Early Friday morning on the 5th of June 2009, my mobile phone started playing my favorite ringtone. Slowly I reached for my mobile while taking a glance at the clock; it was 6:30 in the morning. I answered sleepily “Hello…”. It was Ambir, excitedly telling me that the cycling trip to Ranipawa was ON today and to meet up half an hour later. I was confused, we had planned it for Saturday and today was Friday. Nevertheless, I got up and got ready for the ride.

I took a cab down to Ambir’s house to pick him and the other guys up, but when I got there, only Kisan was there while Ambir was still trying to get in touch with the others. Shortly after I arrived, Nan and his brother Chonkay arrived. I had kept the cab on wait, so we quickly hopped on and headed for Thamel where more friends would be waiting.

It took about 20 minutes to get to Thamel. We got off outside the Himalayan Bank opposite the Himalayan Java, but were disappointed when we saw none of the guys there. They had already gone on to the bike rental shop so they could choose the better bikes ahead of us. On the way, we bought some bottled water and sandwiches as none of us had breakfast. I bought an extra pack of sandwiches for the road.

As I had guessed, the five of us were left with little choice of the bicycles. The good ones had already been chosen. So after bargaining for the rental charge, we were ready to start the ride to Ranipawa. The reason for the ride… To eat fish, Rainbow Trout. Seriously, the guys were ready to cycle more than 60km just to eat fish, I have to hand it to them. So we had eight guys, all GC Line boys ready to ride. The roll call list included, Pratik, Ambir, Dhiraj, Nan, Chonkay, Lila, Raj Rai and Kisan.

So our ride began at about 8.30 in the morning from Thamel. We first rode down Sorakhutte to Naya Bazaar, then through the Balaju Industrial Estate and stopped just below the Nagarjun Forest Reserve. This is where we usually stop to gather before proceeding whenever we ride along here. Everyone gathered, except for Lila and Chonkay. They were missing, but we thought they went to buy some extra tubes, so we just waited. Finally they arrived, and no they did not buy any tubes because Chonkay had really took the wrong turn and gotten lost for a while. On top of that, he had a flat tyre. So we waited while he went to get his flat tyre fixed.

Raj Rai, our sniper boy, who is in the British Army, came all prepared and started spraying sun-block while the rest of us were laughing away. As soon as Chonkay returned with his tyre fixed, we started cycling up the slow gradual up hill road that leads to Trisuli. Our next stop was a quick ‘gather & move’ at the entrance of the Nagarjun Forest Reserve as we had first timers on the trip and wanted to go slow.

It was a slow ride stopping from time to time gathering all the guys for photos and moving on again. It seemed as though it was going to rain in the morning so none of us brought our cameras and all we had was our mobiles phones to snap a few poses. Soon, we were separated into two groups; one group went ahead without waiting for anyone while the second group rode slowly taking in the fresh air and enjoying the views.

The fun is not in reaching the destination, but along the way where every incident can be memorable. The places we stopped for photos, rests, water fall where we freshened up, enjoying the moments.

The extra sandwiches I bought earlier came in handy when Ambir was whining with hunger… and it we only had about 6km to go. That was our last pit stop, and from there we walked casually for about 3 km before cycling again down to the main bazaar of Ranipawa. But, our destination was not there, we needed to continue riding further down towards Dhansar for a few more km. That last few kms of downhill ride, was one of the best parts of the ride. The steep winding road was really something all of us enjoyed. Too quickly we reached our destination.

It was restaurant with a fish farm. People come here especially for the Rainbow Trout fish. After we chose our fish and settled down, it suddenly started raining. It was great, eating fish watching the rain on the hills. After eating, some of us were really tired and discussing the possibility of taking a local bus back to Kathmandu. But a little motivation was all it took to get the guys on the feet and start paddling again. It was the steep winding road that was worrying the guys. Sure, it was fun and easy coming down, but going up? So we just walked up the road until the main bazaar of Ranipawa.

Suddenly, all the guys seem full of life and energy, even more so then in the morning. Maybe it was because they were all well fed by now and not hungry like before. This time round, no one waited for anyone. Everyone just looked forward and cycled hard as it was about to rain again. Mostly, it was a gentle downhill ride with a few ups but it was pretty easy. There was this stretch of road where the road starts to go up a little from a bend and the two dogs started chasing after me. They chased me for about 200 meters or so before finally backing off. That was the most strenuous part for me. The 200 meters I will never forget, with one dog on the left and the other on the right. The one on the left missed my calf by only a few centimeters and I could hear his jaw snapping. That’s when I realized I cannot stop and paddled as hard as I could.

After reaching our gathering point below the Nagarjun Forest Reserve, I realized only Chonkay, Ambir and I was there, Raj Rai and already went on ahead and the rest had yet to come. We were discussing about the two dogs while the rest gathered up one by one. All of us were lucky that we escaped the dogs. Someone must have done something to anger the dogs as they usually do not do anything if you go slowly or stop and shout at them.

Leaving the road to Trisuli behind we cycled towards Thamel where we returned our bikes and headed home, discussing what to do next for our adventure. We even managed to fix a trip along the way. To go on a short trek from Kakani to Shivapuri National Park. Should be fun, as we have not been camping together since we were in the Gurkha Boys’ Club.