Lost Wallet? Bike Nepal! - part 1

April 14, 2011

As the spring season has sprung upon me like a pink and green catamount I have apparently taken further leave of my senses than usual. My search for scapegoats turned up the following:

Yes I feel that the potent blend of magnolia blossoms (our American version of the more compact and expensive Japanese cherry blossoms or the high-fallutin’ Nepali rhododendron blossoms) and abundant yard waste had conspired with spring to render me a jabbering, giddiot ineffectually flopping about in a kind of hapless ecstasy. Yes if I were a game animal I would be “in the rut.“ Yet another blunder- yesterday while wending my way back towards my adobe abode I heard a sharp clattering on the pavement behind me, which (in case you didn’t already know it) is a signal that something has fallen off. I slowed and apprehensively predicted that it was my beautiful burnt orange/sienna colored Nikon Coolpix, pictured here with disembodied hand-

As I turned back to behold my loss, I saw it was just one of my many mini-pumps lying on the sidewalk. Hmmm. No biggy (no pun intended). I looked at my dowdy, practical, customized rack trunk bag

(which I would have turned my nose up as being a bit too bike-dorky back 15 years ago or so)

and was unhappy to see that I had left the lid unzipped (wish I could say for the first time). A quick inventory revealed that my wallet (which I think might sound good pronounced “walley”) was absent. Damn. As I turned around and began to backtrack I heaved a heavy sigh of self-disappointment. It was as if I had somehow been transformed from a brightly colored eel effortlessly weaving through the coral reef of life in my natural, warm, watery home (which is my typical self image while bicycling erratically through the concrete jungle) into a careless, slobbering, imbecile dog playing in the highway.

As I lose track of my story (I blame the magnolias that I have covered myself and my computer chair with and which are nearly overpowering me with their sensuous pungency) I am compelled to apologize for my over-parenthesizing (for anyone who is as offended as I am by this severe case of cutesy stylization/lazy writing).

Well, now would be a good time to mention this fun story that I was able to peruse today about these guys who did some mountain biking in Nepal (not something to be sneezed at, depending on which part of Nepal you are in).
http://www.bicycling.com/ride-maps/featured-rides/i-was-told-thered-be-enlightenment These guys were in one of the many steep parts which often followed the western portion of the famous Annapurna Circuit. There is also a nice slide show. http://www.bicycling.com/ride-maps/featured-rides/bike-nepal Although I think the bikes may have been a huge pain and encumberance on this trip I am envious of some of the moments they must have experienced on this adventure. So, please feel free to count on joining me for a mountain biking adventure trip to Nepal next October.