Nepal Day 24 - Kathmandu - Mountain biking

 We had breakfast, then picked up some to-go coffee on our way to Himalayan Single Tracks. We weren’t due there until 8am, but the bikes were already loaded across the tailgate of a Mahindra Bolero, part suv and part pickup truck. We met Mani, our guide, and piled into the car for the drive to Nagarkot, a hill area on the edge of Kathmandu. As usual, the Kathmandu traffic was impressively chaotic. Motorcycles are everywhere, cars move in and out of lanes with no visible reason why, people are honking everywhere, it appears to be legit to pull into the oncoming lane, up to two cars abreast, in order to pass. It’s amazing we aren’t seeing fender benders all the time.

As we drove up the hill to Nakargot (a town, but maybe also the name of the hill), houses were spread out with large terraced yards or even acreage for farming. The hillside was steep in places with multistory homes precariously placed. In areas it was forested.

At the top of the hill we unloaded bikes and took a run down a dirt road. We adjusted saddle positions and seat heights. The bikes are full suspension Trance X bikes with dropper posts. Sarah’s front brake seemed shot and her suspension so stiff it felt rigid. Still, we were largely coasting downhill, and the bikes seem pretty good for rentals here. Mani had brought his own bike which he had gotten from the US.

Our driver met us at the bottom of the road and drove us back to the top. We came down another two track with good views of terraced fields. For our third ride, we headed down leaf-covered singletrack with some hidden roots and rocks. It was shady and beautiful, and we were getting used to the bikes. 

We pedalled down a paved road to the main town area where we stopped for a dal bhat lunch, then we took a long, paved downhill to Bhaktapur. There we left our bikes with the driver, and we walked thru the historic center. Bhaktapur is a city of bricks which gives the center a distinctive look. Beautiful tempes and alleyways full of souvenir shops were charming. We saw pottery areas, and a thangka painting school. After a long walk, we exited the center, jumped back in our car, and were agin amazed by the chaos of traffic.

After dropping off the bikes and saying goodbye to Mani, we booked a short rafting trip on the Trishuli for Wednesday. We showered and relaxed at the hotel until dinner.