The day starts early and with difficulty as the yet again the first petrol station we try rejects us, and at the second we have to use watering cans filled from the pumps. Finally exiting the city we follow a road along a river valley hugging the valley side as do power pylons draping their high voltage cables like silken threads. The valley widens and we climb higher above the river which is flowing the same direction as our travel. We can see that there are small cliffs above the river on top of which farmers tend small plots of land; they seem very precarious and the cliffs will no doubt be washed away one day. A modern looking train track also follows the valley, on pre-cast concrete supports, tunnelling through the rock in places.
At some point we break away from the large river and enter a wider valley with what looks like dried water channels that probably fill during the rainy season; cattle graze the land in between. We're climbing again now and it reminds me of something... maybe Patagonia, maybe Bolivia.
At a point just before we reach a lake, there's another prayer flag area with views over the shallow incline we must have just climbed. Saying shallow makes it sound mundane, but we have to keep reminding ourselves that we're at around 4000m - higher that almost everything in western Europe. We pass what looks like a geothermal plant with gleaming silver pipes running down from a steaming exit from the mountain into a factory complex. The pipes are folded into rectangular gateways around the entrances to the factory grounds. The factory doesn't look at all busy, but the hot steam, must be in use for something.
The mountains rise on either side of the valley and I can see rain clouds coming down and heading right for where we're heading. As I'm some distance behind Alex and Vidya leading, I decide to get there before the rain does, so I speed up. In the end I win, but only because it doesn't really try to race me. By the time I get to the crossroads, where the others are waiting, the rain has faded away. But it's cold and I'm starting to get cold too; and my cough is beginning to get me down. We pass through a large boulder field which looks to have been deposited by raging river waters sometime in the past, and yet, here we find a village that has been constructed right inside it. Surely it's only a matter of time before heavy rains and/or melting snow cause a disaster here? Or perhaps these are boulders left here by a past ice age glacier? In which case the village has a more certain future.
Wang catches up and we turn right at the crossroad, just as Big Al told me we would. The road turns into a dirt track for about 20k, which is especially challenging for the Benelli riders, and then turns to asphalt before reaching an industrial area. Just before that, a bird swoops in from the right and glides for a while at eye level just in front of Christopher, who I'm following; it then flies off to the left. It would have made an amazing GoPro shot like something out of a wildlife programme.
After the industrial area we turn left onto the G109 main road loaded with lumbering trucks. The single track train line accompanies us again and I see a long train going the opposite way. It's mostly a cargo train but the last few carriages look like passenger compartments.
The temperature has dropped again and the chill is really starting to bite into me. The journey is becoming an ordeal that I'm beginning to wish would end soon - not at all like me. But the task of overtaking cars and trucks with so little power is a real mental challenge that keeps me on the boil and going. The challenge is to seek visibility ahead of the trucks wherever you can get it, sometimes that's around the outside, sometimes inside, but you always have to check for slow farm tractors or small cargo carriers that trucks pull out to overtake at the last minute. Then, plan your speed and gears to overtake at the right time, whipping your pack of lame horses to within an inch of their lives. Then if you're lucky you can keep the momentum ready for the next overtake.
When you're not overtaking, vehicles coming the other way mostly don't try to overtake if they see you, but occasionally they do, and you have to pull over to the right, almost off the road, to give them space.
We left turn off the G109 at Damxing, just after getting petrol again. And the road deteriorates, but is still asphalt. I feel a jolt through the bike as if my stand is still down and it's hit the ground as I lean to the left (very dangerous as this could tip you off the bike - in fact all bikes I've ridden have stand switches that will not let the bike move off in gear, but not the Zuumav). I look down and it's not the stand. I think nothing of it until I feel it again and again. I stop to give the bike a visual check but don't see anything, so I'm on my way again. I wrack my brain to think what might be causing it and think the chain might be loose. I'll have it tightened when we reach the hotel. Shortly after I lose power in all gears, the engine revving wildly. Oh dear, this feels terminal, like something inside the gearbox is broken.
I stop and look down and to my relief the chain is missing. I look down the road to see Big Al stopping to scoop something off the road: my chain, it's sheared a link. As I'm so cold, Al offers to wait with my bike while I ride his ahead to the hotel. Temping as it is to get my hands on the reigns of those perky stallions I decline and opt to wait for the van. Al stays with me, even acting as a wind break! Fortunately the van arrives not too long after. I was expecting a bike swap, but instead a new chain is fitted within a few minutes and I'm on my way. But not too far, as within a few km it's YAFC and I meet everyone waiting.
Then into the national park area and then begins a new climb into the mountains. Not as dramatic as the one to reach Everest but still it reaches 5150m before dropping into the Namtso Lake valley which we can see in beautiful evening sunlight in the distance. By this time, I feel like an icicle and I'm in survival mode rather than enjoying the ride. After reaching the valley floor at 4700m, we skirt around the lake, some distance from the shoreline before cutting in and eventually finding our hotel after a few false endings. The lake shore curves around in front of us with the snow capped mountains in the background, it's extremely picturesque. But it's been 430km and almost 12hrs since we left this morning and I'm not in the best spirits to appreciate it's splendour.
We park up, get our rooms and I get out of my kit and go straight to bed, cold to the core, shivering, switching on the electric blanket, loading up the quilts and donning a thermal hat. I leave the door open and listen to the commotion outside as more guests arrive. I've no idea of the time, but Migmar, the guide, informs me that dinner is ready. Eventually I get up, still feeling cold, and head to the dining area. It must have been a while since dinner started because Alex is preparing some hot water bottles and food to bring to my room. Instead I stuff the hot bottles inside my jacket and sit at the table. I'm not really hungry but try to eat what I can. I do feel a little better but not enough. Sitting around the fire chatting and laughing is a nice way to end the day and lifts my mood somewhat, but Biker Dom is not in a good way.
I retire with the hot 1.5l water bottles still in place and the electric blanket at least makes the bed nice and warm. But still it's not until the morning that my body feels warm again. And because I'm feeling so unwell, the daily blog is ignored - at least I still have the notes that I'm using to write the entry two days later. Normal service will be resumed, Biker Dom is down, but not out - but you know that already by now!
Sent from my trusty rusty BlackBerry
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