Days 20 to 22
of
The Longest Uphill Ride in the World

A chilly night was followed by a windy but sunny morning. The weather seemed idyllic but nothing could really prepare us for the fantastic ride that lay ahead today.

Just outside Nangartse we joined the first of two lakes, and cycled by the shimmering lake. The sun is still quite low in the sky and the wind ripples on the surface of the lake giving the lake a sequin appearance - shining and reflecting every ray from the sun up above.

The wind picks up further as we ride, and we join the shores of Yamdrok Tso - the waters even more beautiful and deep blue than we could have expected. The wind gusts heartily and even from one side makes riding tricky - we round a bend and head out along a leg of the lake and find ourselves pedalling into the wind for what seems like the first time since we entered Tibet. The breeze repels every pedal we make - it must be at least fifty mph - and we tuck tightly behind one another - trying to make the ride a little less energy sapping - but it barely seems to make a difference. We round the end of the leg and we take the force of the wind side on - this in combination with the loose gravel surface makes for an interesting ride - I actually feel my tyres skidding sidewards over the loose rocks and move into the wind to compensate.

We finally get the benefit of the wind from behind and we sit up straight on our bikes - turning our wind proof jackets into sails to propel us along as fast as we may. The views become ever more incredible as we ride and a glance backwards yields maybe our most inspiring vista yet - the turquoise holy water, a village nestled on one side with our trail winding through it, and way in the background - the high Himalayas snow capped and dominating. Across the lake the gusts of dust that are being whipped up by the spiraling squalls are scudding across the surface - the wind fast enough to keep the dust suspended magically above the water.

We pass through a tiny picturesque village and I'm quite disappointed when Sony our guide doesn't wait for us here - we are starving and a break would be perfect - and so I give him a bit of a hard time. Only later do I discover that there is a local piece of folklore that suggests that this village cast spells and poisons the food of foreign travelers - true or not - we may never know - but at least we didn't take the chance! Thanks Sony! Instead we take a whistle stop lunch on the banks of Yamdrok Tso and Dean cooks up a storm for us - rapid noodles and Tang Hot Orange - hits the spot perfectly - and as we climb up away from the water we feel rejuvenated and re-energised. I know this is our last pass for quite some time - and so I belt up - wanting to reach the top for the immense view that we will doubtless enjoy. The road climbs at what feels like 45 degrees and checking the altimeter we gain height rapidly - but by now with our acclimatised lungs and strong legs its quite a straightforward climb.

At the top we all realise that this is it - the hard graft is over - a long descent and we shall be joining the tarmac road at the bottom - and from there it’s a flat cruise into Lhasa - Tibet's capital city. We shake each others hands, hug and celebrate - we've done it - Human Power conquers the Friendship Highway - against all the odds - permits, weather, equipment problems, illness - WELL DONE EVERYONE!

The descent today is worthy of more than a few words - right from the top we can see the whole descent laid out before us - the spiraling road dropping and weaving its way down from 4850m all the way down to the Brahmaputra Valley - and the flat plain around the river down at 3650m - a scene of immense proportions - hard to grasp when we are standing at the top of the pass, let alone trying to explain here - but suffice to say it makes a fine ride.

25km of downhill once again - and this time no punctures - we sail down - trying to capture some ofthe splendour of this descent on camera - its tough but hope you all get to see it! The descent after over an hour finally gentles to a shallow gradient and we hit concrete road - the sense of achievement begins to grow - we have a simple ride now - along the river valley to Lhasa.

The Brahmaputra Valley is immense and as well as containing the river it also has a sandy desert - and the wind is continuing to rake up the dust. This makes for a hazy but beautiful outline view of the surrounding mountains - we ride on to Chusang bridge - across the river and on to a real road. The white lines and the road signs, directing us to Quxu our night stop, seem strange to say the least. We don't complain though as the last 8 kilometres pass without effort - its almost like riding along a horizontal conveyor belt. The pedals turn oh so easily and we glide along. I ride with Andrew - and we enjoy the ride so much that we joke about continuing to Lhasa tonight - mmmmm...maybe not - but I'm sure we could if we had to! Time for a Lhasa beer though - and at this altitude in Quxu the evening is balmy and warm - so we sit out on the concrete veranda and relax in the last rays of the day - what a day!

Almost as if we can't bring ourselves to make the last ride into Lhasa we have an enormous procrastination session this morning - we spend time doing everything under the sun but leaving - we polish bikes, oil chains, inflate tyres for the smooth road, pack, repack and triple pack our bags - and finally at after 11 we move off.

The road gets us rather sadly excited and we belt along - lycra'd up and in large chainrings we zip along at an average speed of 30 kmh - clocking our first 40 kilometres in just over an hour. How different from recent times. And how strange it seems to be in the capital of offroad riding Tibet - and to be clad in lycra - the choice of road cyclists the world over. Further I wonder to myself - it seems even more bizarre when I think of the times that we as a group of offroad tourers have scoffed at the 'lycra boys' - still - it makes for an impressive sight flashing through the countryside - and we wave to locals who stop in wonderment at the technicolour ensemble! Our rotating peleton does a wonderful job - one turn on the front and by the time you come back round again - some 15km have passed by - great - how Andrew and I dreamt of such times when we alternated our way across the long deserts of the middle east - yeehah!

Finally we come in sight of the Potala Palace - majestic and standing high amongst the buildings of Lhasa. We have arrived. We cruise down the wide open Chinese boulevards - cyclists, cycle trucks, and cycle rickshaws everywhere. Concrete, glass and plastic shop signs dazzle the eyes, and we are assaulted by Chinese sights all around - even an open backed truckload of meat carcasses piled high zooms past us at close quarters. Just one question troubles my mind - have we arrived in China - or have we made it to the capital city of Tibet??