Friday, November 29, 2024
Friday, November 22, 2024
A Texan in Tibet - The Bike
- Anthony T. Hincks
Monday, November 18, 2024
A Texan in Tibet - I Found a Tent for the Trip!
Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/tent-quotes_2
"Hopefully I won't have to sleep with my feet out of the tent."
- Zdeno Chara
The color is a bit bright, but a little bush around the opening might make it blend in with the scenery.
Friday, November 15, 2024
A Texan in Tibet - Altitude Conditioning
- Casey Neistat
A company called Viking Strength manufactures a mask that limits oxygen intake and simulates altitudes from 2,000 to 18,000 feet. It doesn't alter the chemical composition of the atmosphere like the $5,000 device, but it will make me work harder to take in the air around me. I picked up one of the masks back in 2020 and trained with it on my elliptical, on my rower, and on my hikes. I typically rowed three miles and climbed three miles five to six times a week. I also put in a few walking miles in my pastures and the woods near my property a few days a week. The training regimen became increasingly addictive as the results became more apparent. The pounds melted away and my stamina was over the top.
Tuesday, November 12, 2024
A Texan in Tibet - Flight Itinerary and In-Country Routes
"Plans are nothing; planning is everything."
- Dwight Eisenhower
My flights are booked and already I have most of the daily routes sorted. Each days' stop could change depending on sleeping accommodations, terrain conditions, wanderlust, and my stamina. I had hostels and monasteries lined up back in 2020 and I'm working to confirm their availability in 2025 as some of the hostels didn't survive the plandemic, or they have changed management. The path from Kathmandu to Everest Base Camp is one that is well-traveled and the locals are accustomed hosting foreign wanderers for ridiculously cheap prices compared to the rest of the world. Some of my routes will be far off the beaten path and that's where the monasteries come into play. A safe place to sleep and sometimes a meal can be had in exchange for silence and a nominal donation.
My plans for each days' routes will be posted as I can complete and verify them. My inbound flight route is below.
Outbound Flight Path - Dallas, Philadelphia, Doha, Kathmandu |
-International Driver's License
-Fuel Availability
-Inter and Intra Country Currency Exchange
-Chinese Customs Entering/Leaving Tibet
A Texan in Tibet - Daily Itineraries and Route Plans
"All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination."
-Earl Nightingale
Kathmandu to Syabrubensi: 152km - 2,400 Meters Elevation
The elevation at Shegar is only 4,330 meters/14,200 feet. I'll bask in comparatively hick air and should sleep well that night.
The main attraction in Shigatse is the Tashilhunpo Monastery, which is said to have been founded in 1447. I suspect I will get my fill of monasteries before this trip is over. Shigatse is a primary gathering place for tourists heading to Everest, so I anticipate having the opportunity to meet and talk with plenty of people.
Trip Day 8 - Riding Day 6 Plan
Lhasa is a cultural center of Tibet and having ridden six days straight, I plan to take the next day off for some rest. A day off the bike in Alaska and Australia was a welcome respite on those trips. It will also afford me the opportunity to sort through my videos and images and maybe do a little writing. I expect decent Internet access, so I hope to update this blog.
- Sam Glenn.
Lhasa to Sakya: 410km - 4,025 Meters Elevation
Currently, my plan is to backtrack towards Shigatse, but skip the Simi La and Karo La passes and traverse a northern route. This route from Lhasa to Shigatse City is roughly 280km/174 miles, but I plan to bypass the city premises and continue on the outskirts, heading another 110km/68 miles southwest towards Sakya, which sits at 4,025 meters/13,200 feet elevation. The entire day will only be about 255 miles. I'll find my lodging and see how much time I have left to see the local sights. The interactive map can be found here.
Check out the interactive map and zoom in on the twisties just south of Tingri.
Rongbuk & Everest |
Up to the mountain's where I'm going to
And if I ever get out of here
That's what I'm gonna do
Really, really where I'm going to
If I ever get out of here
I'm going to Kathmandu - Bob Seger
If all goes to plan, this day will start with a short 24 kilometer down to the Tibet-Nepal border. Here, I'll repeat (in reverse) the immigration process of crossing the Friendship Bridge, bid farewell to my Tibetan escort, and complete the Nepali Customs process. The rest of the day will be consumed by riding back into civilization and down to Kathmandu where traffic signals, lanes painted on the roads, and signs are all mere suggestions that are pretty much ignored by the locals. I will have negotiated some of earth's highest mountain passes and some over-the-top crazy terrain, yet riding out of and back into Kathmandu will probably prove to be most dangerous parts of the trip.
Depending on my arrival time in Kathmandu, I'll return the Himalayan and check into my hotel to decompress and prepare for my return to the States on April 28th.
"It always seems impossible until it's Done."
- Nelson Mandela
Monday, November 11, 2024
Veterans Day - Humorous & Heartwarming
Thursday, November 7, 2024
Everest? Again? Really?
"We will either find a way or make one."
–Hannibal
Yeah, really. In 2016, I returned from Australia physically crushed from the injuries I sustained there during my eighteen-day dirt bike trip across the Outback. I persevered through fifteen days of hell to make it to Fremantle after getting clobbered on a sand dune in the Simpson Desert on day three. While I was successful in reaching my goal of riding east to west from the Coral Sea to the Indian ocean, I did so in abject misery, which negated the triumphant sense of accomplishment I should have felt; an emotion that I had felt upon returning from a very successful solo Arctic Circle motorcycle camping adventure in 2011.
So in 2018, I cooked up this (some say crazy) scheme to ride a motorcycle to Mount Everest base camp. By 2019, I had all the logistics sorted out and the trip was a go. I trained like a mad man and was in the best physical condition of my entire life. I even had abs. Then China and Faucci unleashed COVID and the world came to a stop. My trip was canceled and dream was shattered. Unlike many, I still had my health and looking back, perhaps my physical conditioning lended a hand in my not ever catching the virus. In the five years since, I've let my conditioning slip. OK, it's more like a landslide, but the one thing I did do was refuse the jab and that is probably the best move I could have made towards sustaining my health. But I digress...
Here we are approaching 2025. I'm turning 62 years old and am just a few months away from retirement to maintain my small farm and volunteer around my rural community. There will probably be an entirely separate blog for that. My Rural Retirement YouTube is registered, but I haven't created any content yet. Stay tuned.
I've decided to follow Dylan Thomas' advice and "not go gentle into that good night" just because I'm retiring. While age, finances, and farm responsibilities can be restrictive, I feel like...no, I know I have one more good adventure in me - and I am going to take it. I reached out to the in-country fixer in Nepal that was helping me before and have arranged to pick up a motorcycle in Kathmandu. I also booked my flights and while I'm not looking forward to the 30+ hour travel duration each way, I know it's a means to an end to realize a long-awaited goal. My corporate travel will have hopefully ceased long before I fly to Nepal, so maybe I'll be in the mood to fly. If not, it's nothing that Xanax can't fix. I still have a tremendous amount of logistics to sort out, but I'm up to the task. I also have an uphill conditioning battle that I have no choice but to win.
As a goal-driven man, I'm stoked to planning this adventure again. It also provides much-needed writing fodder, so stay tuned and check back here for updates. I'll be writing even if no one is reading.