Well Debu completed a new Indian record 211km! Click to see his tracklog.
And I completed my adventure, check out my Ozone Blog here
Or the Across Himalaya webpage here with a more detailed trip and pilot description.
Now I'm in Bir India with a few rest days before leaving around the first of May for Pakistan and the Hunza Valley. Pakistan will be interesting this year so I'll be posting regularly. For those of you soaking in the news from CNN and the like try this blog for some perspective on the situation there
http://watandost.blogspot.com/
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Monday, April 6, 2009
Across Himalaya Update
Congratulations to Debu Choudhury for recently setting the max distance record from Bir/Billing. 176km out and return, check it out at http://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:drdebu/31.3.2009/05:25
Debu has his sites set on the 200km mark and if he gets the right weather I'm sure he'll get it, recently Ajay Kumar and Matt Senior have joined him in Bir so that will definately give him the motivation to go big on the right day! As well the usual cast of characters is in Bir. I arrived in the night to a party at Sian's. A couple days flying and now I've started something really interesting.
Currently I'm in Jammu 160km NW of Bir with a group of 6 other pilots whose aim is to fly to the border of Nepal, 600 km in 10 days. Check out
http://acrosshimalaya.org/home.html
If the weather is good I will be away from email for a couple weeks and hope to have an interesting update by the end of April!
Debu has his sites set on the 200km mark and if he gets the right weather I'm sure he'll get it, recently Ajay Kumar and Matt Senior have joined him in Bir so that will definately give him the motivation to go big on the right day! As well the usual cast of characters is in Bir. I arrived in the night to a party at Sian's. A couple days flying and now I've started something really interesting.
Currently I'm in Jammu 160km NW of Bir with a group of 6 other pilots whose aim is to fly to the border of Nepal, 600 km in 10 days. Check out
http://acrosshimalaya.org/home.html
If the weather is good I will be away from email for a couple weeks and hope to have an interesting update by the end of April!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
On The Road Spring 2009
The day is April 2nd. I'm in Rishikesh, India. It's a rest day. I've ridden from Pokhara Nepal and tomorrow I will ride to Bir. Starting with facts is easy. I've just finished "working" as a tandem pilot and will spend the summer living out my dreams flying across the most amazing mountains in the world. My freedom and joy is palpable.
Here is a picture of what I look like after riding for 2 days. It's the last day I'll wear this Pink Floyd concert shirt because it's threadbare and ripped, "nothing lasts forever" goes the lyrics of a PF song. I got it in 1994 when I saw them with my friend Bill in Denver.
About the ride: Day 1 I left at noon, rode 9 hrs and slept under the stars. Day 2 I started before dawn crossed the border and 16 hours later made my destination to be rewarded with a hot shower. Riding is easy, I am focused and alert. The world plays out before me like a movie. Beautiful mountains and agricultural scenes, a cast of characters to big to list. Children, lots of children, some in uniform going to school, others working in fields, they will never go to school. And scenes like this-
Start from the bottom, it is my motorcycle and all my worldly possessions, I have a tandem and solo glider with harnesses, both new modern gliders in excellent condition. I have a computer, 2 camera's, 2 GPSs, 2 Varios, 2 Radios, clothes, books, food, sleeping bag and pad ect., ect. Higher in the picture is a large pile of burning trash, next to the pile of burning trash is a small boy, apparently his life consists of looking through this pile of burning trash for something of value.
Here he is, working the smoky edge and finding what is revealed when the plastic burns away. Is he finding something valuable or just playing with the fire? Can we even contemplate his life? The wind shifts and I'm now in the smoke, its acrid and within a moment makes me nauseous. For seven years I worked in smokey dusty conditions as a forest firefighter but wood smoke doesn't compare to this, I'm afraid if I stay even a moment I'll do permanent harm to my health. I get on my bike and start to leave.
As I do I see the scale of the trash heap, it's the size of an American football field, there's maybe a dozen kids scattered around, beside is a shanty town where they live. A kite catches my eye, the kids have fashioned a kite and are playing with it in the middle of the field. The wind changes, the forms are obscured by smoke. I ride on.
To summarize, I've never been able to summarize my experience here. Riding across India is like a reset button for life, whatever personal problems I'm caught up in take on a different perspective. I am shocked, I am in awe. I struggle not to judge, to keep my eyes open, keep trying to observe. What problems did I think I had a minute ago? How is it that I am this lucky, that I have so much, and others live a life I can't comprehend?
Here is a picture of what I look like after riding for 2 days. It's the last day I'll wear this Pink Floyd concert shirt because it's threadbare and ripped, "nothing lasts forever" goes the lyrics of a PF song. I got it in 1994 when I saw them with my friend Bill in Denver.
About the ride: Day 1 I left at noon, rode 9 hrs and slept under the stars. Day 2 I started before dawn crossed the border and 16 hours later made my destination to be rewarded with a hot shower. Riding is easy, I am focused and alert. The world plays out before me like a movie. Beautiful mountains and agricultural scenes, a cast of characters to big to list. Children, lots of children, some in uniform going to school, others working in fields, they will never go to school. And scenes like this-
Start from the bottom, it is my motorcycle and all my worldly possessions, I have a tandem and solo glider with harnesses, both new modern gliders in excellent condition. I have a computer, 2 camera's, 2 GPSs, 2 Varios, 2 Radios, clothes, books, food, sleeping bag and pad ect., ect. Higher in the picture is a large pile of burning trash, next to the pile of burning trash is a small boy, apparently his life consists of looking through this pile of burning trash for something of value.
Here he is, working the smoky edge and finding what is revealed when the plastic burns away. Is he finding something valuable or just playing with the fire? Can we even contemplate his life? The wind shifts and I'm now in the smoke, its acrid and within a moment makes me nauseous. For seven years I worked in smokey dusty conditions as a forest firefighter but wood smoke doesn't compare to this, I'm afraid if I stay even a moment I'll do permanent harm to my health. I get on my bike and start to leave.As I do I see the scale of the trash heap, it's the size of an American football field, there's maybe a dozen kids scattered around, beside is a shanty town where they live. A kite catches my eye, the kids have fashioned a kite and are playing with it in the middle of the field. The wind changes, the forms are obscured by smoke. I ride on.
To summarize, I've never been able to summarize my experience here. Riding across India is like a reset button for life, whatever personal problems I'm caught up in take on a different perspective. I am shocked, I am in awe. I struggle not to judge, to keep my eyes open, keep trying to observe. What problems did I think I had a minute ago? How is it that I am this lucky, that I have so much, and others live a life I can't comprehend?
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