Before I take you over the next pass, I will introduce you to this years team – both cyclists and support crew !
14 of us in total including carlos and myself. Charles from just down the road in the Dargle; behind Aulo the italian ragazzo from the south coast; next to him Mike from down under NZ; Alex (next to me) our biathlete and daily input of good humour; Ben our godsend bike mechanic and mygod son!; the spaniard; Caroline our good (physio) friend; Debbie and Viv from wine country; Anthony the tuffy who cycled with broken ribs for 6 days (and a vet) and Caroline with stamina! (Suzanne and Jo follow below).
Suzanne our movie maker, enjoyng a cuppa chai on the way up Rohtang.
...and Jo who did all her pre-himalayan hill training on a highway flyover in Dubai. She also went on to prove that it is much safer cycling in the landslide and earthquake prone himalayas. Soon after her return to Dubai a fellow cyclist crashed into her resulting in her fracturing her pelvis! (Ow!)
And without our fantastic back up crew, none of us would have made it. Inder Thakur, Lapkha Sherpa, Bhim Badur, Tamang Kishan, Teju Thakur, Sundar Thakur, Keshwa Rakesh. Thanks guys!
Keshwe was good at everything, but most of us will never forget his gentle wake-up calls of soft singing followed by a hot cup of steaming chai at the door of our tent every morning.
Team leader and good friend Inder
Lapka Sherpa from Nepal an accomplished moutaineer who has summitted Everest.
Tamang also a Nepali kancha from a village close to Kathmandu. I was chuffed to be able to chat away in the lingo I learned 10 years ago and even sang a few nepali folk songs together!
.....and Sundar, our fabulous chef. Together with his assistants they would provided us with not just camping food but an Indian gastronomic experience that none of us will ever forget. In the 10 days he cooked tirelessly for us not once did he produce the same dish, not only that, but every dinner we were spoiled with a choice of 5 dishes, of course we chose everything. Even at 4600m a chocolate banana cake was miraculously produced on a kerosene stove...to prove it the picture follows!
The choc-banana cake baked at 4600m in a campsite 1.5hrs walk from the nearest village! (Oh, it wasnt Carlos's birthday. HCA = Himalayan caravan adventure! )
Spoiled for choice - spring rolls, vege chowmein, spicey potatoes, palak panner, vege mix...
Sundar cooks up a storm at 4000 plus metres!