Tues - October 17th - 2006
80kms
80kms
Riding Time 4hours:6mins
Well the guides (dil and palden) let us stay sleeping for an extra hour after last nights "festivities", so an 8am tea wake up by Pema Sherpa. Its nice being woken up with a steaming cup of black tea with sugar of course, but its damn hard to lean out of the tent to get it in the cold that is getting colder lately.
Another thing to get used to on this trip is the 'facilities', by that I mean the toilet. Its a modified lawn chair with a padded ring on top that you can move anywhere you want if tehre is no tent set up around it. I remembered BritinHokkaidos problems with the toilet seats in Japan that sometimes have the cloth cover and how gross she thought it was, Ill have to get a picture for her. The excitement of the morning came when Mark decided to capture me "auditioning" with the above-mentioned apparatus. Classy picture!
Today was our first real mountain biking though, so everyones spirits were up. It was awesome, like being kids again, whooping up and down through the dirt fire road and singletrack. Sometimes being passed by wagons pulled by a donkey or horse carrying some Tibetans who looked confused why us strange white folk would be riding a bike and wearing spandex for fun (for the record I only have spandex on if there are baggy shorts or top OVERtop of them, case closed). Some of the kids along the road today were pretty aggressive though, actually chasing us down a bit yelling for money and candy.
After lunch things blurred into a road race once back on the pavement. Nick, Chris, and I all worked together and flew along. We looked for a place to have tea but only ended up barging in on a tibetan mid day drinking party with a loud soap opera blaring in the middle of the room on the big screen, surreal. The last ten k was tough, washboard gravel road. Near the town of Gyantse is a huge monastery perched up on the cliff, one of the most impressive sights Ive seen. I stopped near the river where 4 tibetans were having a picnic on the rice wine. I had a few sips and they begged me for photos of the Dalai Lama. WHY didnt I take some shots on my digi before coming? They are forbidden and the Chinese authorities are pretty strict on it, but I shouldve anyways.
Everyones tired today, mentally and physically, its been tough. It feels like we have only been riding, this IS a bike tour afterall, but I think what's been ignored so far is everyones need for a little more time, a little bit of rest here and there. With the biking part of the trip being cut and squished into less riding days, our first 4 days have been HUGE. Averaging 25-30kms OVER what the itinerary stated only one week ago. Marks knee is blowing up, and Honorio has some lung infection happening, theyll both take tomorrow off. The team is breaking down...
Well the guides (dil and palden) let us stay sleeping for an extra hour after last nights "festivities", so an 8am tea wake up by Pema Sherpa. Its nice being woken up with a steaming cup of black tea with sugar of course, but its damn hard to lean out of the tent to get it in the cold that is getting colder lately.
Another thing to get used to on this trip is the 'facilities', by that I mean the toilet. Its a modified lawn chair with a padded ring on top that you can move anywhere you want if tehre is no tent set up around it. I remembered BritinHokkaidos problems with the toilet seats in Japan that sometimes have the cloth cover and how gross she thought it was, Ill have to get a picture for her. The excitement of the morning came when Mark decided to capture me "auditioning" with the above-mentioned apparatus. Classy picture!
Today was our first real mountain biking though, so everyones spirits were up. It was awesome, like being kids again, whooping up and down through the dirt fire road and singletrack. Sometimes being passed by wagons pulled by a donkey or horse carrying some Tibetans who looked confused why us strange white folk would be riding a bike and wearing spandex for fun (for the record I only have spandex on if there are baggy shorts or top OVERtop of them, case closed). Some of the kids along the road today were pretty aggressive though, actually chasing us down a bit yelling for money and candy.
After lunch things blurred into a road race once back on the pavement. Nick, Chris, and I all worked together and flew along. We looked for a place to have tea but only ended up barging in on a tibetan mid day drinking party with a loud soap opera blaring in the middle of the room on the big screen, surreal. The last ten k was tough, washboard gravel road. Near the town of Gyantse is a huge monastery perched up on the cliff, one of the most impressive sights Ive seen. I stopped near the river where 4 tibetans were having a picnic on the rice wine. I had a few sips and they begged me for photos of the Dalai Lama. WHY didnt I take some shots on my digi before coming? They are forbidden and the Chinese authorities are pretty strict on it, but I shouldve anyways.
Everyones tired today, mentally and physically, its been tough. It feels like we have only been riding, this IS a bike tour afterall, but I think what's been ignored so far is everyones need for a little more time, a little bit of rest here and there. With the biking part of the trip being cut and squished into less riding days, our first 4 days have been HUGE. Averaging 25-30kms OVER what the itinerary stated only one week ago. Marks knee is blowing up, and Honorio has some lung infection happening, theyll both take tomorrow off. The team is breaking down...
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