STRIVE Bhutan (Part 2)

Upon Completing the hiking portion of the Strive we swapped our boots for bikes. Cycling was my biggest stress for training as it was for mountain biking but I never really went off road. Luckily as we arrived I learned the trails would actually be paved roads and not bumpy offroading. But that didn’t take away from the feat ahead.

Day 6: The longest, Steepest Bike of my life

Stats: 70km+, 1280m elevation gain

Well this was quite the day of The little engine that could. We met at the bike shop and were police escorted out of the city of Thimpu for the first 5km. Then the next 15km was straight up a himilayan mountain with no downhill section at all, nor any flats…. just UP. About 8km into this section I needed to adjust my uncomfortable seat. Luckily support crew and a well seasoned cyclist on my team stopped to help and realized my bike seat post was assembled backwards making my seat angle pointing up into my crotch!

Once this was corrected wow I was much more comfortable and didnt have to think about the crotch pain, just the incredible uphill cycling task and moving my legs. I really didn’t think I was able to successfully complete this mission and had an exit plan if needed and could hop onto a bus if I tapped out.

Luckily Noah, an amazing Striver and Big Change leader, helped me get to the top. The best advice he gave me was to pull back 10% of what I felt I could give and that was a sustainable rate. He was right. I huffed and puffed. I took breaks. But with Noah in front of me and simply watching his legs on the peddles we both made it to the top of the cold ass mountain pass in the clouds!

After a quick break and team photo we were off to go downhill the next 55km to camp! What a RIDE!!! It was curvy mountain roads passing buses, roads caved in, a little rain and slick roads, cows, cow pies, kids, dogs… so many things to avoid! Especially the cliffs that you could literally just bike off of! It was the most beautiful scenery to pass on a bike. We passed towns, families, villages, national parks… it was phenomenal!

Day 7: Cycling along the river

Stats: 42 km, 467m elevation gain

This day was different but doable. I had gotten my cycling confidence and understood how to just keep moving. I was alone for most of the ride to the lunch spot. I listened to music and looked at the river scenes that we had followed to the meeting point.

Lunch wasn’t ready so many of us opted to turn around and head back to camp without lunch. but we soon detoured from that plan as we stopped at a lovely &Beyond location (5 star resort) to see if we could get lunch. They didn’t service outside guests but I used their clean and flushable toilet and washed my hands! Wow what a treat.

Then we went across the street to a different luxury resort and a dozen of us had a yummy lunch and shared two bottles of Whispering Angels wine! Now that is a nice detour! :)

We arrived to camp and I took a shower with hot water and soap. It felt like a Bhutanese spa day!

Day 8: Finale day of cycling and river rafting

Stats: 20km, not much elevation gain

Our final day our itinerary changed as the support team realized we were all pretty tired and the previous day two Strivers hit a bump and got injured and to a hospital. It was pretty scary for us to have two team members banged up!

We had a pretty leisurely bike ride with breathtaking views of Bhutanese valleys and alongside the river from the other side. We ended up at the meeting point and where we turned in our bikes and went on our final excursion; white water rafting! Holy shit the water was freezing and we continued to get splashed. my goosebumps rivaled the size of these Himalayan mountains! We stopped at a jumping rock and nearly half of my crazy ass Striver friends jumped from the 10ft rock face into this freezing river! no thank you, I will watch.

And that was it folks! our Strive was complete! WE DID IT! I DID IT!!

Day 9: Goodbye Bhutan with a Buddha

Our last evenings were at the beautiful Pemako Thimphu hotel. A gorgeous hotel to end at with a shower, bath and bed felt divine! The last two days were filled with a lunch at the oldest Bhutanese restaurant in the city, meeting with local Bhutanese entreprenuers, visiting the coolest bhudda monestary and our celebration night where I presented my personal poem recapping the weeks together.

My Bhutan Strive Poem I presented on celebration night in front of the Thimphu textile museum.

BONUS: Meeting the King of Bhutan

A perk of traveling around with people like Richard Branson is you get incredible experiences like having lunch with the King of a country! We all shopped for local dress (Kira for girls, ghos for men) and wore it to meet his majesty! We all were able to stand up and introduce ourselves to his majesty and take a picture with him in a courtyard! What a treat, haven’t ever done that before!