After a transition stage group ride yesterday of 50km with a healthy serving of both up and down we found ourselves in Gorka.. the old capital of Nepal.
Stage 2, Gorka to Besi Sahar, 60km… the days stage was sold as a half and half, jeep track and sealed tarmac rode.. on paper it didn’t sound too tough although with that much tarmac involved it was never going to be a singlspeed friendly day and best i could hope for was to minimise losses.
The day started with a descent of around 6-7km, not too rough but pretty rutted as rain has carved the surface into multiple channels to choose from… the jeep track flowed from reddish clay, to grass then into villages and back onto the familiar dusty brown surface of the last 2 days…
The first proper carry of the race came after a footbridge crossing which led onto a set of stairs.. with the Swedish guys, Andreas and Martin, just behind me on the trail as well as in the race overall i tried to run the first flight of stairs which quickly turned into a brisk walk and then to a slow walk…
Cresting the stairs the trail then wound undulating down the valley finally ending in a steepish climb to up and over down into the next valley… the going was a fast as my gearing allowed but still painfully slow… geared too high for some of the ups and too low for the flat.. the curse of the singlespeed rider.
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