Lockdown Stories: Cycling the Kathmandu Valley

It’s been an interesting year, a sentiment I’m sure we share all across this (still) incredible planet. Having spent most of the last 20 years leading our treks and cycling trips in Nepal and elsewhere in the Himalaya, staying at home for anything longer than 2 weeks was a completely novel concept for me. While there was (and still is) years of work to catch up on, photos to edit, people to reconnect with, life to put back into order, a cafe to consider reopening, designs to get up onto my Etsy site at home, there was always an underlying, unrelenting need to get out into nature, to get some exercise, and to explore. Static life just isn’t my thing …

Once the 3+ months of strict lockdown eased into ‘loosedown’, what better way to get out than to explore the Kathmandu Valley than by mountain bike? Especially as monsoon is leech season, and I’d injured (repeatedly) many leg parts, and while even walking hurt, cycling mostly felt good, physically as well as psychologically. I’ve cycled around Kathmandu, and when I have time, taken longer rides to the valley rim, for 15+ years. So the concept of cycling any day of the week, with less traffic (although not to romanticize this, little traffic in Kathmandu is chaos most other parts of the world, and we were on odd-even days of the week at that point), not having to wait for a Saturday to feel safe enough to go for a long bike ride.

So with my business partner Lhakpa and a few of his ‘bubble’ cycling friends from his housing complex just past Boudhanth, we spent Tuesdays and Saturdays getting out – and up – to beautiful places I never knew existed in the valley. Cycling during the monsoon was actually wonderful, the rice paddies were surreal and vivid green, and the countryside popped with color. We didn’t ever get any mountain views (no, there was one sighting of Dorje Lhakpa peeking out above a wall of heavy monsoon clouds en route to Nagarkot), and often got rained on (the best was sim-sim pani, that light monsoon mist, like being in the clouds, which perfectly cools you down). The cloudy, often wet and always muddy weather kept it cool enough that we could stay out for much of the day, not needing to hide from the blazing mid-morning sun.

We packed lunch with us most of the time to stay safe, wore our masks through villages, often put up health posters as we passed through some of the more remote parts of the valley, got back into cycling shape (with a few injuries, of course) but most importantly saved our sanity! And just enjoyed life again, after the endless months of trying to be positive about ‘staying home’. If I didn’t get out of the house some days, I truly felt like I couldn’t breathe …

One of the funniest moments was during a very long ride into the hills after I’d banged my knee on my bike pedal while quickly unclipping from my pedals. (Soon after this incident I switched to normal MTB pedals to avoid getting stuck in them, needing to get out on crazy steep rutted trails or having mud caked into them and not being able to clip back in while the others, all-male and younger than me – so fearless – flew down the trails.) After I banged my knee, which was killing me, and excruciating while cycling, we found a way to continue around the valley that entailed rough trails, and for me walking my bike. Way too technical, rocky, muddy and steep; I’m not at all a brave biker! At a point where, after walking my bike down this particularly steep, insanely rutted trail, limping along, I said to Lhakpa that we needed to find some relief! Of course, we were in the middle of the hills, but there were a few houses in sight down below.

I reached Lhakpa as he’s asking a woman in front of her house if she had refreshments and rest area. She answered, ‘raksi’ (locally brewed alcohol)? And when I laughed (though raksi would have been great, clearly I wasn’t thinking cohesively) she then asked, beer?

A few more photos of some of our wonderful excursions, which included Buddhist monasteries, ashrams, Hindu temples, and a waterfall. I’m not in any hurry to travel just yet, or at least not outside of Nepal! Especially now that lockdown 2 has ended for the moment, and there are rumors that domestic travel may again be possible. Perhaps with my PCR tested group of 4 staff members, we could explore the mountain biking in Mustang? Or check out the trekking through Ruby Valley?

For the moment, each time I get on my bike and out into the valley, even if it’s just a ride up to Jhor Falls on lovely paved roads, or up to the gate of Shivapuri National Park, both in my ‘backyard’, it’s a gift which I treasure! And how amazing to see so many Nepali cyclists out exploring, enjoying the Kathmandu valley as well …