We are finally on our Megameter Ride to Nepal!
Thursday, September 22, we are leaving Lhasa (suicide traffic, noise, hotel rooms) for the quieter environs near Chusul, 52 flat miles at 12,000' along the Yarlung River. We still seem to be having bike breakdowns (flats, derailleurs, misc adjustments) topped by Dan blowing out a wheel rim along the way. WOW! We visited a painted buddha carved into a large rock formation and tashe delek'ed (hello'ed) everyone we saw. Met a local at lunch along the river doing his laundry. Apparently we are somewhat of a curiosity around here. Either bare skin or lycra or both... We made camp and met some campers next door from Australia. Invited them to happy hour with beer "cooled" in local water. Our camps come complete with dining tent, cook tent, privvy tent, and shower tent. Seemed to be another thing that attracted drive-by attention! Great dinner came out of that tent, including apple pie baked in a camp oven that Gene gave to the cook. We settled in to sleep at about 9PM, dark. Then there was this dog. Yap, yap, yap starting in our camp and continuing off into the distance. Finally it was over - until the blasted canine began again, from afar, back into our camp. As we later discovered, there seem to be relatives of this nuisance at ALL camp sites!
Friday, September 23, we got up early to pedal off at 9AM, after breakfast of bacon, eggs, pancakes, oatmeal, etc. We are not going to starve. The day's ride is a total of 45 miles climbing from 12,000' to Khamba La at 16,075', then descending to 14,500'. Included is a 15 mile, 4200'+ climb (most for a single climb of the trip) which takes us up to the Tibetan Plateau. The road, while basically serviceable, has serious potholes (more like craters) that give us something to think about while grinding along. Yaks graze on the near vertical thin grass, paying us no mind (Alpine cows have nothing on these yaks). FINALLY, we reach the pass and sun but no wind. Had a very comfortable lunch looking out over Himalayan ranges and Yamdrok Tso, a huge glacial lake of brilliant turquoise. We descended to Nagartse village and camp for the night. Along the way, Cathy spotted the one bird she hoped to see, a black necked crane, migrating south presumably. No water, so GI showers were had by all. Another who-knows-where-they-came-up-with-it dinner. Before bed, we noticed a t-storm in the distance. When it passed, the range in view was coated with white down to our elevation! That was something to think about while we were in our tents, cursing another blasted dog who yapped even longer around our tents than the previous one.
Saturday, September 24, back in the saddle again at 9, after breakfast and in the sun. Not as cold as we expected for this altitude (higher than anything in CO and all but Whitney and Rainier in the lower 48). FAT CITY, or so we thought. 66 miles from 14,500' over 16,730' Karo La to 13,300' Gyantse. First, a nice 10-12 mile easy climb to a glacier, which we had seen in the distance the day before. Wondered why there was snow there and not where we were the day before. Could the weather be that different? Well, YEAH! After the glacier, no more sun, lots of headwind, and temp in the 30's made for a serious grind the rest of the way to the pass. Cathy saved the day by purchasing a "plastic" rock at the roadside trinket stand near the pass at the Karo Glacier, an altitude-related lapse according to her. The descent was overcast and cold as well, but we were warmed by lunch at a gravel pit along the road thousands of feet lower. Joining us were some local village women that stopped by on their way home from barley harvesting with a backbreaking load of sheaves. Some flirting going on with our drivers! They accepted some of our lunch. Afterwards, we descended at length to Gyantse over a second "pass", actually a bump, called Simi La and were elated that it was as easy as it was. Night in a hotel - actual beds, sheets, bathroom, and NO DOG! PS - Cathy's rock was actually a quartz crystal, not plastic.
Sunday, September 25, time out for some sightseeing at the Pelkor Chode Monastery and Gyantse Kumbum. The monastery was mostly empty land surrounded by a high wall running up a hillside. Between the Cultural Revolution and British invasion in the early 1900's, it was severely damaged. It is the rare monastery that housed multiple buddhist sects, yellow (Gelugpa) hat, red (Sakyapa) hat and Buton. Buddhist history was mainly one of war between the various sects, so this place is special in its tolerance. The Kumbum (meaning 100,000 buddha images) is a stupa but not a tomb. Walking through, there were lots of small paintings depicting buddha in several levels. Good view of Gyantse from the top. So, enough fooling around and time to cycle! 66 miles of flat terrain to Shigatse at 13,000' through the best agricultural land in Tibet. Lots of farmers harvesting, cows mooing, and what we have begun calling the Lhasa rush hour. A stream of SUVs and tour busses that usurped our quiet ride for an hour or so, coming at 2PM here, but time depending on distance from Lhasa. We pulled off the road and had a hot lunch (!) in grassland dotted with willow trees, cows, and a local policeman's family. Life was good. But, not so fast. About 20km from Shigatse there was light drizzle on and off. Then changing to on and on. Then in town, road work made it a mud drizzle. We arrive thoroughly soaked and caked, and were really happy to have another hotel night to immediately jump in a hot shower. Dinner at the hotel and bed, but not at 9PM (electricity, you know).
