“ Lele revisited on wheels”

After the successful hiking to Shivapuri 3 months had passed away. Our legs are itching either to hike or to cycle. Finally a program of cycling was fixed and this time we planned to invite many new faces. This time we just messaged them than hitting with phone call and altogether the number of participants confirmed was 9. Others couldn’t join us due to their personal work. Those who don’t have their own cycle hired it.
According to plan we decided to meet in front of Nepal Tourism Board at 8am. Being Nepal we couldn’t get away Nepalipan. We started to pedal our cycle at 9am from Bhrikutimandap taking a route of Putalisadak-Maitighar-jaulakhel-satdobato. We bought some dry foods plus Cadburys. The roads are black topped which makes the ride easy and comfortable. The awe inspiring view of mountains really fascinates Claudia (from Germany), “the best view of mountains I see after spending few weeks in Kathmandu” said Claudia. At some junctions we had to ask the locals about the direction, it’s better to ask than get lost or return via same route.

This route is a complete mix of uphill, downhill, off-road. Claudia’s cycle showed some problem during the first back topped uphill. The shifting of gear didn’t work well. I was little bit worried, if it continues to give a problem then this would be a complete mess. This day all of them pedal hard on the uphill. We reached Chapagaun, all are still fit and fine. This is a good sign and showed we can still pedal more miles. Pedaling for around 1 mile we found out an open space perfect to shoot few snaps with a clear sky. All the photos shot here was amazing including the photo where we carried our cycle. Most of the time cycle carries our weight, we carry them very rarely. So, those cycles must have felt lucky this time.
After the photo session, the trail leads us to off-road. We had breakfast (heavy breakfast including noodles, sel roti, tarkari, tea), Andrianto had milk and few sel roti but Claudia had spicy noodles, tarkari too. We filled our stomach and bottles too. It’s time to move on. After few rotation of crank it was time to face downhill. This kind off downhill adds fragrance to gold. The trail was little bit bumpy and might have given hard time to butt to others. We (Amita, Suman and I) had pedaled the same trail 2 years back and the memory of that time was still in our mind. We decided to take a snap at the same place under the huge tree. Few changes took place within these 2 years of time. We are very much excited to pedal cycle on the suspension bridge. Everyone did enjoy the ride over that suspension bridge (except Claudia just a thought). Now the roads turn into dusty one. The fore rider acts like a catalyst to raise a dust on air. Till we reach Tika Bhairab temple the roads are dusty and full of natural powder (dust). Few times we spent at Tika Bhairab was fully utilized by Andrianto, the snaps of Andrianto was amazing (btw I was a photographer) and envied by others. We had to climb an uphill for about 1 mile and then it was black topped till we reach Lele temple.
It was already lunch time. We went to nearby local restaurant. We ate varieties of foods including Juice. We then slowly pedal back to khokana and had to cover the same road till the junction of suspension bridge. Andrianto was in a pain may be due to soyabean which he ate(uric acid). He had a painkiller. I think that works for him. While returning back we spent few times at small hill viewing the beauty of Lalitpur. We pedaled and pedaled and pedaled till we reach Khokana. It was getting dark and late as well and had to skip a plan to do a round trip to sano Khokana (new khokana).
Before reaching Jawlakhel Suman was energy less and he opted to buy chocolate and at the same time he fell from his cycle (I guess no one knows about this). It was dusk when we reached Tripureshwor but we had no option than to pedal up to Thamel. We all reached Thamel safely and luckily Claudia didn’t face problem regarding her cycle. The buzzing of Christmas Eve had already started at Thamel. We bid goodbye to each other and moved towards respective home. Happy Riding……..

Participants:
1. Amita Thapa Magar
2. Bhabishya Gurung
3. Claudia Muller
4. Himal Gurung
5. Khashing Rai
6. Nishant Sapkota
7. Shardool Gurung
8. Suman Udas
9. Zafach Andrianto