Birthday Adventure!

I dont have much time left online, but I wanted to make a brief mention of one of the highlights of my trip thus far! My mountain bike venture down from the World's Highest Motorable pass was truly brilliant! I was joined by two wonderful new friends and we hired a truck to take us and our trusty steeds to the top (we saw a few brave souls riding UP the mountain and at one point I even got off my bike and bowed to one man that looked like he was taking his life to the top of the world! So impressed!) where it was actually snowing in mid July!

I was a bit nervous about the beginning of the road because that was the least developed and my fingers were so frozen I could barely grip the breaks but once we got going and the adrenaline kicked in, it was a thrilling combination of flying and skiing a fantastic set of moguls! I absolutely savored every twist and turn, the view morphing with every switchback and as the afternoon drew nigh, the morning light punctured the mountain shadows through the peaks until they slowly drained from the valley below.

My M.O. was to hang back so that I could get shots of the other two girls biking down and take in the majestic landscape and then I would race down to catch up, soaring through the divets and streams that coursed over the path. Oh, this was freedom! I watched some donkeys play on the slopes and a couple came down to greet me- they were just like little puppy dogs nuzzling up against me - so cute!

About half way down, the road became somewhat paved and it was smooth sailing. Occasionally we were waylaid by an army caravan that seemed ammused to see three girls out on the road and we salluted eachother with giant smiles. We even took the time to get a couple no-handed pictures for our collection :). Once near the bottom, Leh revealed itself, cradled proudly between the mighty Himalayas and the Karakoram mountain ranges. We rolled into town and watched some ladakhi women spin string and gather grasses... what an amazing day - if every day were like this, culture and challenging athletic feats, I would be in heaven!:)

I want to say thanks to all those that remembered my birthday! It really means so much to me to hear from all of you! Thanks also to Tina for the early birthday gift and to Emma and Ange for the surprise birthday cake - they made the day complete!