June 7, Last Cycling Day, #18: The final stretch into Kathmandu
After yesterday’s grueling ride, I wasn’t looking forward to the slog into Kathmandu; however, while the ride in was intense, it was tolerable. It was only 20 miles, but the closer we got to Kathmandu, the more we shared the road with cars, busses, trucks, and motorcycles. By the time we were inside the city proper, it was the usual mayhem, but we made it to the hotel without incident.
This type of cycling takes a tremendous amount of concentration… not on the actual cycling mind you, but on everything else, and on your own mission. If one does not cycle aggressively, you would never get anywhere. But we’re done.
All told, over 750 miles, 18 days of cycling, over 60,000’ of climbing, 5 passes exceeding 16,000’, sleeping at 15,000’ to 16,000’, sick once, lost 6 pounds (not good, and I’m eating like mad to put it back on), and it was overall, a fantastic experience.
I’m now in New Delhi, and plan on traveling in Rajasthan for a few weeks. Cycling is over, but this will most certainly be a whole different experience.
Morgan Freeman’s brother in Kathmandu.
One of the thousands of interesting people on the streets.
Checkout this DVD rental window. You got some of the hot US political topics in three DVD’s: 911, Bin Laden, and Obama. Speaking of Obama, he certainly is popular around here. I was on one of the remote passes in Tibet, miles from anywhere, and a person asks me where I’m from, and I say the USA, and he say’s, “Obama!!!”, the people in Nepal, Tibet, and India love him. They love giving you the thumbs up and saying “Obama!” It’s quite something. I doubt I would have heard that 5 years ago about Bush.
robert j. mang cycling/travel 