We left our camp near Mambuk around 08:30 in a light snow flurry. I was probably following Paul too closely when he fell at low speed in some loose gravel and I couldn’t avoid hitting his back wheel and “piled on” but other than a few scrapes we were both relatively uninjured and in good spirits and started the long climb up to Lalung La pass. The road was in good shape and slope modest so Larry, Paul and I made decent progress but the snow flurries intensified as we gained elevation. Peter, Josh, Dan and Jim were well ahead by midmorning though we could see them occasionally on the switchbacks above us. Sun periodically poked through the clouds tempting us to hope for clearing but we inevitably rode higher into another snow squall.
We crested LaLung pass (~16, 300’) in the cold withlight snow and windy conditions and Paul and Larry (the wisest among us) decided that that was enough and we all started to rack the bikes. Ang then offered that he’d like to ride on with me and started to get his bike down, so the two of us mounted up and headed over the high rolling road, now accumulating snow, towards Yakri Shong La pass (~16, 700’.) I’m sure we were a spectacle to car and truck traffic as we appeared out of the snow, hunkered over our bikes, faces covered to protect from frostbite, slogging upward. We crested Yakri Shong La pass within an hour and started the long descent in mixed snow, sleet and freezing rain though the road conditions got better quite quickly.
We caught up with the lead riders (Josh and Peter) at a tea house near Lasi where everyone was warming up around the stove and getting a hot lunch. Peter had suffered the most (with moderate hypothermia) and had already changed into dry clothes but Josh was keen to cycle on. My torso was warm enough but my shoes/socks were soaking wet and feet very cold so I decided the tough part had been achieved and no doubt disappointed Josh (who, with Peter, had ridden every mile to that point) by electing to continue to warm myfeet from the heater in the van as we descended to our destination for the night, Nyalam.
Our accommodations were “basic”to use one of Ang’sfavorite words (i.e. no showers or hot water and only squat toilets) but we had been in worse already and the crew set up a little hospitality bar with cookies and cold beer and, once we changed into dry, warmer clothes our attitudes improved noticeably. We even found an internet café to catch up on e-mails a little and we explored this somewhat gritty trucking town on foot. Saruj and his crew commandeered the next door restaurant and prepared a wonderful meal of chicken, rice, lentils and fresh raw vegetables and we had a brief appreciation event for our Tibetan drivers and guide (mostly consisting of Colorado caps and lavish praise, tips were handed out the next day) since they would be leaving us the next day near the border at Zhangmu. We were in bed by 8PM.
Gene
