KONA Bhutan Team Member, Jigme writes about the latest adventure he had with his trusty Kona Hei Hei and reviews some of his gear along the way.
ABOUT THE BIKE
KONA Hei Hei CR - XC MEETS TRAIL SLAYER
Over the last year my go to bike in Bhutan has been a KONA Hei Hei CR 29er (aka my cool green goddess).
We have covered a lot of miles together and I have really put my trusty Hei Hei through her paces on the rough and tough dirt gravel trails and tracks across the Kingdom.
My Hei Hei CR has only pleased and surprised me by how well she handles and performs whatever challenges I throw at her from long endurance rides deep into the mountains to fully laden multi day bike packing trips and remains equally nimble and forgiving when we hit more technical enduro style trails.
The Hei Hei model is a super fast cross country bike done in Kona’s way and has been in their line up for last 20 years winning multiple 24-hour solo world championships along the way. It has 120mm suspension on both front and rear which can be completely locked out for ascending. The carbon frame makes it superlight and strong and adds on a bit of flex where needed. The low, longer and slacker geometry give the bike the stability and better control when hitting the downhill.
Our latest adventure together was a 5 day bike packing ride across the country from Paro to Tashigang. Covering 600km over five mountain passes (Dochula 3150m, Pelela 3423m, Yotongla 3436m, Kiki La 2870m and the Thrumshingla 3780m) with 12,278m (40,282ft) of vertical gains (did I mention how well this bike climbs?!).
When fully kitted out as a bike packing rig it weighs in at 19kg (plus a backpack of about 6kg). Despite all the extra weight, my Hei Hei felt smooth and efficient taking on all those long climbs, some of the which hit up to 12% gradient. With the suspension locked out, I could really feel all my efforts were dialled directly in to moving bike forwards and upwards. The suspension did not move an inch even when I hammered the pedal stroke standing. I also have to mention that the 1 by 12 drivetrain had me covered and I never ran out of gears. The downs are needless to mention - the Hei Hei is really stable and fast going down on those unpaved roads (producing “miles of smiles”). In one instance at 50kmph, I swerved round a pothole and in the process hit a patch of loose dirt and lost the front end but was shocked (and very relieved!) at how the front wheel held its line and got me back in control. I was like, thank god!. But later when I thought about it, I realised it was the geometry doing its job despite all the extra weight onboard.
My Hei Hei just makes me want to ride harder and faster!
Discover More : https://konaworld.com/hei_hei_cr.cfm
ABOUT THE BAGS
TOPEAK - PREPARE TO RIDE
The good people at Kona Bikes Bhutan leant me some Toppeak bags for this bike packing trip. I used the Toppeak 10L front loader, 10L back loader and the 500ML frame bag. The bags were very secure, light and simple to use. The waterproof layer gave me the confidence how safe my stuffs were. The air release button came in very handy; it made all my packing very compact and easy to fit in the bags. I could easily fit in all my gears in it. I had a bit of space to fit in some more stuffs. I carried my tent, sleeping mattress, sleeping bag, some warm clothes, my camping stove and utensils, spare clothes and some snacks.
Discover More : www.topeak.com/global/en/products/287-Bikepacking
ABOUT THE FUEL
FIREPOT - EAT WELL IN THE WILD
One of the most important thing that kept me going is the food. I had to get the balance right – packing too much food would be too heavy and slow me down but too little and would run out of fuel. Luckily Kona Bikes Bhutan share a few packets of dehydrated expedition food made by the Firepot. I found the Firepot meals are really handy and helpful, light to carry and very easy to cook, (all you need is hot water). These foods are dense in calories, exactly what I needed to fuel and recover taking up this physically demanding multi-day bikepacking trip. There were different meals which never made me feel I was always having the same food (my favourite was definitely the Dal with rice and spinach – but being Bhutanese I did have to add more chilli!). I only wish I had more of these packs to keep me going.
Discover More : www.firepotfood.com
Words and Pictures by Jigme Tenzin
Kona Bhutan Bike Team Rider Jigme Tenzin is an Endurance and Adventure Rider and Ultra Runner.
Apart from his bike packing traverse of the kingdom, Jigme’s endurance sport achievements include completing the Druk Path Trek in 6hrs 30mins (trekkers take 4 days) and he has also run and ridden from Paro - Mt Jhomolhari Base Camp and back. He has competed in the 100km Dantak MTB Race (Thimpu-Paro-Thimpu) three times and the Tour of the Dragon twice, has bike packed up to Lingzhi (4,150m) from Paro and is planning to race the 268km ToD again later this year.
@jigmetenzin_jt6
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