Sunday, Day #14

Very very cold this morning, minus 15 degrees at breakfast! And was first night that I felt slightly chilly in my four seasons expedition sleeping bag. First half hour very uncomfortable as my fingers were so cold I seriously was concerned about frost bite, but then got into the sun and started the first of our two final climbs. I felt remarkably good and got into a good rhythm. Soon I was overtaking people, Alvis, Woolfgang and Heidi. I was first to the top after the three fast boys, feel I have established my natural pecking order!! The second and final climb of the trip was more boring, just a long more or less straight grind. However, a real sense of elation at the top as it was the final pass we had to cross.

Then began the downhill… first, fantastic open bends unfortunately not tarmaced, but great fun. Terrain kept changing but all the time going downhill… going through a village I heard a loud bang as my back tyre punctured… I was soon on the road again after a roadside repair watched by a gang of small urchins. Unfortunately, a couple of miles down the road I snapped a second seat pin… the terrain was very rough and could not cope with the bumps. I tried to continue with no saddle but there were too many little climbs so I was forced to abandon. In some ways just as well as it was a long ride and fairly tough by the end. So I missed out on about 15 miles, but claim mechanical problems that could not be fixed.

Tibetan guides worked wonders in Nylam and found a bolt of sorts to fix my saddle, so I was fine for the final two days cycling.

Nylam was a fairly big town and we stayed in a guest house, I was down to share with Mark, but realised that this was just down to penny pinching – we were supposed to be camping but the road was closed… all day everyday, for resurfacing. So I paid up and got my own room.

Internet café and local restaurant for some food with Russel and Derek while the rest eat usual camp stuff.