Location:
| Lat/Lng: |
30.02441, 101.52633 |
| Kilometers: |
70.51 |
| Time in the Saddle: |
08:00:03 |
We tried out a recipe for our first big pass, (started at 2580m and ended at 4280m) which included 2 steamed buns each (which are about the size of a dinner roll). We got up a bit later than anticipated because we were up late talking to a French guy who was sharing our dorm room. Our plan was to get up at 7 a.m.
and start heading up the pass. The top of the pass was 36km away and the word from all the local people we met was that it was very hard going. It was probably around 9:30 or so when we ended up getting rolling. We began climbing directly out of Kangding and literally never stopped until reaching the pass. Our speed up the pass was, at times, pretty amazing. We averaged 5-6km/hr hitting 3 and 4 km/hr on the steeper parts. The plan was to get some food on the way up to minimize the amount of extra weight. The good news is that we didn’t have any extra weight. In fact we actually lost some, which might have been a good thing. Unfortunately, there was no food available, although we always carry about 2 days worth of food. The 2 days worth of food is the sorrow drowner, only for use in extreme situations. This situation not being that extreme, we kept on going. Overall, it wasn’t too bad physically, but the lack of food made us a bit tired near the end. At points it just seemed to take us a while because we were moving pretty slowly. The higher and higher we climbed, the more incredible the views of the surrounding mountains became. Leaving the greener setting of Kangding, we moved into a more coniferous shrub environment, finally reaching above tree line. At the top of the pass, it was pretty chilly and as we were putting on our warm clothes, we were swarmed by a bunch of Chinese tourists who took our picture (the cameras were blasting from every angle) and tested out our bikes. Then we headed down the other side. The road started off great at first, but then turned into a dirt road with lots of potholes and rocks everywhere. It was really difficult to keep up any speed and we had to stop a few times because a few loose items were flying off the bikes. But the views more than made up for the road. The backside of the pass was a grassland area, dotted with Tibetan homes and fields. The lighting during sunset turned all the fields and hillsides into a golden yellow. We rode until dusk and then looked for a place to stay before it was too dark. We found a partially built guest house, run by 3 Tibetans. It wasn’t cheap, but the people were really nice and we sat down with them for dinner and drank a lot of hot water, which was great. About an hour before we went to bed, an older woman came in and sat down with us. She was around 50 years old, dressed beautifully in typical Tibetan clothing. One of our books on the table caught her eye immediately. She graciously asked if she could look at it and spent the next hour reading every translation. It was so great to watch her look through the book with such intense interest and focus. After a few hours of all of us sitting around the stove, we warmed up before going to bed. Tomorrow we have another 4000m pass to go over; we will be sure to eat a bit more…
Previous Entry
