Ladakh Motorcycle Trip — The Rydin Ride Report
Jammu & KashmirJammu & Kashmir
Zoji LaZoji La
Khardung LaKhardung La
Chang LaChang La
Kashmir ValleyKashmir Valley
Tanglang LaTanglang La
LehLeh
Nubra ValleyNubra Valley
Jammu & KashmirZoji LaKhardung LaChang LaKashmir ValleyTanglang LaLehNubra ValleyThe route
Ladakh is not a ride you ease into. The tarmac runs out somewhere past Leh, the air gets thin enough to feel it in your chest, and the road spends more time above 15,000 feet than most flights do. We ran it as a full The Rydin convoy: fuel stops mapped in advance, a mechanic riding sweep, and a pace slow enough that altitude sickness never got the chance to end anyone's trip early.
Khardung La, Chang La, and Tanglang La in nine days, with Pangong Tso's blue doing something to your sense of scale that photos never quite get across. Cold starts, hot tea at every checkpoint, and a group of fourteen riders who didn't know each other on day one and won't stop talking about it now.
Featured ride
Every rider who has done the Ladakh run says the same thing afterward: it stops being about kilometers somewhere past Khardung La. Nine days, three high passes, and a convoy that never left anyone behind on the climb. This is the ride the rest of the The Rydin calendar gets measured against.
The mountains do not care how many passes you have ridden before. The air thins, the road doubles back on itself for hours, and the only thing that gets you through is the rider ahead of you holding the same pace. Nobody rode ahead. Nobody got left behind.
A flat tire or a cracked footpeg on a mountain road is not a solo problem out here. The whole convoy pulls over, the support truck backs up, and whoever knows their way around a wrench gets to work while the rest of us make tea. Nobody moves again until every bike does.