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Postcard From Nepal: 5-Day Dirt Bike Adventure – Dirt Rider Magazine

By: Travis Rabenberg

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

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<p>I remember when I was 8 years old and riding on my PW80 in the yard. It was late fall and I would keep riding round and round the yard never getting sick of the same small trail next to our house. When you would try to hide the shaking and blue lips from your mom just so you could ride five more minutes until my hands where completely numb and my lips where blue as the sky never wanting to stop. This is the exact same feeling I had while riding in the mountains just outside of Kathmandu Nepal.<br clear=all><br />
<h2>Day 1: </h2>
<p>Starting off in Kathmandu we were riding on Reiju MRT 200 four stroke dirt bikes. It was me and two guides setting off for a five day adventure throughout Nepal. Starting out in downtown Kathmandu proved to be a bit more exciting that I had expected having to deal with all the crazy traffic. Dodging buses, and a number of times having a taxi driving through my lane in the opposite direction (this is a very common thing) proved to be more stressful than a national enduro. Even having to dodge a goat that decided to cross the 4 lanes of traffic (this is more of a two lane road that people decided to make a 4 lane just using the shoulder of the road as added road way.<br clear=all>Just after exiting the city the mountain road became a pile of stones lied out on a two track where rural busses were still making their way up the pass. As we started to climb higher, the clouds started to get darker. Then it started to rain. Since this was just an easy day ride I had only thrown on some very thin pants and I was starting to become soaked. When I could not feel my knees any longer we pulled off the trail for some tea. Yes, motocross racers stopping for tea. At this point I was dying for something warm.<br clear=all><br />
<h2>Day 2:</h2>
<p>Our day stared off at the local mechanic shop where one of the bikes needed rear brakes replaced. Since this bike has only been in Nepal for the past 6 months the mechanic has not seen anything like this what so ever. Finally he finished and we started our trip.<br clear=all>On our way to Nagarkot there is only one small two track winding through out the mountains that is 100 miles long and follows the river throughout the bends and turns. The trail was a nice wide two track and you can experience all types of riding while still in one day. Throughout some of the valleys we passed cactus and had a very dry section. The river floor was full with slit beads just like ones you might find in baja. The guides are very good at allowing you to ride at your own pace. It was a nice easy ride through out some towns for the first few hours. Shortly after the town the hill is filled with switch backs going up the mountain with numerous road construction sections and even a few small river crossings.</p>
<p>After hours of riding up and down the mountains on some gnarly two track we climbed a dusty silt filled road and arrived on an amazing paved road. This road was a spectacular road that looked as if it were out of Switzerland. Twisting and turning with numbers of switchbacks. The pavement was clean and had no pot holes. No road repairs, just an amazing road to ride. Every 20 yards there would be a hard corner. The sun was setting and we had two more ridges to climb before it was dark. I know in the mountains the roads are much more dangerous at night and the temperature also start to drop. Each mountain was only about 5,000 vertical feet. It was a great way to end an amazing day of riding.Shortly after exiting the mountains we arrive at a village and our house that we would be staying at for the next few nights. It was a nice little three story concrete house attached to a shabbier looking long skinner two story house. The best shock of the trip was to find a clean, modern, just AMAZING looking bathroom! It had white tile and a western toilet (this was even more exciting since I had been waiting for a western toilet during our 6 hours of riding). Side note: Bring your own toilet paper at least 2 rolls more than you might expect.<br />
<h2>Day 3: </h2>
<p>We started the day early with a large breakfast and an amazing sun rise. Today we would be riding whatever looked interesting since today was just a fun play day. After riding for around 40 miles of nice winding two track I decided I wanted some single track. So we rode down a valley (this trail was for tractors) and through a few crick crossings to find a long narrow trail.<br clear=all>This trail reached up the mountain for around 10 miles and ended on a walking path. This was the path I had been waiting for! It took me about 30 minutes to finished the test section and at the end was meet by around 40 children and 10 adults all cheering. There has never been a motorized vehicle to this region. It was great to be a small hero for a day and was rewarded with a cup of milk tea and black pepper that almost killed me. After our tea we thanked the man and made our way back to our small village.
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<h2>Day 4: </h2>
<p>This was a bit longer a little over 200 km long so we would have to keep a good pace. I was thinking this might get a bit late since we are leaving at 11 rather than 9 am but they know where we are going so it will be alright.<br clear=all>Riding through the flat lands was great, grass and small cricks to cross for the start was a blast. There was even a few whooped out sections that were a joy to play around on. Passing through a few small villages where all the kids cheered and the parents waved. Once in a while I would crack the throttle and pull the front end up. Riding a wheelie through the middle of town was fun!<br clear=all>Udaya was first to cross a small river crossing where he slipped and fell. The DRZ went under water and took us over two hours to dry the bike out and get her running once again. This was only one river crossing of about 20 river crossings. The largest was over 200 meters wide and looked to be deep with rocks covered once again in that black slime. There was a strong current half way across where I could see people walking through and it was about knee deep. “This is where we will be crossing? Is there a bridge somewhere,” I asked. Udaya said, “This is Nepal, man. You ARE the bridge.”There was volleyball sized rocks covered in this stinky black slime that I have now come to hate with a vengeance. I tried to go in the direction that the farmer pointed but the bike had other ideas bouncing up and down over the rocks the water was just at the top of the engine case as I rode through the river. We all made it safely across with the help of one farmer who came along to push us through.We arrived at a hotel and asked if they had any rooms. I was relived to not have to be riding in the dark for the next 5 hours to Kathmandu. The only room that they had left was a room with three beds and no shower. The guides where kind enough to say we could go and look for a hotel with a hot shower for me. I said it was fine I just want a bed that is far away from any of the semi trucks with flashlights. They laughed and we took the room. The front desk was kind enough to bring a hot bucket of water up for me to take a bucket shower.<br clear=all><br />
<h2>Day 5:</h2>
<p>Today’s ride was almost all paved roads and went up a very small twisting hill with crazy drunken SUV drivers filled with tourists. Some of the hair pinned turns you could see the right rear tire coming off the ground (no lie I have helmet cam footage of it). They say the drivers are all under 18 because the accident rate is so high no one else will do it. We decided to take the “old” route back to town which was a dusty two track. This trail ran over a large dam and along the ridge of the mountain all the way back into town.In route to town, Udaya had lost his rear license plate somewhere in the valley and the guards seemed to think this was a very funny topic. So we sat for five minutes as he told the story of where his license plate came off (or at least where he thought it might have come off).<br clear=all>Passing by a few temples we stopped for pictures and to look around. There even where some monkeys on top of the temple. This was a cool place to snap a picture to remember my long and exciting ride in Nepal. This is one ride I will never forget.<br clear=all><br />
<h3>To see the helmet cam footage or for more information on riding in Nepal feel free to check out my web page at <a href="" rel="nofollow" onclick="javascript:window.open(

www.Trekkingwithtrav.com.

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