YouTube of this ride can be found here

This blog has been published courtesy of stealing WiFi from my good friend Jayne Williams, thanks bird x

Most of our trekking group took a chopper out of Everest basecamp, this resulted in us being back in Kathmandu five days early. Even Cassi and Nicole, that walked out of EBC, arrived in Kathmandu one day earlier than expected. Arriving earlier than expected meant either moving your flight or paying for accommodation. It was cheaper for me to pay for accommodation than buy another flight, which was a bit tiresome, as I was totally out of money, especially cash, which you need to do anything in Nepal. And I felt particularly mean as everyone expects a bloody tip, which is difficult without cash!

I was happy to just chill and rest for the five days, but thought I should really take the opportunity to sample the mountain biking around Kathmandu, if it wasn’t too expensive.

I found Himalayan Single Track online, and arranged a day with them in the Nagarkot trails for $150. Nagarkot held the latest round of the Asian enduro championship a week or so beforehand, so I knew it would be good. As it turned out, HST couldn’t accept a credit card payment, which was a real pain having to use cash, but I knew if I didn’t ride, I’d seriously regret it. So the budget crept yet again.

HST picked me up at 8am, they usually set off at 7am but I didn’t fancy that! They arrived in a Mahindra pickup truck, the driver and two guides. I opted to ride in the back of the truck with Anish, the manager/guide, and the three Giant bikes.