The cracked rim
Trip Start
Aug 03, 2007
1
5
10
Trip End
Oct 18, 2007
Dehradu,
India
Friday, September 14, 2007
Fresh out of Manali, we started this leg with a bang landing in a grubby hotel room right as it became unbikably dark. We are not the sort to waste good daylight! What the tiny town lacked in hotel, it redeemed itself in it's restaurant. On our stint through Northern India we've been impressed how every tiny restaurant - Think picnic table and Coleman stove - can dish up an excellent Indian meal (for about $5).
The next morning we were all set to take on Jalori La (10,600ft)
Jalori La
. That's so low, how hard can it be? It started out well, there were some steep bits but because we have turbo lungs it wasn't too bad. Then the angle was a bit steeper for a bit longer, then a bit more steep. So steep I could barley push my bicycle. Then, the road deteriorated and I couldn't push the bike by myself. We had hit an all time low, we couldn't move our bikes by ourselves. We resorted to pushing each other up. But, our travel fairy came through for us though! We were about to give up, ride back down to try to convince someone to drive us to the top when we turned a corner to see a nice guest house just as it started to sprinkle, which quickly turned into a downpour. Sweet! Next morning we finished wrestling the bikes up and over then aggressively breaking down the other side.A few days later we were continuing to bounce along towards Dehra Dun optimistically thinking we were 1.5 days out. Then we passed a sign saying Dehra Dun was 176km. On these roads we can do 70km/day so that sign post was about a day longer then we thought. That's a big deal to us! Around that time, Matt decided to have a look at what was ticking on his bike and discovered that his back rim was cracked. If he kept riding on that and the rim broke the the tire wouldn't stay on the bike and thus not pushable. Lucky for us, we were near a store (they have become quite scarce recently) who had an English speaker who knew the bus schedule to Dehra Dun
Field teracing
. 6hrs later on probably (hopefully!) the worst chicken bus ride of our trip we landed in a truck stop town with disgraceful hotels but redeemable restaurants. Happy Birthday Gretchen.Next morning we took a far better and shorter bus ride to Dehra Dun and begin to figure out how we're going to fix the rim and get to Pokora Nepal in time for our two week volunteer date. After a lot of foot work we weeded the options down to FedEx-ing a rim from the states to Kathmandu and take a combo of bus/plane to meet the rim there. Our second ridiculously expensive bike repair! I'm disappointed to miss out on Indian train travel but it's something to look forward to on our next trip to India; of which we hope to do many more of!
Off we go to another country! We are keeping a very close eye on the Maoists and what they are up to these days. Crossing our fingers that they can keep the peace while we enjoy their beautiful country.
Comments
You are AMAZING!!!
Can't wait to talk with you when you get back. I have told many of your story. The ones I told today said well she's writing a book right?