Biking in Kathmandu
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| Getting ready to ride from Patan to Chandeshwori |
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| A newish Giant Talon with deore XT groupset and Rockshocks . with remote lockout. Not bad for a hire bike in Nepal! |
I contacted Himalaya Single track who, for around $35, were able to hire me a well equipped Giant with basic repair gear and a pump. They were also very flexible about enabling me to drop off the bike at their workshop in Thamel before my return flight to Mumbai on the Sunday morning. The retail store was very well equipped with a good range of high end gear for the gear freaks. The workshop was very well fitted out and had friendly, enthusiastic and knowledgeable western mechanics. I purchased Mountain Biking Kathmandu Valley map and started plotting my rides as we drove back to Patan.
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| Ladies harvesting the rice near Pauline's in Chandeshwori |
The next morning after a brief wander around with Kate I set off on the bike to ride to Pauline’s guesthouse. Pauline is a French lady who runs a small guest house in a traditional Newari farm house at Chandeshwori in the rural fringe to the north of the city. The meals there were great, cooked by her local staff, and the experience was one of provincial French farmhouse meets Nepal.
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| Ada making friends. |
There was some nice grass for Ada to do her cartwheels and there was a collection of recovered ponies and donkeys who were injured working in brick works near Kathmandu. Needless to say, Ada was in heaven.
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| The sad thing about selfies is that you are not enjoying the experience with anyone. |
After leaving Patan, I navigated my way through Kathmandu to the northern outskirts with ease. A combination with a morning start and festival season meant that the traffic was low and the riding was easy by Mumbai standards. After reaching Tokha and instead of turning off towards Chandeswori, I headed up into the hills through the villages of Bhitar and Nayabas with their terraced fields of rice, vegetable gardens and hothouse tomatoes. I then enjoyed a steepening climb up to Gurje Bhanjang past a military check point. Total climbing was about 588 metres from Kathmandu and the top was about 1650 meters, mostly on goods by Kathmandu standards. That said you wouldn't want to be on a road bike!
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| Pauline's verson of east meets west or Kathmandu meets Provence |
The run down hill to Chandeshwori was great fun and I arrived in time for to meet the girls, who had traveled up by car, at Tokha for the short journey to Pauline's.
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| The col after a good climb and before a long descent. I was thankfull for the disc brakes |
The next day I planned to ride through Shivapuri National Park on a route suggested by Pauline. I packed some money for the Park entry and set off. From Chandeshwori, I rode to Bhudhanilkantha and, after getting a little lost, climbed up the steep hill to the Park entry. I was told that the entry was 1000 Nepali Rupee, a premium price by Nepali standards and one that has upset the local biking community as it is much higher than for other activities. Unfortunately the person at the gate demanded 1500 Nepali and I didn't have that much with me. I was a little annoyed as I turned around and headed back.
After descending to the centre of Bhudhanilkantha, I decided to try the route up through the large Army Camp to the north west. Some more steep climbing on a sealed road past several Army check points led me to a rough 4WD track which turned out to be one of three bikeable roads in Shivapuri Watershed and Wildlife Reserve. The soldiers at the check points were friendly and happy to chat but they were of little help with navigation as they were unable to identify where they were located on the Map and seemed to have little idea about the surrounding villages.
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| The trail had a bit of everything |
The rough 4WD track had not seen any vehicle movement in a long time. It contoured to the east toward Gurje Bhanjang. The riding was fun with muddy, rocky and sandy sections. I even startled a small deer on the road and made several small snakes slither out of my way. Before too long I reached Gurje Bhanjang and followed my descent route from the previous day to Chandeshwori. In total I climbed 1300 metres over the 30 km loop and I was back at the guest house for a wonderful terrine for lunch.
