Leaving Lhasa - Day 1

Lhasa to the Foot of Kamba La Pass
88km Riding Time 4hrs:38mins

You could tell everyone in the group was dying to get moving and doing something, as we didnt hold a slow pace to start off our morning. All together there're 14 riders plus Dil our riding guide from Nepal, and Palden our Tibetan guide. The riders:
Myself, of course. Chris (Austria, also my roomate, 6'4" and flies), Mark and Terry (UK), Roy and Alene (UK, older couple with endurance to spare), Nick (radiologist from the UK), Mike (bike ninja from Holland), Francis (Switzerland), Santos (Brazil), and 4 guys from Venezuela, Honorio, Jorge, Andres, and Luis-Felipe.

The road is paved out this way, but noone really knows how far it is paved (within our group). Just a few years ago this was all a gravel road, but the Chinese quest to 'liberate' Tibet means paved roads for their blaring horns and army trucks to go through to wherever they see fit. The morning was a good ride, we arrived at the lunch spot by 130pm. Part of our tour package is a team of cooks and a sherpa even. It was a full spread of Nepalese and Tibetan food on the table and r-fuelled. Unfortunately, the spot we chose for lunch is full of these little thorns that puncture right into your tube usually with any pressure. There ended up being 11 flat tires today, 2 of them were mine, both front and back. We got to a bridge to cross the river, and the military was guarding it. Our Tibetan guide had already showed our permit so we could cross, then Chris asked if he can take photos, they said no. We get to the middle of the bridge and the Venezuelans yell "PHOTO TIME!". We all took a bunch before the guards got on the radios and started heading towards us. The villages we rode through are amazing, the houses are so old, with a small courtyard in the front (for livestock if any), and walls of mud, clay, rocks.. you name it.. straw even. Throngs of little Tibetan kids came out running out onto the side of the road to high five us. One group of 5 were a bit aggressive though asking me for money, so obviously some dipshit tourist had given out money before to these kids thinking he/she was doing a huge favour and helping them out, when in fact he was doing the opposite. The group of 5 started on me and Mark took a good picture of them chasing me down. The camp site was set up when we got there and we feasted on a nice dinner before crashing out by 930pm.