Issue link: https://bluemagazine.uberflip.com/i/25038
-- . a field �mighty frozen river cutting between the mountains. The only I take my time, snack on cheese and absorb the peace. Clouds roll up the valley for tneir daily visit. Scrambling down the scree to my bike, I am left with a sense of quiet. I had ded 3,354 meters, passing through four distinct climactic zones. The people themselves were different from place to place. Now comes the best part-downhill . This was a "free ride" in the truest sense of the word. Free to carve up the valley's p halfpipe walls . Free to swoop down the valley bottom. Free to heart, where 7,000-meter-high peaks surround me. power Himalaya, towering over the spongy heathlike valley floor. Stashing my gear, I head up the valley on my bike. After a short scramble over rocks, a hill tra il brings me down to the valley floor, which is filled with a slight breeze. As I get closer to the glacier, the air becomes still and 10"F cooler. Mesmerized by the nloulltalils I am stanled by a horse and rider crossing my path. We stop short and stare. He is a Tibetan in traditional wool coat and blue jeans; I am in fleece and Lycra. USlllg pidgin English and basic Nepalese, he communicates that he would like to try my bike. I trade for a Tibetan POllY ride. I lower the seat and as I warn him about the strength of V-brakes, he is oft. I am left with the pony and no instructions. The saddle is a wooden, bare skeleton of a saddle. I can see that my new companion is having no trouble getting the bike to go. Where did he learn to ride? I don't have much luck with clicks and whistles. Only when I dig my heels into the pony's flanks does it take off and gallop across the valley floor. Up and down, across and over we ride. When we cross paths we grin with exhilaration. After 20 minutes my groin is fully stretched and aching. And my Flite saddle has had the same effect-my friend hobbles towards me, walking the bike. Reaching the base of the glacier at 4,600 meters wasn't easy. After another hour of gradual uphill, I have to abandon the bike and climb up and around a steep ridge. A half-hour of hiking later I am rewarded- Nepal has at least two festivals each month-there are 13 in October. Most are set by combining lunar and religious calendars so dates are not fixed. Here are some festival highlights through the end of the year. July/August Ghanta Kharna: The Night of the Witch commemorates the defeat of the malevolent devil Gathemuga. People hold mock funeral processions. August/September Gai Jatra: Festival of the sacred cow. Families parade around town to honor the souls of recently deceased relatives. Cows are believed to lead souls of the dead to the underworld. September /October Dasain: This is Nepal's biggest festival-two weeks of happy festivities and gift giving interwoven with bloody animal sacrifice to celebrate the mother goddess Durga's triumph over evil. The country comes to a halt, buses and trains are completely booked and porters are having fun. When an injury ended his competitive cycling career, Michael Ecker changed his focus to travel. When he's not in Alaska building fishing boats and designing vehicles that enable the physically challenged to experience the wilderness he explores the world on two wheels. 40 October /November Diwali: The festival of lights, Nepal's second-most important festival, celebrates Laxmi, the goddess of wealth. Lots of gambling goes on. November /December Dhanya Purnima: This full-moon festival celebrates the end of the rice harvest. edal, or not, in gravity-assisted bl iss. Wit h I itt Ie the closest you can qet to flying on a bicyCle. to qet in the way, it is .movement below is the gliding of silty water at the bottom of the glacier. Clouds play hide and seek with the peaks like fan dancers.