On waking, the room was nowhere near as cold as I expected, however I was glad that I had the foresight to tuck my waking clothes under the duvet to benefit from my body heat.
Breakfast was as expected in this simple establishment, simple. Omelette and pancake with coffee or tea. I didn't care, I was ravenous, even scooping up others' leftovers, either to eat now or save for a road snack.
Because it was an early start, Everest was barely visible, but after 30mins or so it began to catch more light. The lighting was completely different to yesterday so it was nice to see it in a different perspective.
Someone has neatly scribbled "cold" in the frost on my bike's saddle, as if to replace the weather feed on my smartphone. We leave before sunrise and I'm wearing many layers, I counted seven, or nine if you include the extra thermal pads over my chest! What a southern pooftah! My bar muffs mostly do their job, I'm wearing summer gloves for a better fit and feel and it's just bearable.
It's the same route back, so we get to play again. However because of the cold we take it more carefully than usual until the sun has had a chance to warm the road. Once at the top Christopher and I take the dirt road again and the views are even better than yesterday in the morning light.
On way down we can go a bit faster as the roads have been warmed by the sun for several hours and I ride with Big Al (Aussie Al) following me on his Benelli acting as sweep. He's almost exclusively a dirt rider, so asphalt is not his thing, but he keeps up with me without a problem. They say dirt riding sharpens your road riding and they're not wrong.
At the end of the winding, mountainous road section we turn right back on to the main route to Tingri. Then it's YAFC. Bigger crowd today so it takes longer, but hey, this is Tibet, so we're used to it by now. We reach Tingri by 10:30 so we're on schedule, which is important as today is a long ride.
The road is now back on the flat, fast but occasional potholes, then even more potholes - I don't remember it being so bumpy coming the other way. I see and pass a familiar looking object in the middle of the road, so I stop and turn back, only to find it's a Zuumav exhaust pipe! What kind of numpty doesn't realise his exhaust has fallen off? And what kind of numpty riding behind, seeing it fall off, doesn't go back to get it? (Names withheld to save embarrassment) Anyway, I strap it to my bike as a quad exhaust upgrade, while Matt and Aussie Chris follow me to make sure all is well. I have to stop a few times as the thing sometimes gets dislodged on the many bumps. More bungies are pulled from my bag. We stop again and now the duck tape comes out too - belt and braces. But eventually the exhaust is reunited with its numpty owner and refitted with two new bolts at our lunch stop.
After lunch and minus a few layers as it's heating up, Big Al and I ride at pace, swapping positions occasionally. We pass three Harleys starting up in a village and I see them in my mirrors with their football stadium lighting system. They ride like typical Harley riders, gradually catching me on the straights but falling back in the corners. Eventually the leader passes and the other two follow, but they keep slowing too much for the corners, so on one clear stretch I overtake the last rider (complete with flashing blue tails lights) on a bend. Then they catch lead rider Alex as well, but they then slow to Harley pace through some wet gravel where the road is being repaired and then Alex, Big Al and myself are passed them like greased whippets. We don't see them again until we stop for petrol. For reference Steve King is not a typical Harley rider, he rides it, rather than parades it.
Into Xigaze and we take the same route as we did when we left the city, but without a local guide I'm leading using Google Maps on my BlackBerry. It gets us close enough that we recognise the area and Alex takes over to the hotel. 375km today.
The baggage hasn't arrived, so we mull around. I go shopping and buy a brother for Arthur (it's a gift for someone), get a haircut and some cough medicine - my throat feels like barbed wire when I swallow.
Mick and Mark are here and we catch up on what they've been up to and vice versa. They're off to Lhasa by train tomorrow and it sounds like a great journey. We'll see them there in a few days.
Another early start tomorrow - I really hate these, but it's an even longer route tomorrow on bumpy roads. I wonder if I need to check my saddle weather report before dressing?
Only one picture today, you've probable seen some good ones posted to Facebook by others. Check out Chris Goonan and Steve King's posts
Sent from my trusty rusty BlackBerry
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