Nagarkot cycling

The cycles were hired from chettrapati at Rs.275 per day with helmets, pumps and puncher tools a day before the tour day, on Friday.

Selecting the bicycle at chettrapati Morning cycling Gathering at baneshwor Breakfast with laughs at kamalbinayak When its too diffucult to peddle Images on mirror Photoshoot after tiffin

At 7.30 am on Saturday, Sabin, Arbin, Sakund, Maheshowor dai and myself gathered at Baneshwor from where journey to Nagarkot started on the muscle power and two wheels. The foggy morning on the Suryabinayak highway was chilling to bones. I had to buy gloves on the way to beat this cold. The wide 6-lane road was an opportunity for warm-up. After peddling for 15km, at 8.15am we were at Kamal Binayak at Bhaktapur. Jeri, puri, tarkali, pakoda and tea was the breakfast at Kamal Binayak. After brief shopping for tiffin, we were ready for the uphill journey.

Nagarkot is about 30km from Kathmandu and lies at the altitude of about 2150m . The uphill cycling journey is 15km from Kamal Binayak. This route is perfect for the starter cyclist who wants a tough yet easy ride. Furthermore, this route is also very close to Kathmandu and vehicle are available incase of emergencies. And if one wants an easier ride, he can take the bike on the bus and return downhill journey only!

The time we were riding was the school time; hence lots of school children were seen on the way. The waving hands of children and school girls were an encouragement to the journey while the fat breaking tough ride was harder part. To pass each kilometer stone was a challenge to accomplish.

On the way lots of couples on motorbike were seen. Since Nagarkot is close to Kathmandu, it is ideal place for couples to pass some time together in peace and private.

Energy was draining out of the body. Even the intake of glucose couldn't give enough energy to peddle the bike. About half kilometer before the Nagarkot, the situation was worst and the team couldn't peddle further even an extra meter. With grace of god and human effort we were top of Nagarkot at 12pm. But we had few more kilometers to peddle to reach the view tower of Nagarkot. For this 3 km of journey it took 3 hours. The body was deprived of energy so we had to rest in between to recharge the body with food and some more time were spent to click photos.

Finally after reaching the view tower the energy was revived by the beautiful view of mountains. The view tower was crowded with young people who had come for picnic. More interesting activity was that people were trying to climb the leaderless view tower through the truss.

After that, we returned to Nagarkot for dal-bhat. Rs. 170 for vegetarian food is a bit costly than normal price of the food. However there were no alternatives.

At 4pm we started downhill journey and at 6pm we were at Baneshwor. On the way we took a brief intermission at Bhaktapur. Some photos at Nyatpol and few more at the Bhaktapur durbar square were taken. We were at Chettrapati at 7pm to return the bicycle to the shopkeeper.

A day full of cycling without any prior exercise had made our legs very stiff and pain was observed. Further there was pain in pelvic muscles due to seat of bicycle. In summary, whatever happened in the journey, it taught us one thing that "will is the power to win". Youtube.