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Dave Wodchis
"The Road to Everest"
Page 4
Copyright © Dave Wodchis, 2004.

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October 25th, 2004

It looks like this will be the first day since our trip to Ganden Monastery that I actually cycle along with Pierre and Sonia. Chu (from Singapore) is also coming along. There's been some discussion about how we tackle this next pass, Gyatso La at 5220m. It is an 1100m climb with a distance of 38 km to the peak. It seems that we will do it in two days, going halfway up on the first day, and then continuing on to the Mount Everest turnoff on the second day.

Leaving after lunch around 1:30, it's a relatively easy cycle, in fact, I don't even notice that we are climbing at all. Sonia had been quite sick the night before, so we are all taking it nice and slow. Cycling along the river, we look for some campsites, finally settling on one around the road marker 5069. We think it's the one that's mentioned in the guide. it's barely suitable and not that picturesque, but it will do. The night is cold and unfortunately, the truck traffic never completely stops.

ROAD REPORT - Cycling Day 9

Distance: 16 kms

Ride time: 2:05 hours

Avg. speed: 8.1 kph

Max speed: 16 kph

Passes: none

Sleeping place: Camping at road marker 5069, 4405m

Tibet Mileage: 790 km

Worldwide Mileage: 7776 km

Comment: Short, Easy Climb

October 26th, 2004

After the sun hits the valley around 10:00 a.m., we are off to tackle Gyatso La, our highest pass so far. The first part of the road, we have a bit of a tailwind, but soon enough it changes to icy headwinds. They're not that strong, but they are persistent. On reaching the top of Gyatso La, the winds are blowing quite strongly while there are a couple of jeeps and some Tibetans. Sonia chats with the jeep people. Pierre and I take some pictures including some of me tying prayer flags at the pass. Chu has fallen behind and does not appear to be in sight. We think he might have met up with another Chinese speaking cyclist that we heard was on the road just behind us. The cold wind is getting to me and I've decided that I really don't want to camp again tonight. That means I'll have to hustle to get to some accommodation. Sonia and Pierre plan to camp.

ct-dw-Gyatso-La5220m.jpg (162120 bytes)

The descent is described as a "brake burner" in the guidebook. It is anything but that. I find myself pedaling into strong icy winds, stopping every ten kilometers or so to let my hands and feet thaw, checking the distance remaining, calculating my potential arrival time in Baipa or Shekar. It seems I should make it before dark, but just before. My water is running low and I resort to my quick energy snack - Chocolate bars.

I get to Baipa around sunset. The first place I see is a rather dumpy, dirty dorm room - not what I hauled ass to sleep in tonight. I want a nice warm bed in a clean room, so I cycle up the nicely paved road to Shekar. The sky is turning purple behind the mountains as I arrive at a hotel 7 kms up the very fast road from Baipa. After some noodle soup, I'm tucked under two large comforters, sleeping soundly until daybreak.

ROAD REPORT - Cycling Day 10

Distance: 72.39 kms

Ride time: 6:20 hours

Avg. speed: 10.4 kph

Max speed: 34.7 kph

Passes: Gyatso La 5220m

Sleeping place: Hotel in Shekar, 4050m

Tibet Mileage: 862 km

Worldwide Mileage: 7848 km

Comment: Tailwind for first 5 km, then icy headwinds, followed by more icy headwinds. Prolonged gradual descent along bumpy roads that required a lot of pedaling. Not the "brake burner" descent mentioned in Tibet Overland.

October 27th, 2004

Shekar has a spectacular fort built up along a mountain ridge, and in the morning light, the view can transport you to another time. A time when horses were the only form of transportation, when Yaks were massive creatures roaming wildly through the land, and Khan was ruler of all the lands.

ct-dw-Slingshot-Yak-Herding.jpg (187661 bytes)

Slingshot yak herding

I leave Shekar around noon after cleaning my chain and dispensing of some unnecessary luggage, like the oxygen canister I've never used. I ride down to Baipa and have lunch before going to pick up my entrance ticket for Mount Everest Conservation area. It is going into the ticket office that I meet up again with Pierre and Sonia. The have yet to eat lunch and do some shopping, so after waiting a while, I end up setting off for Chay ahead of them. There's a Chinese checkpoint along the way that wants to see my passport, but doesn't bother with the travel permit. At Chay, there's a checkpoint for the Everest admission, and right next door is the home of a Tibetan who rents a backroom for cyclists and other overlanders. There's also another guesthouse in the village where an American trekker is staying for the night. Pierre and Sonia arrive a short time after I'm settled in and also decide to stay for the night. We cook our Chinese takeout from Baipa in the room before turning in.

ROAD REPORT - Cycling Day 11

Distance: 24.73 kms

Ride time: 2:00 hours

Avg. speed: 12.67 kph

Max speed: 39.2 kph

Passes: none

Sleeping place: guesthouse in Chay, 4260m

Tibet Mileage: 887 km

Worldwide Mileage: 7875 km

Comment: Easy day - some headwinds.

October 28th, 2004

Our day in Chay started off quite well, although neither Sonia nor I slept very well at the altitude. The new markers on the road to Everest Base Camp count down the kilometers from the main highway, starting at 101. Chay is at approximately 97, and so it is here that we begin our climb over Pang La via a continuous series of switchbacks.

One of the side benefits of these switchbacks, is that the headwinds become tailwinds as the road makes it's abrupt turns on the way up the mountain. Everything seemed to be going smoothly with very little traffic, until we were about half a kilometer from the top. Then the winds became so gusty and strong, that it was almost impossible to just stand and hang on to the bike without getting blown over, or worse, getting blown down the steep drop off. After putting on more warm clothing and realizing that the gale force winds would not abate, we ended up pushing up the last bit when there were slight eases in the strength of the wind. At the top of the pass, we endured the winds as long as possible while looking out at spectacular views of the Himalayan mountain range. There were some cross-country shortcuts on the downhill, so that allowed me to cut out some of the switchbacks. Unfortunately, some of those shortcuts brought me to the edge of a roadway that was either 4 meters above me or 4 meters below, but that just meant a bit more cross country riding. At one point, I wondered if I was still on the right road, because Sonia and Pierre were taking so long to pass me. It turned out that they had some bike problems caused by the rough road.

On arrival in Tashi Dzom, I found a pretty good guesthouse. The room was cold, but private, and there was a good restaurant with an English menu. My LP Tibetan phrasebook has turned out to be quite useless here, so English menus are a welcome addition. My pronunciation of Tibetan is so pathetic, a large number of Tibetan people are illiterate, or the local people I encounter speak and read Chinese as opposed to Tibetan. The food section in the LP phrasebook, usually the most important, is also laid out completely differently than most other LP phrasebooks, and unlike many other nationalities, Tibetan people don't repeat out loud the phrases that you show them in the book, so it makes the language that much harder to learn.

Pierre and Sonia arrived about an hour later with some bad news. Sonia had broken a key bolt on her seat - one that attached it to the seatpost. Apparently the vibrations from the road had caused it to snap, so Pierre and the hotel owner made plans to see if they could find something to solve the problem in the morning. Thankfully, there are tractors in much of Tibet, so there is sure to be something that can attach the seat. It would be impossible to ride without it.

The delay also allowed me to have a couple more helpings of fried potatoes and yak meat from the restaurant. This was some of the most delicious food I had sampled in all of Tibet, and my only disappointment is that I do not have the name of the guesthouse, only that it has a very long name like "Sheng Di Song Mo Guesthouse" and sits directly across from the junction where you turn to go to Everest.

ROAD REPORT - Cycling Day 12

Distance: 47.25 kms

Ride time: 5:18 hours

Avg. speed: 8.9 kph

Max speed: 24.1 kph

Passes: Pang La 5050m

Sleeping place: guesthouse Tashi Dzom, 4090m

Tibet Mileage: 934 km

Worldwide Mileage: 7922 km

Comment: Many switchbacks on ascent. Alternating headwinds and tailwinds. Extremely windy at the top of the pass. Road conditions pretty good.

October 29th, 2004

We had a bit of a late departure due to the seat being fixed, but the ride itself was nice, warm, and wind free. Sonia and Pierre had thought to go on past Cho Dzong, but turned back to the schoolhouse compound guesthouse after a couple of kilometers as the wind was picking up and making riding difficult. The American trekker had already checked in to one of the guestrooms in the schoolhouse compound. Trace, originally from Oregon, was taking a year off from being a PhD microbiology student at the university of Washington, and remarkably, because of our extremely easy pace on this road to Everest section, and the fact that he had cut out about thirty kilometers by walking cross-country, was following the same schedule as we were following by bicycle, but he was doing it on foot! If I couldn't explain, it would be quite disheartening!

This section of the road is extremely beautiful, with very few villages, and constant views of the Himalayan Mountain Range.

ROAD REPORT - Cycling Day 13

Distance: 24.9 kms

Ride time: 3:00 hours

Avg. speed: 7.32 kph

Max speed: 16 kph

Passes: none

Sleeping place: Schoolhouse guest room Cho Dzong, 4360m

Tibet Mileage: 959 km

Worldwide Mileage: 7947 km

Comment: Nice warm ride. Bumpy, bumpy road. One soaker on detour.

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