About Meel

rideplanner.in

Every fact has a date

Kept by riders, for riders. At rideplanner.in.

Riders ask the same questions every season. Is the pass open? Is there fuel at Tandi? How many nights before Khardung La? The answers live in chat groups, and are lost by the next year.

Meel writes them down, with the date and the name of whoever saw it. It does not replace your group. It is the link someone pastes into the group when the question comes up.

Meel (मील) is Hindi for mile, as in the kilometre stones beside every Indian road.

How far to trust it

Every fact shows where it came from, and when it was last confirmed.
Most facts are marked “not yet checked”. They were gathered at a desk, from official pages, news reports and the open map, and they await a rider.
Meel never says a road is open. It links to the office that decides, because conditions change by the hour.
Fuel pumps come from the open map. A pump missing from the map is missing here, so every fuel gap is a worst case. A pump on the map may still be shut.
The altitude check compares the height of your beds. It is not medical advice.

What the labels mean

Fresh: A rider or the editor confirmed it recently.
Ageing: Confirmed, but a while ago. Treat with care.
Stale: Confirmed too long ago to rely on. It stays on the page, because hiding it would lose the record.
Not yet checked: Gathered from a source. Nobody has confirmed it on the road.
Reports disagree: Two riders saw different things. Both are shown.
Change reported: A rider says it has changed. The editor has not yet read the report.

How long each kind of fact stays fresh, in days
Kind of fact	Ageing after	Stale after
Fuel in stock	7	21
Pump exists and works	180	420
Mechanic or puncture shop	180	420
Place to stay	180	420
Mobile network	180	365
Rule, permit or fee	180	365
Who announces road status	365	730
Hazard on the road	365	730

These limits are a first proposal. Riders who know the roads should tune them.

What needs an account, and what does not

Reading any route, the fuel check, the altitude check, the packing list, confirming a fact and sending a trip report need no account. Asking to join a trip, or posting one, does: the leader needs to know who is asking.

Kept by one person, as a hobby

No advertising. No paid listings. If that ever changes, every paid link will be marked as such. Visits are counted with Vercel’s Web Analytics, which uses no cookies and keeps nothing that names you. Mixpanel counts which pages are read and which tools are used, such as the fuel check or the route file. It also records how the pages are used, as a replay of the page, so that confusing parts can be fixed: what you type is hidden, riders’ names and chat links are left out, and pages about your account, logging in and posting a trip are never recorded. It keeps a random number in your browser to tell visits apart, and never your name, your email or anything you type. A browser set to “Do Not Track” is not counted.