Mumbai men scale highest non-motorable road to create record

Wheeling away at 20,493 feet (6,246.3 mts), two Mumbaikars have done more than just sniff the rare air. For, Rakesh Rane (34) and Chandrashekhar Jakka (55) have their names in the Limca Book of Records for reaching the highest non-motorable road. They won the record in the adventure category after crossing the ‘Marsimik La Pass and above’ in Jammu and Kashmir.

It all started when a team of determined bikers made it their aim to set a record. “We left the city on June 9, 2010,” said Rane, a student of Iyengar Yoga and a teacher himself. They were in all five friends when the deal was made, but three of them could not make it beyond a point owing to bad health.

“Throughout the trip, weather was a big challenge. While in some places like Gujarat and Rajasthan, we sustained sun-burns, other places like J&K had sudden cold winds that made us go weak in our knees,” said Jakka, also a diabetic patient. Travelling 7,200 kms to and fro, they passed Gujarat, Rajasthan and Delhi before entering Jammu and Kashmir, where the weather changed altogether.

The group would ride from anywhere between 12 to 15 hours a day. “When we reached Drass, we were welcomed by heavy rainfall which was followed by heavy snowfall,” said Rane.