I know a lot of you guys will really be interested in this next trek I am proposing to lead; I already have a few people very interested. Sigrid and Nancy and Noah? No, not exactly! They wouldn't touch this with a 10-foot pole. No, Hideya and Matt and Eric. Maybe Jeff and Tom and John. We're planning to go around the Annapurna Circuit by mountain bike.
This trek will be much shorter, and much cheaper. Even if you have to buy a new $400 mountain bike, this will barely cost $1200 plus air-fare.
I did look at a lot of the photos from this trek in '97. Most showed LOVELY smooth trails. Some showed narrow trails; others showed steps. Some places we recall very well were rough and rocky; many places were steep hard work, whether on foot or by bike. Not a big deal. We will go down from Tatopaani along the Kali Gandaki River, to Beni and Baglung, to avoid the 7,000 + 7,000 stone steps going through Ghorapaani.
NOBODY in his (or her) right MIND would want to come on a trek like this - UNLESS they were an experienced and skilled and fairly strong mountain-bike rider. My friends and I hiked up to 17,781 feet at Thorong La, just north of the Annapurnas, in Nepal in 1997. See complete write-up:
http://www.national.com/rap/nepal/index.html. It was a great trek.
Now I want to ride around this whole 150-mile loop - the Annapurna Circuit - and all around those BEAUTIFUL HIGH mountains, and over that pass, on my mountain bike, with a few friends - and maybe with you, or a strong, competent mountain-bike rider you know. This will be a good 25-day trek, not nearly as long as our recent 45-day trek to Gokyo Lakes and Kala Pattar and Everest Base Camp. About 50% less expensive, too. But we can make a lot of miles per day, and still have plenty of time to stop and take photographs of every great view, and stop off and wander around every handsome Nepali town we ride through! And still get to our tea-house early.
The scenery is glorious; the weather at this time of year is usually OK just before the monsoons. Start about 24 May, going home 19 June. We are sandwiched between our 2400' start and the 17,781' pass, and our 2400' finish. Don't worry about the altitude, as we will be going up so slow we can easily handle it, by good acclimatization. So, if you like biking on wide and narrow trails, and steep and shallow, inquire.
Some people have said that you have to carry your bike 50% of the way, but that would be true only if you were VERY stupid. Other people say you have to push it 5 or 10%, and carry it 5 or 10%. If we are good riders, I am sure we can keep each of those down well below 10%.
My wife refuses to come. Most of my hiking friends refuse to consider it. But if YOU are a strong and competent biker, just inquire to: rap@transtronix.com.
Space is limited. More soon./ Best regards / rap Robert A. Pease
*** (If you want to see more GENERAL information on trekking, go to my main web site: www.national.com/rap
- and look at the large amount of info on Trekking... info from our 1997 trek, that is still LARGELY up-to-date. /rap
P.S. - While I'm going to go around this circuit by bicycle, I absolutely do recommend Peter Owens' Annapurna Circuit trek for hikers. Refer to: http://www.Instantweb.com/p/peterowens
It is great, and quite inexpensive. I'm not at all mad at Peter, and I'll go back for another trek with him in '03. But this bicycle trek is just too good a challenge to pass up. / rap
|
