Rob Gibson's Blog

Namaste.

Cycle Nepal is a ten day adventure, cycling approximately 220 miles across the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal between 30 October and 8 November 2010. We will be cycling 30 – 50 miles each day for six days.  My aim is to raise over £2,900 for Computer Aid International.  Computer Aid recycles old computers and sends them out to developing countries for use in education and healthcare – helping people to get out of poverty using ICT solutions.

If you click on the tabs above, you can follow my progress through my training and sponsorship campaigns.

We are setting off from Kathmandu for a “local” ride on day one.  We then overnight in Kathmandu ahead of setting off south towards the Indian border for a couple of days.  On the third day of cycling we will reach the town of Hetauda having covered around 140 miles and having climbed a couple of mountain passes and up to about 2435m, around a quarter of the height of Everest.  We then head west to the Chitwan National Park over about 40 miles and then the final 60 miles during the last two days heading north-west to the city of Pokhara in Western Nepal.

En route, we will be overnighting in lodges and camp sites.  In Chitwan, we will have the fantastic chance to trek with elephants and hopefully get the chance to see some of the other local wildlife in the National Park.  We will also visit one of Computer Aid’s projects during the trip, to see how the sponsorship we have raised gets spent.

At the time of writing, I believe there are currently ten participants signed up for the trip.

OK, if none of that was reason enough to sign up, I have to admit to some other motivations.  I like to set myself a challenge every now and then and when the invite to join this trip landed in my inbox, I was very quick to pick up the baton.  During my military career, I was fortunate to cross paths with the Ghurkas on many occasions.  My first encounter was at Sandhurst during my officer training where we were supported by the Ghurkas throughout our many training exercises.  I also spent time with them in Hong Kong and elsewhere where I got to know these amazing soldiers.  During and immediately after the first Gulf war, I was posted to the Iraq/Kuwait border for six months.  Here I was supported by a company of Nepalese soldiers who were every bit as engaging as their Ghurka kinsmen.  With them, I learned a little of the people of Nepal and developed a yearning to visit the country.  My life took many different routes after that, but I couldn’t see any possibilities that would take me to this beautiful country – until now.

So now the scene is set for me to head out to Nepal in October and attempt this great physical challenge, as part of a visit to the most incredible country, while raising money for a charity that is relevant to me professionally from both IT and educational perspectives.  All I need to do now is get myself fit enough to cycle between 30 and 50 miles per day for six days, and raise £2,900 in sponsorship.

I have to admit that I am very happy with the physical challenge.  I have been through the physical mill on a number of occasions in the past and I think that I understand the sort of challenge that lies ahead.  The only problem is that I am not a cyclist!  I will have to gain a high level of fitness and transfer that across from my more familiar running to cycling.  I reckon that if I can get to the start line injury free, then I’ll be OK for the physical challenge.  That’s not an arrogant statement, but merely that I have experience of preparing myself for extended physical challenges and am relishing this particular test.

The more difficult aspect for me will be raising a huge amount of money.  This has to be done by absorbing the task into my otherwise fairly busy life.  I don’t think I will have time for big fundraising activities and so will have to rely on appealing to people’s generous spirit and good nature.  So far this has been incredible.  I have had a tremendous response catapulting me up to 45% of my target so far.  I have been really struck by the generosity of my growing list of sponsors.  It is really quite humbling and I find it difficult to express my thanks to all those that have dug deep.  There is still room for more and if you would like to help this great cause, please feel free to donate through my page at www.justgiving.com/robert-gibson

OK, so training is progressing well and so is the fundraising campaign.  I will update progress here as I go and will reflect on my next intermediate challenge which is the Loch Leven Half Marathon on 15 May.