Over a six week trip during the summer of 2001 we will cycle approximately 1000 miles over the highest rideable passes in the world in the shadows of the Karakoram and Himalayan Mountains. Our route will take us into the remote kingdom of Ladakh, and to its capitol Leh, in the Indian State of Kashmir. Ladakh is nicknamed little Tibet as it is one of the last places where the Tibetan people practice their traditional Buddhist way of life since the Chinese took control of Tibet.

The region is part fantasy, part reality, perhaps the real life setting for the fabled "Shangri la," where extreme landscapes and harsh forces of nature meet with the simple, light-hearted, monastic culture of its Buddhist inhabitants. It is a place where high deserts and arid plains provide a amphitheater for the Lamas who blow their horns, and chant in mystical tongues. Where bitter, freezing winds carry prayers across the world from colorful flags that flap in the endless, burning sun, where broken twisted glaciers send precious streams of water down to irrigate green, terraced fields of wheat and barley, and where rugged hillsides provide the foundation for hundreds of ages-old monasteries.

We will ride as an unsupported team of two on mountain bikes and carry everything we'll need for our trip, all of our gear, food, spare parts, film and equipment in Yakima Big Tow single wheel cargo trailers that we'll tow behind us.