Day 8 - No rest day for the wicked... or unlucky
Having a chain helps, even if it's just for the downhill bits and so after a looong evening of googling, I had come up with 2 possible 'bike shops' in Besisahar and 1 further back down the valley. Given Nepali villages don't seem to stir properly until 0900 ish, I gave myself a lie in, but woke anyway at 0630.
It was another bright, blue sky, disgustingly potentially hot day (sorry folks from UK). I also as I got dressed discovered a hole in my shorts, near enough to the crotch but not enough to make them indecent... yet. Another pair of shorts is dying on its feet, another casualty of the hard riding here. (For those of you that remember my route 66 ride, I left my holey shorts in a motel in Williams (I think it was), when Louize and Mark Evans came to take me to the Grand Canyon for the day, and brought me a new pair. Louize and Mark unfortunately wasn't around to rescue me this time! 😂
So I chilled out for a bit and then. pulled on my holey shorts, checking that still weren't indecent and headed towards cycle shop number 1. I found it easily enough and they were very helpful but only had an 8 speed chain and I needed a 12 speed one. I thought (and had it confirmed by my bike shop in the uk later,) that it wouldn't have been the best idea. I wondered down to the next one... the chap there was less helpful. Possibly because of difficultues with communication but essentially it was a no. This was proving to be harder than I thought. Most of the mountain bikes round here are 10 speed at best.
So I walked back up the hill in the already hot sunshine and back to the hotel room. There was another bike shop in a village further back down the valley and thanks to fb and Ncell Tourist package of data and voice calls, I called him up....
No. answer, but then almost immediately he rang back. and I tried as best I could with a crappy line and difficulties with communication to explain my problem. He gave me. the number of a friend of his who might be able to help.
So I texted Tek randomly and explained and he called me up. His English was good. He said he would come to my hotel and pick me up and take me to the bike shop and within 15 minutes there was a knock on the door.
Tek looked at my chain and my bike and said lets go. I grabbed the old chain and we went out to where his scooter was waiting...
In typical Nepali fashion the pillion passenger never has a helmet and I climbed on another different mode of transport and we set off. Now forgive me but maybe I was being stupid but I thought we were going to the bike shop down the valley... instead, bless him, Tek took me back to the helpful shop I had just been to. When we got there and I explained, the bloke at the bike shop looked agian at my chain. and picked out another 2 cracked links.
You need another chain, Tek pronounced. 12 speed I said. Ok. We will order from Pokhara and get it brought here.
He made a couple of phone calls. and then asked if I wanted to go back to the hotel and wait and he would call me... I was a little unsure as I'm not good when just waiting... so he suggested a coffee.
Turned out Tek was not anything to do with bike shops really, he owned a coffee and food place and was just helping me out!
So of anyone ever finds themselves in Besisahar, please go and patronise Namaste Thakali Kitchen and Bob’s Bistro... they do a really good cappuccino! 😁
Whilst we sat there, Tek made and received several phone calls to the bike shop in Pokhara and relayed the info to me. Then he named the price. Given that 12 speed chains. are not easy to find and had to be sent up the valley taxi, the price wasn't bad. Payment had to be made first and after grappling with different ideas of how to do this, it ended up easier for Tek to pay him online and for me to give the cash to Tek.
Done... the Tek got on the phone to a taxi company and sorted that. 1 hour total and there was a bike chain coming from Pokhara today! It's amazing how networking and Nepal fit hand in hand and I was very grateful. So now it was go back to the hotel and wait.
I thought that whilst I was waiting, just in case it all went wrong, I would see if I could do something to cobble together my old chain and got an assortment of chain links out. I washed off the chain in the bathroom sink, dried it on the nice white towel (not so white now and proceeded to try and fit something together. In that process, somehow I bashed my bad toe again and blood starting oozing out of the tape I had bandaged it up with. And it stung like hell. More tape was added and my toenail held in place. Fixed again. The same couldn't be said for my chain. At best it was useful for lengths for repair in case of any other mishaps.
Then another plan came into play. I had decided that I needed to slim down my already slimmed down kit. In short, ditch the tent (which I should have done before, but it's hard to do when you don't know what you are facing.), ditch the sleeping mat (keep the sleeping bag) Ditch some spare stuff. Pack it up and then what? well in Ecuador when my bag broke, I managed to ship some stuff from one hotel to another, so I thought I might be able to do the same here. Unfortunately this hotel didn't do that but pointed me in the direction of a post office. So out I went again, hobbling slightly with my injured toe, back out into the blazing hot sunshine.
On the way, I hopped in to a couple of shops and found some new shorts that could be useful if my other shorts became indecent in a hurry.
I arrived at the post office and began a long convoluted conversation, only half of which I understood, half of which they understood but essentially, because of a holiday, it would take 14 days for my package to make it's way down the valley to Pokhara. (A hotel there had kindly said they would hold on to my stuff for me-of course with the assumption that I would stay with them when I was done.). 14 days would have been ok just about but they couldn't guarrantee it wouldn't be longer and then they starting telling me I would have to divide my bag into 2 and it had to be a white linen bag (from what I understood). It was getting too complicated, so I thanked them for their time and wandered back towards the hotel with thoughts of asking them to get a taxi to take it there.... the a lightbulb hit me... a taxi was bringing the chain from Pokhara today, maybe he would be going back to Pokhara... so I texted Tek again. Driver would be here around 5pm, I asked of he was going back to pokhara and could take the kit... but the next call I got was Tek saying the driver had dropped the chain off and he would bring it too me. I went back to plan B of asking the hotel.
Tek popped up and knocked on my door and gave me a brand new 12 speed chain. and he said the driver was going back to Pokhara tomorrow and may be able to take the bag...
another call and he said it would cost 1000 rupees, about 6 quid... done!
I gave Tek my bag and thanked him again
Messgaged the hotel to let them. know. to. expect the bag tomorrow and then a text from tek to say the driver was going tonight... things can happen speedily round here if you know. the right people 😁
Then I attached the chain, but it wasn't quite running right and as Rob and Lewis from Aw Cylces know, finessing gears is not my thing so I took my bike to the helpful bike shop and they adjusted it for me until it ran reasonably smoothly.
I rode my bike back to the hotel and there were still one or two imperfections in the gear changing which I may decide to just live with... compared to where my bike was this morning with no. chain at all. and seemingly no hope of getting one... this is but a minor issue.
What little was left of my day was spent repacking kit and looking at a more detailed map. of the circuit. I also managed to rig my bike light to my handlebar bag with zip ties because I had accidnetly left the light handlebar attachment bit at home.
Then pizza and a book to. actually have the rest part of my rest day... still it kept my legs turning ready for the off tomorrow.
Fingers crossed no more chain issues!
LHS!
Let’s hope that chain lasts. It’s amazing what you can do with a mobile phone these days. It’s all wasted on me, as you well know. Dad xxx.
ReplyDeleteyeah fingers crossed.... it will be harder to sort further up
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