Details:
Tour Grading Systems
Each tour is classified with a grade as explained below. If you are in any doubt about your suitability, be it through inexperience or even over-experience; please let us know for the same.
Grades:
Factors affecting grading include: degree of up/down, difficulty of the surfaces to be ridden, amount of bike handling skill required, distances covered and other factors such as heat, altitude or remoteness. All our trips require basic fitness, preferably acquired through riding your bike, and please remember that any cycling involves some physical exertion, so you cannot expect that you will not feel tired on an 'easy' trip. NB Conditions for a particular holiday may vary from one month to the next. The main benefit of grading is to provide an overall indicator to compare one trip against another.
A. Easy - Suitable for anyone who can ride a bike and can manage a bit of exercise. No routes are 100% flat, so expect some climbs and descents.
B. Moderate - Ideal for occasional cyclists and above, or a relaxing trip for better riders. Reasonable fitness required such as cycling, hard walking or similar once or twice a week.
C. Strenuous - Suitable for fit & confident riders. Fitness is more important than ethnical ability for trips of this level, and some specific training or preparation is recommended, e.g. running, cycling, swimming or aerobics two to three times a week (preferably cycling!)
D. Tough - Long cycling days and tougher terrain (for both on- and off-road trips) requiring specific experience of more demanding and technical cycling. Vehicle support may be more limited. You should be very confident of your physical condition and bike handling skills.
Suggested itineraries for Mountain Biking in Kathmandu Valley
BACK ROADS OF KATHMANDU (Day Tour)
There are four options for the day tour in Kathmandu Valley, which will fascinate you through the ancient village, closure to the different ethnic group with different culture and tradition. You will ride most of the time on off road, single track or Jeep track and in the lush forest having varied species of birds and butterflies or ride along side of beautiful paddy fields.
OPTION A
Kathmandu – Kakani – Budhanilkantha (Sleeping Bishnu) – Kathmandu
TRIP GRADE: D
Ride out of Kathmandu though the busting back streets of Thamel. Leaving the city behind we ride outside the queen forest for while and than bike up to Kakani mostly climbing on paved rd. After lunch head off on one of the best technical trails in the valley (which was used as the Mountain Bike Championship course) down towards Budhanilkantha on wide undulating jeep track and single track and pass through the Shivapuri forest to the Buddhanilkantha, a remarkable 5th century statue of the Lord Vishnu, reclining on the coil of the snake king in the middle of small pond. Your efforts are rewarded by spectacular panoramic mountain views of Ganesh and Langtang Himal on the way.
Distance: Approx 55 km.
Altitude: Approx 2050 m
OPTION B
Kathmandu - Bungamati - Chapagaon - Kathmandu
GRADE: C
This trip gives you the chance to explore the ancient villages of the Kathmandu Valley. After an early breakfast in Kathmandu, we wind our way through the back alleys of the old city and head south to Bungamati. Here we will stop to visit the Machhendranath temple and traditional Newari architecture. From here we descend on rocky single track to the lower village of Khokana, stopping to look at the Shekali Mai temple, a valley nature goddess. We return uphill to Bungamati and then continue south, climbing on jeep track through lush forests to the village of Champi, with its sweeping view of the southwest corner of the Kathmandu Valley. A combination of downhill push and uphill carry for 15 minutes takes us to the picturesque village of Chapagaon. The famous Vajra Varahi temple is just south of the town. Sadly, this temple has been neglected but the old woodcarvings of Krishna and Vishnu are still in good condition. From Chapagaon we ride on an exciting jeep track, more like a roller coaster ride, to the village of Baregaon that leads us back towards Kathmandu along the quiet Godawari road.
Distance: Approx 45 km
Altitude: Approx 1520 m
OPTION C
Teenpiple Rice Field Plunge with Tokha (1 Day Tour)
GRADE: C
We start riding from Dawn till Dusk office towards northwest of Kathmandu Valley. After 15 minutes ride, we get out of the Kathmandu traffic and we ride around the base of Nagarjun also known as Raniban (Queen's forest). While you are riding, enjoy the beautiful scenes of terraced rice paddies and mustard fields surrounding clusters of thatch-topped and ocher-mudded houses. After leaving, the paved road and the traffic behind, we carry on a mild climb on a jeep track through the fields and chicken farms towards Teenpipli. Literally, Teenpipli means three Pipal Trees but unfortunately, heavy storm has left only two of them surviving now. After taking rest or fueling yourselves in the Chautara (stone seat) we take a dirt road beyond the Pipal tree and plunge into the beautiful paddy field mostly in the single track or off road. Depending upon the season, you may see farmers engaged in the growing rice, wheat or mustard. Then we climb to one of the most beautiful place called Tokha from where you can see superb view of Kathmandu valley. We can go and see Bhimsen Temple (a deity worshipped for his strength and courage), Kali temple and village cremation grounds. Kali is a female aspect of Shiva and both are recognized as giver and taker of life. After taking some rest, we head to Buddhanilkantha (a large sculpture of sleeping Vishnu on gigantic serpent).
Distance: 35 km with optional add ons
Altitude: Approx 1600m
OPTION D
Kathmandu Durbar square-Swoyambhunath-Patan–Pashupatinath–Boudhanath
GRADE: C
After having early morning breakfast, we ride from Thamel to down town via Indrachowk and then to the Kathmandu Durbar Square. We visit Kumari Temple (living Goddess), Hanuman Dhoka (old Royal Palace), Kasthmandap, Ashok Binayak, Shiva temple, Maru Tole, Maju Deval, Bhagwati temple etc. After taking short visit, we ride on the paved road to Swoyambhunath via Chhetrapati. We take a round of Swoyambhunath, ride uphill from the west and park bikes in the parking area, and take a 5 minutes walk to the main Stupa and look around 10-20 minutes for the world's most popular Buddhist shrine. The Stupa is colloquially known as the "monkey temple" because of the large tribes of monkeys guarding the temple. It was build around 4th century. Here you can see Lord Buddha's lifecycle, monuments, temples, idols and a giant Stupa. In a clear day, you can see whole valley with 360-degree panoramic view. After then we ride down to ring road via Chhauni (army barrack) and Tahachal on a paved road bit of traffic. After something 20 minutes ride (southeast), we will be in the Patan Durbar Square. We will have lunch here and then see the ancient town with Newari culture and architecture. The main places to visit are Patan Durbar Square, Krishna Temple, Bhimsen temple etc. Krishna temple is one of the beautiful temples built with stone carving. We then ride to the paved road again and after 20 minutes ride on main road toward north east, we will reach in the courtyard of World's one of most holy place for Hindu's called Pashupatinath temple (temple of lord Shiva), foreigners are not allowed to enter in but you can take look and photos from the east side of the temple next to the Bagmati river. You can see devotees are taking bath in the holly river Bagmati before performing the prayer or worship. We then take short break with Sadhu's up here and take blessings from them then prepare for our next destination which is very closer i.e. 10 minutes ride to northeast and we will be in Boudhanath; one of the biggest Buddhist Stupa in Asia. You can see monk, nuns and Buddhists devotees are walking around the Stupa with prayer wheels and oil lamps and chanting mantras of Buddhism. After taking tea break, we then come back to Thamel, which will take 25 minutes.
Distance: Approx 32 km
Altitude: Approx 1500 m
