FINALLY SOME RIDING
On thing is becoming very apparent – we have a very ineffectual group leader. Affable but useless – a south African who was a client on a similar tour in India last year and is now having a go at leading for himself. The main problem is he can’t make a decision and when he does it’s a bad one. The real decisions are made by the local tour organisers represented by a very smiley Tibetan called Loki.
There are various levels of anxiety in the group about altitude sickness. Heidi, vegetarian Ausie triathlete doctor quietly concerned but personally content as she is taking drugs to fend the symptoms off. Main complainer is Wolfgang, genome scientist and erstwhile mountaineer, who keeps banging on about there being no effect under 2500m. The fact that he has a strong Professor Heinz Wolf accent (remember The Great Egg Race?) somehow adds to his credibility. The plan is to head up to 2000m and cycle around there hoping it will do some good. Wolfgang is volubly sceptical.
Night before the first ride everyone clustered around a large table peering at maps, there then follows a classic case of what happens to a group if the leader has no idea what he is doing… various plans emerge, the favourite being: lets take the bus up there and then start cycling straight up to 3,500m. I realised that it was a waste of time getting involved so I grabbed Russel and Derek and headed off to find a beer.
A couple of beers later we headed back for dinner at 6.15 only to find all the mad plans had to come to nothing and we were indeed going to do what was originally planned – cycle north about 35miles up to 2000m. So no surprise there then.
By the way, I was in a separate hotel across the road from everyone else due to lack of rooms… on the way over there I walked on one of the concrete blocks supposedly covering up the main drain only for it to give way and me fall in. Could have broken my leg, but fortunately only some cuts and bruising – but would have been a terrible way to end my Tibetan adventure. The other group anaxiety is about infection, everyone has a bottle of hand wash that they use all the time and which, luckly for me, Ros gave me just before I left. So I washed it all down and poured disinfectant all over it .
So, back to my room for an early night, 8.30 except for the lottery kiosk below my room blaring out Hindi pop music till god knows when. At 5.00 am the next morning rudely awoken by the hotel shutters being opened. Nothing for it but to head off to breakfast.
Which takes us to Wednesday and the cycle up north. Cycling out early at 6.50! The road goes gently up then there is a taste of what is to come with a short steep hill on broken stones, an interesting interlude, I mistakenly think. From here on the rocky road continues with no tarmac at all as it winds up through tiny villages of unbelively poor people – astounded to see people sitting on piles of rocks and smashing them in to chips with hammers
Unbelievly hard cycling, as I got higher the sun disappeared and it started to rain, then the mist came in too. Finally after 2 hours of pain I come across a number of parked busses and people running around in a dither. Apparently there had been two rock slides about 8km apart making the road impassable. What should we do? Our intrepid leader decides we should take enough clothes for 2 days in rucksacks and continue cycling on as intended while the bus would return down the mountain with the rest of our gear. The deficiencies in this little plan were too many to mention so I simply told him I would be taking the 3 hour ride back down the mountain in the bus. Sense prevailed and everyone else decided to join me.
At the bottom of the mountain after a very hard day’s cycling with 10k to go, Heidi, the NZ doctor stops the bus in order to run back!! Locals very confused seeing her running after the bus, thinking we had left her behind.
Turns out we were going to stay in a different hotel as the Aussi women thought the communial lavatory/shower was not up to scratch in the other one and a cat had used Russel’s cycling hat for a dump… unfortunately, I’m beginning to realise things are not that easy here, we turned up tired, wet and hungry to be told they did not have 8 rooms as we had expected but they did have 8 beds in three rooms… even the Aussies voted to head back to the original hotel.
Thursday
Feeling tired from yesterday’s exertions, but fantastic scenery as I climbed up the mountain. Bottom getting a bit sore and as I got higher it started to rain, had to stop every half hour for relief. Finally called it a day 10 miles from the top. However, got back on the bike and headed down into the valley. Fantastic descent, when suddenly my seat pin cracked and I found myself without a saddle - not the best thing to discover heading fast downhill on a rutted road with mad bus drivers coming towards you…
Back in the hotel more shambolic leadership with confusion about which bags can or can not go to Tibet in the van.
There are various levels of anxiety in the group about altitude sickness. Heidi, vegetarian Ausie triathlete doctor quietly concerned but personally content as she is taking drugs to fend the symptoms off. Main complainer is Wolfgang, genome scientist and erstwhile mountaineer, who keeps banging on about there being no effect under 2500m. The fact that he has a strong Professor Heinz Wolf accent (remember The Great Egg Race?) somehow adds to his credibility. The plan is to head up to 2000m and cycle around there hoping it will do some good. Wolfgang is volubly sceptical.
Night before the first ride everyone clustered around a large table peering at maps, there then follows a classic case of what happens to a group if the leader has no idea what he is doing… various plans emerge, the favourite being: lets take the bus up there and then start cycling straight up to 3,500m. I realised that it was a waste of time getting involved so I grabbed Russel and Derek and headed off to find a beer.
A couple of beers later we headed back for dinner at 6.15 only to find all the mad plans had to come to nothing and we were indeed going to do what was originally planned – cycle north about 35miles up to 2000m. So no surprise there then.
By the way, I was in a separate hotel across the road from everyone else due to lack of rooms… on the way over there I walked on one of the concrete blocks supposedly covering up the main drain only for it to give way and me fall in. Could have broken my leg, but fortunately only some cuts and bruising – but would have been a terrible way to end my Tibetan adventure. The other group anaxiety is about infection, everyone has a bottle of hand wash that they use all the time and which, luckly for me, Ros gave me just before I left. So I washed it all down and poured disinfectant all over it .
So, back to my room for an early night, 8.30 except for the lottery kiosk below my room blaring out Hindi pop music till god knows when. At 5.00 am the next morning rudely awoken by the hotel shutters being opened. Nothing for it but to head off to breakfast.
Which takes us to Wednesday and the cycle up north. Cycling out early at 6.50! The road goes gently up then there is a taste of what is to come with a short steep hill on broken stones, an interesting interlude, I mistakenly think. From here on the rocky road continues with no tarmac at all as it winds up through tiny villages of unbelively poor people – astounded to see people sitting on piles of rocks and smashing them in to chips with hammers
Unbelievly hard cycling, as I got higher the sun disappeared and it started to rain, then the mist came in too. Finally after 2 hours of pain I come across a number of parked busses and people running around in a dither. Apparently there had been two rock slides about 8km apart making the road impassable. What should we do? Our intrepid leader decides we should take enough clothes for 2 days in rucksacks and continue cycling on as intended while the bus would return down the mountain with the rest of our gear. The deficiencies in this little plan were too many to mention so I simply told him I would be taking the 3 hour ride back down the mountain in the bus. Sense prevailed and everyone else decided to join me.
At the bottom of the mountain after a very hard day’s cycling with 10k to go, Heidi, the NZ doctor stops the bus in order to run back!! Locals very confused seeing her running after the bus, thinking we had left her behind.
Turns out we were going to stay in a different hotel as the Aussi women thought the communial lavatory/shower was not up to scratch in the other one and a cat had used Russel’s cycling hat for a dump… unfortunately, I’m beginning to realise things are not that easy here, we turned up tired, wet and hungry to be told they did not have 8 rooms as we had expected but they did have 8 beds in three rooms… even the Aussies voted to head back to the original hotel.
Thursday
Feeling tired from yesterday’s exertions, but fantastic scenery as I climbed up the mountain. Bottom getting a bit sore and as I got higher it started to rain, had to stop every half hour for relief. Finally called it a day 10 miles from the top. However, got back on the bike and headed down into the valley. Fantastic descent, when suddenly my seat pin cracked and I found myself without a saddle - not the best thing to discover heading fast downhill on a rutted road with mad bus drivers coming towards you…
Back in the hotel more shambolic leadership with confusion about which bags can or can not go to Tibet in the van.
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