Day 3... Hard hits

 

Day 3...

My day started early, though possibly not as early as it should have. My bent brake disc had resisted all attempts to straighten it despite sweating over it for an hour. I gave up and then couldn’t sleep so when my alarm sounded this morning I hadn’t really had much kip. I did not spring out of bed for sure. In fact I might have turned the alarm off and dozed off again.

Essentially it didn’t really matter because the bike shop I had identified on google maps didn’t open until 0730 and in my head, remembering the last time in Ecuador that I stood outside of a bike shop and they didn’t open till 10am.

Still I got there by 0830, an hour after google said it was open... no dice. Shutters down and no soul about. It did have a phone number on the sign though so after a moments hesitation called it. A chap answered and told me it would open at 9. He sounded a bit sleepy, I think I woke him up!

About 10 minutes later another call from the bike chap... where are you.? Outside the shop I replied... I will be there shortly he said. So I sat on the kerb, bike propped against the wall, watching Kathmandu roll by. It was a Saturday so seemed reasonably quiet... less horns honking!

I wasn’t feeling too stressed about the situation as I had accepted that today was going to be a shorter day and that’s just how it was. The bike needed fixing... this was going to be hard enough without the brakes rubbing!

By 0900 the shop was open and Sagar was working to bend back the disc. Eventually he said that that was the best he could do but prob better to have a new one. I agreed and watched him as he went over to a new Trek bike and took the wheel off. Bu then couldn’t take the nuts off the disc. So he teied another bike. Eventually I had a new disc and a non rubbing wheel. I loaded up my bike bags once again. Said thank you to Sagar and the owner  and started out into the hustle and bustle of Kathmandu city streets.

For the most part my route had stuck to quieter roads and as it was a Saturday I think it was generally a bit calmer. That said navigating in big cities is never fun and even with the garmin I often made a wrong turn. Getting through cities always takes much longer than you think it will. Even if its a decent traffic day.

There were one or 2 roads that were interesting junctions... I basically had to just start riding out and hope that they all avoided me... it seemed to work. Another tactic was to stick close to a car that was going the same way as me. It was an interesting game.

Back onto more narrow streets and started climbing. I figured this was what the day was now going to like. I was under no illusions as to how tough this was going to be but climbing up had its bonuses... I clombed out of the smog and into some fresh air. Instead of horns honking (there were still some) it was more cicadas and the tweeting of birds that made up the background noise. At this point the road was still tarmac so although tough, and my lungs were starting to hurt, at least the road was good.

Almost as soon as I thought that, I missed the turn... realising shortly after I backtracked and went down a small grass track, through a field... it didnt seem right. I ended up in the middle of housing and when I found my way out, I was back to where I started. My gps caught up with me and showed me that I had been on the right path in the first place. Frustrating but at least it was the good path I was on.  As I wound up I was getting hotter and hotter. The sun was blazing and beating down without mercy. Although I had plenty of water it was hard to keep stopping and drinking when you are going up.

I stopped at a little shop and as soon as I stopped someone came over and said hello. Now I was further out of Kathmandu I seemed to be being stared at more. It didn’t bother me. I gave a wave or said namaste which often made them smile.

I bought a mountaindew drink to try and replenish something. And then  back on the saddle and continued climbing up. The gradient was reasonable, the road good. Almost as soon as I had that thought I came to a junction, the nice tarmac path heading down and a rocky mess of a path heading straight up the hillside... guess which one was my route!! That’s right the straight up one. I was never going to be able to cycle it and here started the first of many hike a bike sections. To be honest it was obviously going to have to haplen sometime... the valley basically ended in a wall of rock and I had to go over it one way or another. So I started trudging upwards... the gradient makong me breathless, passing some mountain houses with the people staring out at me as I passed. Most smiled, prob thinking rightly so that I was crazy. Especially in the heat. There was no shade at all and the path wound inexorably upwards. It hurt... pretty. Much every step hurt.

But I wasn’t stressing. Thats the beauty of having been in this situation before, many times. It would take as long as it took... one foot in front of the other and I would get somewhere. It may not be quite where I was planning on but so be it. What goes up, at some point, eventually must come down!

I was struggling with the heat most as there was absolutely no shade and no breeze but just kept on going, trying to remember to drink at some point.

The road eventually merged into a tarmac roadand made the going slightly easier. The gradients on the bends were a killer but in between were ridable.  The view down to Kathmandu was pretty spectacular and was almost worth the effort! 😂

I passed a family playing badminton. They lived further down the valley where there was no where for the kids to play so they came up here. I chatted to them whilst I caught my breath. Then onwards and upwards. Not far to the top now.

There was a sense of elation when I reached the top and looked into the valley on the other side.. I sat in some sort of shelter for a few minutes and then the family of 4 rocked up (on one motorbike) and I joked to them to swap. He offered me a go but honestly much as I would have liked... risking a motorbike ride was probably not the best thing to do in my state. He then offered me his number in case I needed his help. At any point on the way. People here seem very concerned that I’m by myself  and all of them. Offer their number just in case.

Then downhill... on tarmac... well until the road became bumpy gravel for a bit. Once again I missed my turnoff but fortunately realised in time.

This time the descent was all gravel, bumpy but fun. In some places I was almost airborne and the concentration required was absolute. In places it turned to sand and my back wheel. Kept washing out. It was fun! But it didn’t last as the cycling gods decided I’d had my fun and the downhill turned into round the side of a mountain. This wasn’t too bad. The surface was hard packed clay and at times I had a bit of a breeze pushing me along. Occasionally I came to an incline that required I get off and push but this was a pattern I was pretty familiar with. Up and down.. on and off the bike. I have no shame in pushing a heavily loaded bike up an incline.

The time flew by and the clouds covered over the sun a bit leading to a welcome respite. I was definitely dehydrated and I realised that as usual I hadn’t eaten anything. This was mainly because 

I assumed I could eat in the next village only  to not really come across one that had a place to stop. Plus my feet have a habit of just keeping plodding forward.

The sun gradually lowered in the sky and I was trudging upwards on my latest hill. I hit a bit of a wall and decided to stop and stuff down a few of the provisions I had bought. A few biscuits, some gummy sweets... good to go again.

The road was in places very bad condition, so much so that in several places, I was cycling faster than some of the motorbikes could go over certain sections. A few streams to cross as well left my feet a bit wet. And still up and up.

There was one point that my route went up a awful looking road but the road I was on was nice enough (hard packed dirt, not bad to cycle on) Looking at my map I could see that theb2 routes eventually converged so decided to take what looked like theo nicer path. I didn’t regret it. It was cyclable and fun, flat or FLUP (flat up) but ok. Then I came across the roadworks... 2 diggers across the road. But they stopped when they saw me and I hopped off the bike and walked past.  The same happened a bit further down. But it was easy enough to pass

The sun was drifting down behind the hills and once again I was going up, a bit of pushing, my body feeling quite tired from the efforts of today. I was conscious that the sun may not take long to go behind the hills and it may get dark quite quickly. I dont mind cycling in the dark but I realised yesterday that whilst I had my bike light, I had not brought the handlebar attachment which would make riding in the dark a little more tricky.

However I was in the mountains with the odd little village appearing which seemed to have no guest houses. I had my tent, but everywhere off the road seemed to be steep hillside. It was going to be tricky to find a spot to pitch a tent.

In one of these little hillside villages a group of teenage girls passed and said namaste so I took the opportunity to ask if there was anywhere to stay nearby. Nope!

Oh well. By now I was again on a rough dirt rocky road stretching upwards but I could see the top and it wasn’t far. I got to the top and there was a little shop there. The owner smiled at me, probably trying not to burst out laughing at the sight of me. For I was sweaty, covered in dust and prob slightly sunburnt. Yes I did put cream on! It sweated off.

I bought a coke... the best coke I had had for a while and tried out my few words of Nepalese (thanks to maina, prema and janicke  for that)

Their daughter came up to try out her english on. Me... which was much. Much better than my nepalese 😂

It was a pleasant interlude because I still had to go up a bit before the road went down to a place where I had been told would be some accomodation. It didn’t look far on the map.

So onwards and upwards and then suddenly.. CRUNCH! Shit!

My chain had slipped off and behind my largest cog and stuck there. I got off my bike and tried to wrench it out but it was well and truly stuck. I turned it upside down and wrestled with it... It took 10 mins of sweat and almost some tears and a little bit of blood when I finally succeeded it pulling it out. All the good work that AW Cycles had done in cleaning my bike was well. And truly undone... up close my train looked like it had gone through the sahara desert. Hey ho... this bike had stood up to similar. The Whyte bike is fairly bombproof especially considering what I put it through at times.

My mood had taken a dive though. I was exhausted. Hungry, aching, hot... the usual moans and groans that my blog readers have to put up with... but Nepal had not pulled any punches or gone easy on me in this introduction.... and I was still at relatively low altitude.

But this is why I had decided to ride from Kathmandu to Besi sahar, to warm up, to acclimatise slowly and to get my legs into the programme as it were.

But frankly I had had enough for the day but I thought the end was in sight. I was aiming for Gogapani where I was reliably. Informed there would be accomodation.

Then as I pushed up another small incline, I caught my first sight (not from an aeroplane) of the Himalayas, and the mountains looked perfect. Highlighted by the sun which was at its lowest before dropping down, it was a nice sight and c buoyed my mood. Then once again on a reasonable dirt road flatish winding round and up a little and my maps. Me map pronounced me in goganpani.

But it seemd to be only a little village with no obvious guest house and the sun had sunk swiftly. I stopped at another little shop and asked about accomodation again. There seemd to be some difference of opinion... yes hotel... no hotel. Eventually one girl said . follow the road down to Goganpani (I thought I was there).. so I set off...  but it was now dark and I couldn’t see any guest house So I cut my Losses and went back up thw hill at great cost to my energy levels tried again with the same girl. Some kods that had been playing football came over and there proceeded a long conversation, not a word of which I understood. No hotel here... was basically the gist. I needed to continue down the road to goganpani. I asked about where I could pitch my tent but they didnt have an ideas on that. So I pulled out my head torch and my bike light, held. The light in one hand whilst simultaneously hovering over the brakes and proceeded down in the dark. It was alright... Ive done this before. And although the road surface wasnt the best so far that day... it wasnt the worst either. I got in a rythm. Braking with my right hand was tricky whilst holding the light but it was possible and I made my way down.

Another small shop appeared. I asked for a drink and then a young man came out and started to talk asking me name, where from and so on. His english was pretty good so I checked how far to goganpani. He pointed down the road and said not too far and then the lady running the store said something in napalese to him. He turned to me and said you. Can stay here.

I looked at the woman who had offered a bed for the night and sized the situation up. It seemed safe. They seemed friendly. So I asked if they were sure and they nodded. And like that my day was done. They ushered me in, asked if I wanted food and then we had a stilting conversation. There was another young boy there and a man who pronounced he was the bus driver. Their English was limited although the young kid and the other young man understood more.

The food when it came was traditional, rice, veg, dahl. I pronounced myself vegetarian just in case.

Then more people arrived and sat down to eat but not till after they had shown considerable. Interest in my bike. Battered and dirty as it was I was still aware that it looked like a very expensive bike, but they all seemed harmless enough. The young kid noticed my. Slightly worried looks and pulled. It up into the area I was sitting. Away from the crowd.

We sat around, me eating the food to a background of chatter... the bus driver seemed to be telling the others a bit about me because occasionally I caught a word that was english.

Soon though the lady who had invited me to stay motioned me to follow her.... I was falling asleep on my feet. She took me. To a nice room with a bed and table. It was also packed full of bags of something... corn.? Flour? No idea what.

They settled me in, I got my sleeping bag out and started to write the blog. Internet was sketchy to none so I settled for writing it tonight and posting tomorrow. Needless to say, I was too tired to write long and so set my alarm for 5am.

My thoughs as I drifed off to sleep was that I needed to start earlier in. The morning. So alarm set for 5am so i could finish the blog and set off by 7am. I resolved to be better with food tomorrow too. No food apart from a few biscuits and gummy sweets would not sustain over the next few weeks but hopefully. By getting an earlier start, I would have more time to stop for food. I also resolved to try and find somewhere to stop before dark if possible.... difficult as it was in. The mountains.

I settled down on the solid bed and was asleep in seconds... roll on tomorrow!