Biking From Tibet to Nepal

For serious adventure, ditch conventional travel methods and load down your bike. Its eco-friendly, cheap, and will encourage you to interact with the surrounding environment and culture. This couple biked from Tibet to Nepal, from high-altitude tundra to lush rainforest, and conquered the worlds longest decent.

“After a cold night (even with the sleeping bag and warm clothing) between the two passes, we woke up the next morning more

than ready to cycle into warm weather.

We left the Tibetan plateau, embarking on the “longest descent in the world”. The descent down the Himalayas actually took two days because of the strong headwind, and truthfully, it wasn’t all downhill. There were a few disheartening flats and even slight uphills.

The second day, however, was the best cycle of my life. The “road” consisted of mud up to our ankles and free flowing rivers up to our knees. It was closed to all traffic during the day due to construction, but as bicycles, we could just cycle past the road blocks.

We felt like kids again, splashing around in the mud and water. The elevation drop was over 2000m in only 30km.

We went from the austere bleak landscape of the Tibetan plateau to the lush rain forest of the border towns. With every new bend in the road, new forms of life appeared. First, a small shrub. Then, a few blades of grass. A bigger shrub, a full-blown tree. A waterfall!

If this was not heaven, I don’t know what is.”

By Rebecca Gados, travel writer for GoNOMAD.com