Well, we didn't follow the itinerary again...but it turned out for the better. Today's route should have been from Shegar to Pang La and camp just on the south side of the pass, instead we ended up riding past the summit and all the way down the mountain to a small village on the way to Rongbuk and Everest Base Camp (EBC).
The ride to Pang La started out easy and relaxed....until we got to the "dirt" road after entering the Everest region. For the next 20km, we were riding on dirt packed road and gained about 1000 meters in elevation. If it wasn't bad enough to climb on a dirt road full of rocks, gravel, and bumps...but we also had to deal with SUVs and trucks kicking up dust as they sped by us. 20km...possibly the hardest climb I've done to date - steepness wasn't the issue, it was the dirt road that got me good. After three hours of climbing, I was excited to reach the summit of Pang La...this is where we get a chance to see Everest (or not). Unfortunately, clouds had moved in so we couldn't see Everest's peak, just the base of the mountain. Ugh, now I have ride downhill on this crazy dirt road? At least I don't have to ride up any more! The ride down was more insane and bumpy and dusty and painful (my head was rattling so much I thought it was going to split open!).
The best part of today's ride was when we followed couple of 4x4's down a vertical drop - I felt like I was in some wacky Japanese TV show or a commercial for a Range Rover, where you see the disclaimer - Professional stuntmen on closed course. We were sandwiched between several SUVs and I was flying off rocks and ruts, while the passengers in the SUVs were taking pictures of me and Mat riding down this crazy trail. What an adrenaline rush!
The dirt road continued for what I thought was eternity, but after 20+km of bumpy downhill, we finally met our support car in a small village where we decided to sleep in a guesthouse. Tomorrow we continue on to Rongbuk Monastery..another 50km on the damn dusty dirt road.
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