Motorcycle mayhem

I noticed the rear wheel on Keiths motorcycle lock up and skip sideways a little as he was headed into a curve but then it was back to normal. A second later he and his bike were on their sides and sliding off the side of the gravelly paved road into the drainage ditch. He had some substantial scrapes but no major injuries thankfully. I was a bit concerned since when I pulled over to assist I noticed his calf was pinned under his bike in a sort of odd fashion. It was not as bad as it looked however and when I lifted the bike off his leg he got up and was already more concerned with the condition of his rented motorcycle than he was with his own ability to funtion properly. Crazy Australians. He'll have some minor gashes and a couple of good scrapes to tend to for a while but nothing requiring more than some antiseptic and maybe a few bandages.

Yesterdaey we had taken a ride up from Pokhara to the lookout tower at the top of a small ridge. A place called Sarangkot. You leave Pokhara and head out onto the more rural streets and wind your way up the hill through many sharp turns. About two thirds of the way from the top the paved road ends and it's a rocky (at timess VERY rocky) and steep jeep path. It was Keith, Karl, and myself. The guys had picked up fancy newer bikes that were a bit more of a standard or sport bike style in design while I had what would be better described as a cruiser. The picture here is of a newer version of the bike I had rented. If you have ever ridden a dirt bike you will know that to be scrambling uphill over lots of loose rocks, big bumps, protruding boulders, washouts, etc such as you encounter on a jeep road things are much more comfortable in a standing position. My bike is more like sitting in a recliner with your feet up. Its certainly not for off orad use. It was quite a bit of excersize to just get my ass up off the seat when hitting the bumpy stuff.

Nevertheless we made it to the top and enjoyed the view, despite the odd military post and the cellphone tower there as well. We even made it back down through the rough stuff. It was back on the paved roads that Keith had his little slip up. Today I'm probably going to go for a ride about 15 kilometers out of town to a couple of lakes that are supposdly tourist free which could be nice. The bike I rented seems to be reliable enough but it doesn't like to idle very much. If I hold the clutch in too long or leave it in neutral for more than a few seconds it has a habit of stalling out. I suppose I can't exptect too much for 350 rupees a day, that's about $5 US.