In a first, a team of 14 women bikers from all over India will set off on their Royal Enfields for Leh. Meet the women from Karnataka
With wind whipping in their hair, the grand Himalayas for a backdrop and the stark landscape of Ladakh engulfing them, tough and tricky roads rolling out in front, three women from Karnataka will be part of the Holy Grail of motorcycling this July — the Royal Enfield’s first all-woman ‘Himalayan Odyssey – Women’ edition.

Flagging off from Delhi on July 9, these young women will traverse 2,500 kilometres over some of the roughest terrains and highest mountain passes thumping all the way to 18,000 feet and culminating in Khardung-La, one of the world’s highest motorable roads on July 23. And for the first time, the entire accompanying support team also consists of women — technicians, doctors, and crew. The event is powered by an initiative called STRE (She Travels on a Royal Enfield).

A total of 14 women from all over the country, including from Bengaluru, Mysuru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Gurgaon, Allahabad and Kutch are setting off on this ride. From Karnataka, there is Madhuri Bisarahalli riding her Thunderbird Twinspark, with her cousin Bhavana. S from Mysuru going pillion. Going solo are Sharada Sastry, who hails from Mysuru and works in Bengaluru, and Soumya P.N., originally from Kerala but living in Bengaluru.