Day 7 Pasong Lake back to Leh. ( 164kms)

There’s no way I can ride with my left hand having ballooned out and being very difficult to bend my fingers.

Somehow a truck is found and three bikes are loaded on to it. I get in the support vehicle and have six hours of boom boom  bollywood songs,  but we have “Saturday Saturday “ several times and that’s OK.

There’s a constant rotation of people in the support  SUV’s and you only get to stay while you’re sick or injured. Some have paid 15,000R to book a permanent place because either they’re not bike riders or wanted to have a fallback position, if electing not to ride. This means that the IAM team guys (4) have to get on the bikes and ride. Today there seem to be just too many bikes needing to be ridden so a truck is called in. If your bike needs to be transported, this is not a freebie and you have to pay. You might get one freebee ride in the SUV but then it seems that you have to demonstrate that you’re keen to get back on the bike and not just opt for an easy ride. I end up paying 1200 R (Aus ($27) for a support ride but nothing to move the bike. I’m happy with that.

There’s been a blowup at dinner last night because one of the guys wants his wife to ride in the SUV rather than pillion, but since he didn’t initially pay for a seat, IAA say no and so he leaves the group when we get back to Leh. “Blowups” in Hindi are fairly dramatic with a fair bit of screaming and shouting but Akarsh is impressive, not losing his cool but not backing down. This guy is a master at leading a group. I find it interesting that the guy complaining, opts to voice his unhappiness in front of all the guys in the meal tent, where he’s likely to lose face if he can’t get what he wants and Akarsh doesn’t try and close it down so he has something to lose if he has to climb down.

I’m lucky, the mechanic’s offsider takes my bike because they can’t fit it on the hired pickup truck but I know from past experience that he is a fairly savage rider and is hard on the clutch. Still I’m not going to worry about that.

The antibiotics and Lopramide seem to be working finally and I’m feeling better and able to eat.