative, the backup mechanic Mr. Brijesh who was a supportive marshal rider too. A special mention to him as he led the ride from Delhi to Chandigarh and back while also stayed as a sweeper as well as the technical support for the whole ride. The organizing team also did a fabulous job and hats off to the support doctor, it was their job to be available and they did it without any complaints. This was my dream ride, although I had planned to do it on a different vehicle, it is now off my bucket list. I really enjoyed writing this article as I relived all the moments while penning down this experience.