Cycling Day 2: A Big Climb onto the Tibetan Plateau
[this is on a Chinese computer in a VERY seedy internet cafe, I’m the only person not smoking, and the the keyboard is anything but what I’m used to, so if spelling or punctuation is wrong, you’ll know why… plus under the best of conditions, I’m a lousy speller… and its REALLY dark in here]
Our camp today was at the base of the day’s big climb, to get us over a pass and onto the Tibetan Plateau. The climb was 17 miles and 4700 feet of climbing with a maximum altitude of 15,900 feet. The total day was 50 miles, all the rest being mostly flat after the climb. The Tibetan Plateau in the area of our riding is consistently around 14-15,000 feet, so that will be our base altitude for the next 10 days, with climbs taking us to 16 to 17,000 feet.
Today’s camp is on a large plain along the lake. The wind is howling. I hope the support crew hammered the stakes in securely or we’ll end up across the lake.
We woke up to a bunch of Yak around our tents. They are very skittish animals, so the slightest movement sets them running.
Speaking of Yak, the Tibetans like to use a lot of Yak Bling.
This is our toilet tent, there was not a lot around us.
robert j. mang cycling/travel 