Yamdrok-Tso to Gyantse

I am sitting in an internet cafe in the city of Gyantse, which is supposed to be the third biggest city in Tibet but is actually smaller than an average village in Holland. It’s noisy around me with kids playing online games and watching video’s, and people are looking over my shoulder all the time to figure out what this strange foreigner is doing.

Yesterday we had our third riding day, from the shores of lake Yamdrok-Tso over the Karo-La pass to the foot of the Simi-La. The ride started off quite well, it was about 12 degrees, sunny and there was hardly any wind. But after about 20 km the road became a dirt road, just at the point that the climb to Karo-La started. The road would get worse and worse (luckily we did not know that in advance), until in the end it was so bad that even Toyota Landcruisers had difficulties to ride it. For us on our bikes it was even more difficult of course, but the scenery compensated this. We were surrounded by 7000+ meter mountains, and there was a huge glacier close to the road. Around 12:30 our guide passed my dad and me (we always ride together) in his Landcruiser and asked if we wanted to have lunch. We asked how far it still was to the top of the mountain, and he told us about 3 km. We decided therefore to continue, because that would take us maximum 20-30 minutes. However, it turned out the guide was once again wrong: the 3 km turned out to be at least 10 km of uphill dirt road ride and at 14:00 we finally managed to reach the top (at 5050 meters, not 5500 as the guide had told us – this mistake was something I did not mind).

My dad and I were exhausted because of the long climb and the high altitude, and we could hardly eat anything although we were hungry. It was windy and cold, and we did not feel very comfortable at this extreme height. Right at that moment the second Landcruiser reached the top of the mountain, with in it both Gary and the camera man. The altitude and the bad road conditions were too much for them, and they had to take the car up for the last kilometers. Gary had already had lunch, so he put on additional clothes and jumped on his bike for the long downhill. We followed about 10 minutes later, but after a few minutes later we saw Gary already: he had fallen pretty badly. Luckily he wore a helmet, because that saved him. His helmet was completely bumped, and could not be used anymore. His bike was also not usable anymore, because his gear system was in a mess and his front brake had completely broken off. Gary himself was quite OK, he had some scratches but did not feel to bad. The riding day for him was over.

My dad and I continued, but were very careful. The dirt road was very bad, with lose stones and many holes, and we did not want to end up like Gary. After about 70 km we expected to see the guide with his car at a camping place, but we rode on and on and still did not see him. After about 80 km we were really exhausted (mentally it is very difficult to continue when you are prepared to stop at 70 km) and finally saw his white Landcruiser with the game.com.cn flag on it. When we arrived at his car, however, he told us that he could not find a good camping place and we would have to ride another 3-4 km. Great…. But we had not choice, so we continued on. After about 5 km we saw him again and it turned out there was still no good camping place there. At this point I got really angry. I was totally exhausted and had been riding for 9 straight hours, and I told him that I was fed up with him. A good tour guide should prepare things in advance, which he clearly had not done. I was also angry because he never told us the correct distance, making our rides even more difficult. I know that was not smart, because he was losing face big time (which in Tibetan culture may even be worse than in Chinese culture), but I totally had it with him. We talked it out today (he gave me a good guidebook with distances and altitudes), but I am sure this will be an interesting part of the documentary (yes, everything is being filmed).

The guide drove on to find a camping spot, and me and my dad followed. The problem was, there was still no camping spot. All good spots were demolished because a new road was being built. It was getting later already and we were more and more tired, so finally it was decided to give up the search and drive to the next town, Gyantse. This would have been the town we would ride to today. The idea was to go there and stay in a hotel, and drive us back to the original place in the morning, so we could ride ourselves to Gyantse. However, on the remaining 35 km drive to Gyantse (we rode some of the planned itineray already while searching for a camping spot), we found that there was no road anymore… The old road over the Sima-La had disappeared, and road crews were building a new one. However, this was not finished yet, and our Landcruiser had to cross through mud streams and drive along riverbanks full of boulders. It was totally impossible to ride a mountain bike here, we would probably have to carry it on our backs in order to get through. So finally the decision was made to cancel today’s remaining 35 km because of force majeure, and we would make it up by riding around town today.

That was a good decision, because now Gary could get his bike repaired, and also our bikes could be maintained (unbelievable what 250 km in Tibet can do to your bike, many screws had to be tightened and most gear systems were not working well anymore). After repairing the bikes we did some sightseeing, and we found that Gyantse is a very nice old town. A fairy-tale like fort overlooked the town, and right behind it was a huge, 700 year old, monastery. We spent a few hours there exploring the sights and the old part of town, and it was amazing. Actually, we were glad we have seen, this is something you don’t want to miss while touring Tibet.

Tomorrow we are off to Shigatse (a 95 km ride), where the Panchen Lama has his residence, and where we will stay in a hotel. The day after that we have our first rest day planned, so we will probably do some sightseeing there as well. My wife and Gary’s girlfriend will go back from Shigatse to Lhasa, and fly back to Shanghai from there. After Shigatse it will be a 7 day ride to Mount Everest base camp for us, while camping every night along the road. The first days are behind us, but there are still two weeks of riding ahead of us. I am still very excited!