We woke up to sunny skies again today, no nice that my good weather karma has not failed me yet, but what has failed me is the tail wind karma. But I'm assured by all the other cyclists that a tail wind is just a figment of our imagination because it never really happens. If it looks like there's a tail wind, by the time we are on our bikes it will have switched. Well, they are right! Today was a long day already, but with a 25-30 km/h headwind it just felt like it would never end. Pedalling as hard as I could going downhill, my max speed was 15 km/h. So when we were going uphill....my speed would drop to 8-10 km/h. The terrain was more rolling than the pictogram would suggest, no sustained climbing today.
The terrain has changed again, the hills are now shorter but there are more of them....and we are seeing lots of red earth-a sign of iron in the soil. The valleys are narrower than previous....just accentuating the wind effect. The fields seem to be larger, and we even saw one tractor although the majority is worked by hand or with the assistance of oxen. We are seeing many herds of sheep tended by a herder. There's only a small amount of grass visible, but they are finding it and eating it.
There is still a lot of traffic and it seems to be going even faster, not leaving us much room to cycle. I'm hoping that the farther south we go that there will be less and less traffic. Only a few pictures of the sheep and terrain today. I was just too tired.
Today I've been gone for one month and there are only two weeks left until I'm home. There are still some challenging days of cycling left, and of course the visit to Everest basecamp in four days. That will be a great day!!!! Ok time for dinner and then sleep....have a good day everyone :)
Accommodation: Camping
Maximum Altitude: 4,160m
Sleeping Altitude: 4,160m
Distance: 96km
The terrain has changed again, the hills are now shorter but there are more of them....and we are seeing lots of red earth-a sign of iron in the soil. The valleys are narrower than previous....just accentuating the wind effect. The fields seem to be larger, and we even saw one tractor although the majority is worked by hand or with the assistance of oxen. We are seeing many herds of sheep tended by a herder. There's only a small amount of grass visible, but they are finding it and eating it.
There is still a lot of traffic and it seems to be going even faster, not leaving us much room to cycle. I'm hoping that the farther south we go that there will be less and less traffic. Only a few pictures of the sheep and terrain today. I was just too tired.
Today I've been gone for one month and there are only two weeks left until I'm home. There are still some challenging days of cycling left, and of course the visit to Everest basecamp in four days. That will be a great day!!!! Ok time for dinner and then sleep....have a good day everyone :)
We leave Shigatse in convoy, climbing
steadily up 125m in the first 8km at the start of a long day's cycling. After
some 35 km we cross the barely discernable Tso La pass (4050m). The undulating
terrain takes us through a landscape of fields where children will shout
"Hello!" and run to greet you if you stop to take a break. The
surrounding mountains close in on us as we enter into a river valley before
reaching our camp a short distance before the Tso La pass.
Maximum Altitude: 4,160m
Sleeping Altitude: 4,160m
Distance: 96km
1 comment:
Wow. A month already. I’m thinking by the time you are finished you will have legs like fenceposts and buns of steel. Now if i was with you i bet if i dug into my bag of EXTRA SHIT as you described it often, that there would be a chunk of 5mm cord that you could use to tie to the bumper of the support van on those nasty headwind days and as long as you kept the bike under you hills and headwinds would mean nothing. Keep up the pedal pumping. Will be quite something to visit north side EBC. Enjoy yourself. Reality is only a couple of weeks away.
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