Pre-event Release

Cycle City Network Nepal (CCNN) brings you Critical Mass October – #battiBalera. Conducted monthly by cycle activists all over the world in over 200 cities, Nepal is home to 5 Critical Mass venues. The oldest one, over 3 years old, Critical Mass Kathmandu celebrates cycling and pushes the issue of reclaiming roads for cycle users along with a side theme Get Visible; the reason why masses are held in the evening usually after dark. Events all over the world take place on the evening of the last Friday of the English Calendar. Details on the October Critical Mass

Date : October 28, 2016
Venue: Basantapur, Kathmandu
Starting Point: 5.30 pm NST
End Point: Patan Durbar Square
Duration:. 1 hour

The theme of this month’s edition is battiBalera. To mark the festival of lights too, the October Critical Mass is brighter and more colorful than other months. The organizers this time have put together a bamboo car driven by a bicycle or the carCyle named Land Robber. It depicts the space occupied by a car compared to a bicycle.

“Build Bamboo Car Skeletons to Demonstrate Space Taken by Single Occupancy Cars”

The bamboo skeleton project was overseen by Adventure Nepal Open Crew. For details about them, visit ANOCNepal

Although not one of its conceived events, Cycle City Network Nepal, an NGO established by cycle activists and proactive youths has been facilitating the monthly event. Their primary campaign the KCC 2020 aims to make Kathmandu a cycle friendly City by the year 2020.  To know more about them, visit, KCC 2020)

ANOC fabricated bamboo skeletons shaped like actual cars and mounted them on their bikes, for world carfree day, and demonstrated it in Bhaktapur for a 2- week exhibition . The activists then cycled it from Bhaktapur durbar square to kilagal, Kathmandu around the streets. It will be demonstrated on Critical Mass Kathmand| October 2016, to highlight the absurdity of using a large car to move a single person.

September 17,2016
In the chill early morning of the weekend in Saturday, September, CCNN volunteers and some participants to the event were already getting ready for the rally at Lainchour. The event was chaotic in the beginning with the cycles being provided by the event organizers and people lining up to receive the cycles. However, as the event went underway around 8:30 everything was going smoothly. The route was very well managed with the willing help of Kathmandu Traffic Police. The rally went from Sorhakhutte to Teku to Tripureshor and ended in Basantapur Durbar Square inside the Itumbahal chowk where the Itumbahal community had readied a closing ceremony and arranged lunch. After a program which had the dignitaries from the Government, European Union members and CCNN representative Chakshu Malla give speeches. The event went on to the Newari style lunch arranged by the Itumbahal. In addition to the cycle parade, several events such as display of custom bike – gorkhe, presentation of classical newari instrumental music by the Itumbahal Pucha, slow race for the kids took place. Likewise, bolsering the motive, KTM Walks who has been advoocating on car free days in the inner city roads also actively promoted and conducted the event jointly.

Let’s Talk About Bicycle

“Kathmandu Kora Cycling Challenge 2016 was a moment when I felt I won the world” Purushottam Shakhukhala guest speaker of ‘Lets Talk about Bicycle’ edition III. Let’s Talk about Bicycle is  monthly bicycle talk show hosted by Cycle City Network Nepal in an attempt to share the success stories and address issues in the cycling community. This month’s gues, Mr. Purushottam Shahukhala, a local resident of Tyeuda, who grew over his disability to pursue his passions in cycling, body building and trekking.  Besides the largest cycling event in Nepal –  Kathmandu Kora Cycling Challenge, he has been a part of several public and private cycle rides in and around the valley. Beyond his cycling affiliations, he has been a prominent figure in different body building competitions mainly the Dharma Shree held in our country. He has also travelled many parts of our country (Manakamana, Gosainkunda, Nagarjun,etc) on foot. Through his adventurous field, he has proven that physically disability people are also part of society who can be adventurous personalities. As it stands, Shahukhala’s left leg is almost a foot shorter than his right. Despite the challenges, he fulfills his dreams and feel jubilated in completing the challenges he takes upon. During the recent series of the talk programme, he shared these very insights to an audience at IDV, Bakhundol, Lalitpur. The event took place on August 27, 2016 at 5 p.m.

Words: Niren Maharjan

‘Youth for Future’ cycle rally was organized on 20th August 2016 from Nepal Tourism Board, BHrikutimandap Kathmandu to mark the International Youth Day. The program was jointly organized by COCAP, Youth Council, Cycle City Network Nepal(CCNN) and was supported by Dish home, Samata Foundation ,Wine to water and Laxmi cycle city center. The cycle rally  started from the Bhrikutimandap at 8 am after the participants were energized with some light refreshments. W0rld cyclist, Pushkar Shah also took part in the rally.  The rally was lead by Ussa Kanal and Niren Maharjan. The rally progressed through Anamnagar,  Chabahil chowk, City center and Putalisadhak before returning to Nepal Tourism Board(NTB). The rally was conducted harmoniously and with very little hassle as participants showed great discipline and maintained the pace set by the leaders. After the completion of cycle rally, a group of college students performed few patriotic songs and soon after, one of COCAP’s senior members gave a motivational speech . They  program ended with certificate distribution to the participants at the end of the program. After the rally was officially over, participants indulged in socializing activities, chit chatting and taking group photos  with the organizers, participants and volunteers.
The main theme and motto of this rally was “Ride Long Stay Strong “.

Words – Manisha Maharjan

Pictures – Harry Sarn

Pedal for Peace: An event report

-Niren Maharjan

Tour De’ Lumbini is a cycling event which is organized  every year to mark the auspicious day of Buddha Jayanti; the birthday of Gautama Buddha . “Tour De’ Lumbini- Pedal For Peace is a four daylong tour that starts from the capital city of Kathmandu and ends in Lumbini. Riders join from different parts of country to celebrate cycling and spread the message of Peace.

The main aim of the event is to promote Lumbini with the message of Peace from Lord Buddha nationally and internationally. The cycling event targets begginers, professionals, government officials, national and international icons and celebrities to join the ride.

We started our event from Kathmandu, Swoyambhu with active minister Ananda Prasad Pokhrel, Vikhu Nigrodh Vice President of Lumbini Development Trust and world cyclist Puskar shah. After a short speech and some breakfast our ride started with offerings from Monks and Locals, we were offered with khada, tika, eggs, fish and alcohol(swoka). We started our ride and completed kora of Swoyambhu and we started our ride from Kathmandu. After riding some uphills we again gathered at Thankot check-post.  Our volunteers briefed on road safety, an essential part of riding on one of the most dangerous highways. Different groups were divided so that each rider can ride safely. Downhill riding from check-post was a thrilling experience but also equally dangerous. After riding downhill and clocking up a few more kilometers we reached our first stop where lunch awaited the hungry bunch of riders. Every rider and crew member got some rest time post lunch. The ride resumed.

The ride progressed in a really awesome manner with awesome view of rivers and hills clad in green. There were many water points on the way. Most of them were supported by Armed Police Force (APF). We were provided with water, lemonade and juices at various stations. We kept on riding and we came to “watermelon point” where we were offered fresh watermelon. The next stop was Riverside Spring Resort, Kurintar. Tents had been set up already. In time, all the riders reached out first pit stop. Some riders could not make it on their bikes so they were supported by a vehicle constantly following us en route. Tents were picked and everyone clocked in an hour of rest. Then, dinner was served. Some riders went for sleep but some still kept the party going.

Next day, we woke up early in the morning, got fresh and had our breakfast. After our breakfast we started to prepare for our ride, we packed our luggage and loaded them in the bus carrying only the very essentials with us. We did some warm-up before continuing our ride. The whistle went off and we started ride day 2. Again we were divided into groups for our safety. When we reached Mugling, we were welcomed by the locals. We were surprised with the warm hospitality of the locals. The road was decorated with flowers and water pots with national flags and buddhist flags. Due to the construction works of the road from that point, we were not able to ride our bike forcing everone to load their bikes in trucks while the riders got on a bus. We nearly reached to Narahyangadh by bus and again from there we started riding. We nearly travelled thirty kilometers by bus. After riding some kilometers, we reached the lunch stop. Water spots regularly greeted us on our way. Also, we got double lunch on that day. After having lunch some went for playing football but most of them sat for taking rest. After some time we again continued our ride. We kept on riding and finally got water spot, everyone started filling their water bottles. After riding around twenty kilometers we finally reached our destination where tents were kept ready for the day two slumber.

A water scarcity meant that the riders took it upon themselves to utilize the fresh water of Arun river to the fullest. After being fresh every one came back to the school, where our tents were ready for us. Loud music kept everyone in the groove.. After having dinner some participant went for their own refreshment, some kept on dancing while the fatigued decided to call it a night.

We woke up early in the morning the following day and got fresh and stretched a while. On that day we had to ride up hill so most of them left early in the to beat the heat. We had our breakfast at Dauune. As the gradient grew, temperatures began to ride making the climb even more treacherous. The downhill that greeted us at the summit was one to cherish. Some took a slow run down while other pumped up the adrenaline. After completing the downhill riding there was another of those APF water points. Then on, it was all plains till Butwal giving the riders one of the smotthest turfs to ride on. After reaching Butwal, there was a welcome event for us by   Butwal Cycle City(BCC). After finishing welcome  program by BCC we did some ride around butwal city and we continued our ride towards Bhairahawa. Finally, we reached Bhairahawa cricket ground where our tents were kept ready. After reaching there we were entertained by two professional stunt riders(Sandeep Ale and Nikesh Khadka). After some time our dinner was ready. Everyone had their dinner and some went for rest and some went for refreshments.

On the fouth day, we woke up early in the morning got fresh and we were ready for the ride. Everyone was ready and we gathered at Lumbini gate at Bhairahawa. After having group photo we started our ride. After riding around 30 kilometers we finally reached our final destination Lumbini. Everyone was happy after reaching there. Every one forgot their pain and fatigue in the spur of the moment. There was a big event organized by the government, many delegates were invited to the program along with President, Prime Minister and different Ministers. Many delegates came representing their nations. We also joined the program. After sometime we went through Lumbini, we visited Mayadevi temple and many other monasteries of different countries. We also went to Shanti stupa. Finally, we went for lunch in one of the finest Thakali bhancha ghar. We took rest for some time and it was time to return us to Kathmandu. We loaded our bike to truck and bus roofs. On that same day around 4 pm we returned back to Kathmandu. We had so much fun while returning to Kathmandu. We stopped at Dauune for our dinner. After having dinner Puskar dai started singing his own composed songs (Lattar khaire bhada, sani nani, etc). Many of them started dancing on his songs. We enjoyed too. After some time again we started our journey to Kathmandu. Finally, around 7 am in the morning we reached Kathmandu and concluded our event with suggestions and feedback. Upon completion of our grand event, the truck full of bikes reached too. Slowly we took our bikes and fatigued selves to our homes.

Lastly, I would like to thank all the organizers, supporters, volunteers and all the participant for making this event a grand event. Hope, this event grows much bigger and better next time. Hope to see you guys in next Tour De’ Lumbini-2017.

Thankyou.

A report on one the largest cycling event of the country : Kathmandu Kora Cycling Challenge

-Chakshu Malla

We, CCNN have always been the proud partner of Kathmandu Kora Cycling Challenge from the year 2012. After the overwhelming number of participants on last year’s “Recovery Ride”, we were too pumped up for this year’s biggest cycling event of Nepal. So, we started working for Kora16 as early from the 1st of June! On this date, we did the first recce ride for 50 K challenge. Although most of the trail remains the same, but we need to do the recce because you never know what’s going around Kathmandu’s suburb on this time of the year (all the construction work on road happens in this season, seriously).

Kora, since its inception back in 2011 has always been about having fun on bicycle on one hand and raising funds for some philanthropy cause on the other. Fund collected by 35 cyclists in 2011 were handovered to Samata School Boudha. Later, fund were collected to build birthing centers in rural Nepal (Rukum and Baitadi completed, Pyutar and Makaibari; under construction). Every rider who participate on this ride ask the pledge of 100 rupees each KM they ride, and this is all voluntary! And, this year we had 2 causes, an ambulance for Ghatlang, Rasuwa and School Rebuilding in Shikharbesi, Nuwakot.

Preparation
Coming back to the Kora16 preparation, we had new member in the Kora team, the Great Himalaya Trails. They were supporting us on the trail marking and Kora App. Well this year we didn’t have the Jersey and lunch sponsor. So, we asked all the riders to come up with their own jersey or the jerseys from previous Koras. For lunch, Raj dai brought the idea of Kora Food Court where riders buy food from different stalls at reasonable price. All these idea of bringing own jersey and buying own food may sound injustice for regular Kora riders but believe us, it’s the only way of making this kind of event sustainable. With this current growth rate of Kora riders, we won’t be surprised if 5000 riders participated within few years. Just think about distributing free jerseys and lunch for that number of people! These offers may attract a huge crowd for this ride but don’t groom the MTB crowd as it should be, being self sustained.
Trail Marking
This year we had 3 kind of trail markers on our mind, Permanent, Semi-Permanent and Temporary. As Kora date appeared closer, we were really behind the time for trail marking so we dropped out the idea for Permanent marking. While discussing about the details of semi-permanent trail markers, we started warm up rides for our CCNN Youth Squads to make them ready for the big day. On the final week, we finally had the semi permanent trail markers on our hand. From the first recce we had basic idea how much trail markers we need, so made 300 for each challenges on 3 different colors.

First day of trail marking was a real nightmare, because we were just adjusting ourselves how to drill and make them visible. We were carrying some kilograms of nails on our bag and later on found wires were the better option. Next day, trail marking went a bit faster but drilling every trail maker was another time consuming job. Accidently, we found drilling from the workshop was much faster and drilled those all from our friend’s workshop, it didn’t took more than 15 minutes to drill 150 markers. While we were busy for the 50 K trail, we hadn’t yet started for 75 and 100 K, time was slipping from our hand. But team NCRR (Nepalese Cyclists Ride to Rescue) and Himalayan Single Track came to rescue us! Their super energetic boys completed that task in just 2 days.

Team CCNN for Kora16
Recce rides, warm up rides were not only the things we did to our Youth Squad to make them Kora ready. We previously did one day first aid training and also a basic mechanic training. Besides the trail guiding, our team were ready for the first aid and mechanic supports too.

Team:
1. Bijaybar Pradhan (Medic)
2. Samartha Kaji Shakya (Trail guide)
3. Kripa Dangol (Medic)
4. Binaya Adhikari (Trail guide)
5. Hari Sharan Nagarkoti (Trail guide, Mech.)
6. Shishir Raj Joshi (Trail guide, Mech.)
7. Usha Khanal (Trail guide, Medic)
8. Niren Maharjan (Trail guide, Medic)
9. Prez Amatya (Trail guide, Medic)
10. Samyak Shrestha (Medic, Mech.)
11. Tshering Nuru Sherpa (Trail guide, Medic)
12. Khasing Chandra Rai (Trail guide)
13. Manish Maharjan (Trail guide, Medic)
14. Bidi Yolkey Rai (Trail guide)
15. Simon Paudel (Trail guide)
16. Utsav Dhungana (Trail guide)
17. Chakshu Bikram Malla (Trail guide)
18. Bishal Rajbhandari (Photographer)
19. Sailendra Dongol (Trail guide, Medic)
20. Devendra Basnyat (Trail guide (lead))
21. Manisha Maharjan (Medic)
22. Kunal Krishna Chaudhary (Medic)
23. Samip Shrestha (Trail guide)
24. Samir Maharjan (Trail guide)
25. Atish Singh (Trail guide)
26. Dhashan Shrestha (Photographer)

Kora Day

We just hurried to get to the Mangal bazzar on this day, because Shyam Limbu from Himalayan Medics had asked us to there at 6:30 for the safety briefing. After having some bananas and Jerry Swarry, Shyam dai briefed us how to handle the accident scenes. And, then we shared our line-up number before finally heading to the Kora line up. As our photographers were busy snapping the crowd, we waited for the kick off time for 50 K challenge. The ride kicked off at 7:55, five minutes before the announced schedule. The biggest crowd of Kora16, the 50 K challengers slowly started getting out of the ancient town Patan towards Jawalakhel. Besides the Team CCNN for Kora16, we had our regular Kora riders from CCNN, Gaurab dai, Diwash dai, Prashanta, Pramesh were on their own for this big day.

Being on the lead team for couple of Koras, we realized the pace of 50 K riders have increased as soon we reached the first water station of Naikap. As always, it was hard for us this time too to slow down the ever energetic riders following the lead. So, from Naikap we tried to setup 3 layers of riders from our own circle to maintain the speed which only worked up to Syuchatara. I overtook the lead and hurried to meet a local volunteer who was supposed to be at the sharp bent of Syuchatar downhill, was already standing with the signage she made herself reading “50 K Kora” with the arrow in it. She even informed me 5 riders have already crossed her.

Unlike previous Koras, we were riding more comfortably because of all those trail marks and the Kora App. And, we were stoked to see the local support in junctions of Kirtipur and Syuchatar, those people were voluntarily standing on road to show the trail. The supports from local bike shops of Kathmandu were overwhelming too. Himalayan Single Track, PANC Bike, Gearventure helped with the water station, these stations were vital for the ride because hydrating the riders means, safer ride and those stations also helped for regrouping. After arriving at the second water point of Ichangunarayan, we take water break of around 20 minutes because we arrived too early. At around 9, we resumed our ride by that time 100 and 75 K lead had already overtaken us.
We tried to slow down the speed on the downhill section of Ichangunarayan which is infamous for big accidents. Till then up to the third water point of Dhapasi we somehow managed to keep up the slower pace. This pace continued even up to the fourth water point of Golfutar. Soon after leaving this 4th water point it started raining bit heavily. Well, it was a good sign because we had two pretty good up hills on our way before reaching the Boudha lunch spot. It was around noon when we arrived at the Kora Food Court inside Samata School Boudha premise. At this location, we waited around 50 minutes because of the rain, and we actually wanted to collect a good number of riders for the final stretch of Kora challenge.

With black clouds covering the Kathmandu sky, we had a pretty pleasant ride for this final stretch. The ride went pretty smoothly even after going through the traffic chocked roads of Pepsi Cola and Balkumari. We still had pretty good number of riders behind us while entering the ancient Kingdom of Patan via Balkumari. And, it was almost 2 when we reached the Mangal Bazzar. To our surprise, a good number of riders had already been there and were waiting for the Kora Finsher’s Medal! We were stoked to see the riders from Jhapa, Hetuada and Pokhara. 7-year-old Suyog who completed the 50 K with support from his father was the most celebrated rider at the finish point. Well yes, we too had celebrities who did the Kora. Karma was seen proudly posing for photos with his medal and bike. Anoop Bikram Shahi completed his 50 K challenge with his gym buddies.

Kora is getting bigger every year, and we are trying to make this better. Trail marking, Kora App, these were the improvements we did this year and we obviously try to make better than this the upcoming year. We Cycle City Network Nepal, feels proud for being part of this biggest cycling event of Nepal. We are very much positive on our dream of making the cities of Nepal cycle friendly with this growing number of cyclists. We believe this growing population of cycle users will empower our team to better lobby for cycle-friendly policies with government agencies.