Yes, you can climb Annapurna by bike in December

BarcelonaIn Avià, a small town next to Berga, Alba Xandri and Ricard Calmet receive the ARA. They open the doors of their home with familiarity. “In Nepal everyone welcomed us, they asked us about us and our adventure”, they explain. Alba is a teacher and Ricard a firefighter. In 2014 they decided to leave their lives and go around the world by bicycle. “It was an amazing 3-year experience”, remembers Alba. Once they have returned home, however, the desire to continue pedaling has not faded, but rather the opposite. “This is a vice. Once you’ve finished an expedition, your head is already boiling thinking about the next one,” says Ricard. The last adventure, in December in the middle of winter, the Annapurna route, with temperatures reaching -15 degrees. “We love challenges”, they admit while laughing.

In Nepal, the peak time when mountaineers and cycle tourists gather are the months of October and November. Therefore, when Alba and Ricard arrived there, they found an unusual situation. “The most normal thing on routes like Annapurna is that at each point there are a hundred climbers, cyclists and other sportsmen. At that time, however, we were alone”, explains Ricard. This allowed them to know much more about the reality of the people they were meeting. “Nepal is a very prepared and hospitable country, where, for example, women are one more, unlike other Asian countries”, they say to ARA.

The Annapurna peak – at 8,091 meters high, the tenth highest peak in the world – offered an intimidating landscape. Impossible ramps that forced the couple to push the bike. “Another would say “Why do I have to push him?” For us it is part of the experience”, Calmet remembers. Stopping was not an option, not for them. And they didn’t lack reasons. “It was very cold, more than we imagined. The wind surprised us and ended up complicating everything. The word hypothermia it was going through my head”, says Xandri. The hands, the part of the body that suffered the most. “You get cold there because you can’t go very fast no matter how hard you try. At some points we had to stop, leave the bike and move to warm up”, recalls Ricard. The cold had to be added to the altitude, at many times over 5,000 meters. “The heart slows down, the oxygen decreases. I prefer to be closer to 4,000”, Alba admits while laughing. “It’s a magnificent route, but we can’t ignore climate change. This, 20 years ago, could not be done”, they comment.

To face these conditions, being well equipped is vital. But without going overboard. For Ricard, it’s an exercise in tightrope walking: “You have to be prepared and warm for the situation, but without getting to the point where the bike has a weight that you won’t be able to support while you’re carrying it.” A puzzle made easy by the bikepacking, or cycling with saddlebags. It’s a way of traveling with everything you need, taking up as little space as possible on the bike, and this allows you to enjoy an experience like the Annapurna circuit without worrying about your luggage and where to put it. “There has been a boom in this aspect. They have improved the materials, and this encourages you to try new adventures. Years ago we had to buy them abroad, now we have them in Berga”, they say.

Pedal to know

For the couple, these trips are more than a sporting adventure. “The bicycle humanizes us. It’s different from any other transport, it brings you much closer to people”, explains Ricard, who admits that he can’t imagine a trip without his tandem. “For us, apart from the challenge we seek, it serves us to discover and learn about realities. It allows us to have a view of people, how they live and the perspective they have. The path we take is more important than reaching the destination”, they say.

The passion with which Alba and Ricard live it is spreading more and more throughout Catalonia. One of the main reasons why this happens is the races that are held in the territory and that year after year gather more and more people passionate about this discipline. “Apart from the bikepacking, which improves year after year, 700 km or similar events are held that initiate people into this world. Competition and adrenaline are the main attractions”, points out Alba. For her, however, a greater incentive is needed from the institutions to engage the younger generations to do sport: “It is important to do school, so that the children grow up with the sport they want. We now have this thanks to organizations or businesses. The institutions should help more”.

For their part and whenever they can, they make community with the people around them. “Every week we do a cycling trip for girls. Fortunately, there are more and more of us”, highlights Alba. It’s a way to keep pedaling, even if the challenge isn’t that great. “Adventure, in the end, you can find it anywhere, you never know what can come out of nowhere”, they comment. However, they are still thinking about their next challenge. “The next thing we would do would be to go to the beach and rest, but we are not like that”, they joke. Ideas turn around in his head, the more they go, the more risky they are. What is clear is that they will do it together, and with a well-prepared bike. How long will they pedal? “As long as the body holds out”, they say with a laugh.