After planning for weeks over e-mails, facebook, whatsapp, skype, online shopping sites and a lot of phone-calls from a small room in Yelahanka Satellite Town, Bangalore I finally met my excited co-riders for Ride The Heights on 5th January 2014 just after landing on Guwahati Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport. The Celebration of almost the whole group finally being together was on till that day evening and by that time I was already done with a short ride from the outskirts of Guwahati and a cup of tea with my co-riders at my home. Now There was just few more days left for the ride. We had very less time in hand and a lot of job to do.
But our Cinematographer for our ride documentary, Prashant Shebannavar was still in Bangalore with lots of hope that he will finally get his tickets to Guwahati confirmed and will be shooting his long awaited documentary. I was praying for the same too.
4 Days passed by in a blink of an eye. We had everything ready. All our gears arrived and preparation were done. We were glad that We were powered by Castrol Power 1. 8 Vega Axor Helmets arrived our stable for all our 8 Bikers. The Lead Bikes along with 7 other Bikes was ready to accelerate. All our Inner Line Permits were with us, Not all but minimum Camera Equipments were ready But.....Unfortunately Prashant still didn't reach Guwahati. He failed to get a confirm ticket. We knew We will miss him a lot on the ride. Our hopes for a good documentary also went down.
I had to lead the group, update the site & capture the ride through my lens and now added to it I also had to shoot the documentary, I was not quite sure if I can but I took up the challenge, keeping in mind that something is always better than nothing.
I did a trail introduction shoot on 10th January 2014. I was kinda sure inside me that the documentary will be a mess. I continued shooting.
Due to few issues related to the Bikes preparations and other documents, We had to start our ride a little late. 11 January 2014, Morning 3:30am, when Guwahati city was sleeping, We the Ride The Heights team was in Downtown, Guwahati ready to rev our way and accelerate towards Tawang. A few clicks and Bhrrrooommmmm!!!!!! With that started our time to feel pure freedom.

What happened next is to be shared by the diary pages of my co-riders.

Mayur Mahanta(Yamaha R15)

Diary of Jan 14, 2014 by rider Nilotpal Kalita(Yamaha R15 V2)

"Very sad that 8 of the Assam Bikers are not at home during Magh Bihu. Wish everyone very happy Magh Bihu. Read the following to know our experience of our ongoing ride:
We are in Tawang. We have completed the ongoing part of a extreme weather survival ride "Ride the Heights-Powered by Castrol Power 1" and the return is awaited. All of us rode Sports bikes with full fairings. I am happy that we have conquered Tawang successfully though some of my fellow riders fell down, skidding in snow... One of the riders had a broken handle when he fell down just crossing Sela Pass Gate. 25 kms after Sela Pass was the extreme place where there was black ice on the road, which can't be seen at night and looks as if the road is normal. Except me, all of my fellow riders fell down in this area but all are safe because all of us had full safety gears on. Temperature at Sela Pass was -13 degree Celsius when we crossed that area of 25 kms. The main problem we faced there was we were unable to breathe properly as the Oxygen level was very low and the altitude there was as much as 13700 feet above sea level. We had visibility problem too and our hands and legs were frozen. We were unable to fold our fingers. But there was no way but to ride for survival to seek for a shelter and fire. There was no civilians and hotels for a long period until we found a hut with no wall on one side, but the man in the hut was a road construction laborer who was sleeping with his wife. Seeing our condition, he lighted fire for us and our lives were back and we had a hope that we can stay alive for that night but we were very hungry. Still we did not have a place to sleep. We could see some barracks of Indian Army on the other side of the road and we went forward and knocked the door of one of the barracks. One Army man opened the door and he agreed to help us seeing our condition and gave a place to sit beside the fire and gave us biscuits to eat. We stayed that night in that barrack and we slept while sitting. Yesterday morning, we started for Tawang. But I am very proud that we crossed 20 kms of that 25 kms area in between 6:30 pm of 12th evening to 12:30 am of 13th January. We reached Tawang yesterday 3 pm. We have successfully reached the goal of this ride and all the riders are safe.
I am 100% sure that all of us would have been dead if the laborer and the Army man had not helped us.
I can proudly say that only a very few bikers can cross that 25 kms area at midnight and that too with sports bikes and we have done it."

Diary of Jan 12, 2014(Night) by rider Sumon Sanyal(CBR 150 Originally, That Night- A Oil Tanker)

Not even 2 curves and 200 meters after Sela Pass Entrance, I was already done with my first crash of Sela Pass as Mayur Mahanta's pillion, My Bike was with Pol, Pol's Bike was in the Indian Army Rescue Camp and I was already drowned in the snow of Sela Pass while I was walking and tried to take a shortcut, somehow I got up and a bright light from behind, I turned back and saw a oil tanker behind me which was like a helping hand directly from God at that moment. I took a lift on the oil tanker as it was impossible for me to walk anymore on that road or to be a pillion. I was completely exhausted. Few more meters in the truck. I got company of my fellow rider Mrinal Kalita who also climbed inside the same Tanker. His Bike, a P220 was also with Pol's Bike at Sela Rescue Camp and had a broken handle. The tanker We climbed in was the last running vehicle I encountered on Sela Pass that night.
Our next objective was to find a lodge or hotel on the way and get down there and wait for our co-riders to arrive. We continued our search though it was next to impossible to find a shelter on that altitude where living is restricted to civilians. As expected, We didn't find one. We both were scared and moreover tensed thinking what will happen to out 5 fellow riders who must be still challenging the Sela Pass at this frozen midnight in Sela. It was almost 12:30 am and the temperature drop was -16 degree celcius. We were at Jung. We stopped there for about an hour hoping our fellow riders will reach us. The wait was not worth. The Driver of the Oil Tanker insisted that We should move and go further down as on that altitude and temperature Diesel gets frozen. We descended for 10 more kilometers and then the driver parked the tanker near a small restaurant that was closed during that time. The Driver started preparing his bed inside the truck cabin. The Cabin was very small and it was very difficult for the 2 Drivers, Mrinal and me to adjust inside. We tried to sleep. Mrinal took the driver seat and tried to sleep there and I was on the truck cabin floor trying to search for a cozy place. But at that temperature finding a cozy place inside that small cabin was also very tough. I was wondering where my co riders were and was very tensed knowing that to ride outside on that temperature and altitude was deadly. I knew Mrinal and me survived that night, but I was still doubtful about my 5 co-riders.
All I could do was just sit and pray...!!!