Synopsis
In 1998, Graydon Hazenberg, his sisters and their partners set off on a youthful quest. Seduced by the romance of the loftiest peaks on earth and a road claimed to be the world’s highest, they pedaled out of Islamabad, Pakistan headed for Tibet’s holiest mountain, the pilgrimage site of Mt. Kailash. Had they known how hard it would be on their equipment, their bodies and their willpower, they might have thought twice.
Calling themselves the Xtreme Dorks, the five cyclists pedaled, pushed and hiked their way around, over and through the world’s highest mountain ranges. For three months they persevered despite a frequent lack of food or anything resembling a real road. They followed in the footsteps of previous pilgrims, explorers and mountaineers, passing through remote valleys and wind-scoured plateau. Along the way they had the privilege of meeting members of some of the cultures that call the Roof of the World home: the Pakhtuns of the Northwest Frontier; the Kalash people of Chitral; the Baltis living around K2; the longlived Hunzakut; the Kyrgyz, Tajiks and Uighurs of western Xinjiang; and the dokpa nomadic herders inhabiting western Tibet.
It was not a straightforward journey. Plagued by frequent equipment failures, recurrent illness, abysmal road conditions and efforts by the Chinese Public Security Bureau to stop them cycling to Tibet, it required real determination to keep the pedals turning in the direction of Kailash. Initial exuberance gradually acquired some of the resolve shown by hardy Tibetan and Hindu pilgrims as the Dorks approached the far-off mountain with glacial slowness. Even once they had reached Kailash and nearby Lake Manasarovar, their troubles were not over, as their onward travel by vehicle towards Lhasa proved every bit as challenging as cycling had been.
Graydon Hazenberg has taken the account of this long-ago pilgrimage and brought it to life in the present, interweaving it with stories of the history and culture of the places encountered along the way. The result is a compelling tale that will entertain seasoned adventurers, cycle tourists, history buffs and armchair travelers of all descriptions. As John Keay, the distinguished British writer of numerous books about the Indian subcontinent’s history, says of Pedaling to Kailash, “It was a brutal marathon, but it makes for an engrossing read.”