The Great Lhasa - Kathmandu Bicycle Trip - Tibet

Kim is the founder of Kamzang Journeys and leads almost all of the Featured Treks as well as a few Himalayan bike rides. She is also a partner in Project Himalaya Treks. She has been based in Kathmandu for the past 12 years and takes care of everything from creating & upkeeping the website, writing & researching the trek itineraries, taking the photos, answering emails and doing the accounting to creating the Kamzang dining tent decor and even shopping & packing for the treks. She also manages the Kamzang Fund.

Kim has been looking for a spot to build the perfect bamboo hut since graduating from Colagate University in 1988. Her search has taken her on many years of travels throughout Asia, Africa, Australia & NZ, the South Pacific and cross-country in the States, but although she now has a basement (her parents') full of ‘curios’ to fill several houses, that idyllic dwelling still eludes her and her semi-nomadic lifestyle continues. She now spends most of her time in the Himalayas, often in her 'Kamzang Style' tent (gur) ...

Kim grew up in the East Coast of the US, but lived afterwards in Hawaii, California and Colorado, where she spent most of her time outdoors biking, hiking, windsurfing, surfing, skiing and, of course, collecting funds for further travels. After trying out the corporate world of marketing for Geographic Expeditions in San Francisco and briefly volunteer teaching in the Everest region of Nepal, she met the Project Himalaya team, Jamie & Joel, and has been creating and leading treks in Nepal, India, Tibet and Bhutan ever since.

Join our Kamzang Journeys bicycle trip in Tibet, on the roof of the world! One of the Himalaya’s most spectacular bicycle rides on the roof of the world, Tibet’s high plateau, crossing the Himalaya from historic Lhasa to reach exotic Kathmandu.

To make the journey even more adventurous and challenging we’ve incorporated a 4-day round trip bike ride to Everest Base Camp via Rongbuk Monastery …

There are six major passes to cycle over on the Lhasa to Kathmandu route as it runs westwards, parallel to the Himalayan range which forms the borders of Bhutan, Sikkim and Nepal. En route, we visit Tibet’s famous monastery towns of Gyantse, Shigatse and Shegar as well as several smaller settlements and nomadic (drokpa) encampments. On the detour away from the main route towards the Rongbuk Monastery, the road climbs through almost fifty hairpin bends to reach the Pang La, which rewards us with spectacular panoramas of the Himalaya, including Everest.

We spend the night at Everest Base Camp before riding 60 kilometers back to the main Lhasa-Kathmandu ‘highway’. Back on the main road, we reach the edge of the Tibetan Plateau as we cross the 5,200 meter Thang La, and begin a mind-blowing descent of 4,600 meters, via the border town of Zhangmu, to the valley of the Bhote Kosi River.

A final day of cycling brings us back to civilization in the form of Kathmandu, with a stop first at the semi-tropical Last Resort for some serious spa and relaxation time …

Our Kamzang Journeys bicycle trip has six major Himalayan passes, many over 5000 meters. Please be prepared.