Commencal Insiders – PEF in Nepal - Part 1

The video is on the way, but first sit back and take in the story from PEF's trip to discover the Nepalese culture as illustrated by our photographer and videographer Samuel Decout.


Day 1: "A traffic code that is quite like freeriding"

After some luggage troubles at the airport, the culture change is instantaneous as soon as you go through the city. PEF says: "In Kathmandu, it's definitively a mess. They are widening the road by a meter on each side, so everything is a work in progress. Houses are shrunk down and buildings are erased. It’s not surprising that many locals are wearing a mask so they don’t swallow anything that is up in the air, there is not really a traffic code, it is quite freeride and I had a feeling that we would kill someone every 10 seconds! "


But with no time to hang out, PEF is borrowing a META SX from Tanguy’s shop, who is also our distributor in Nepal, and was off to discover the first spot: "It was an Enduro with Tanguy, who is our tour guide for the trip. He got injured though and is taking antibiotics to be sure that he is not going to catch anything."







Day 2 and 3: "A fantastic welcome"

In conjunction with a local school, PEF is helping out with that digging of a Pumptrack, which will be inaugurated this Saturday. The exchange with these young riders fascinates him: "I help them to shape and I’m trying to explain the basics, but in 3 days it is a bit tough. Otherwise, I saw them ride and a 15-year-old kid was very impressive. Kids who ride here come from middle to upper class families."





But the part on which PEF was the most impressed about is their cycling culture. They don’t miss anything: "We see that they have an Asian-base culture: they look at how riders do it abroad and try to mimic it here. It's amazing how they know all the videos published online and they were asking me where they were shot, how it was, how so and so are riding. They are very curious and want to learn as much as possible, it's incredible. And it's amazing because even 5 years old kids are totally fluent in English, which makes it easier to share."



PEF was off again today to "ride in the woods" and on local trails with Tanguy. How do the best Nepalese spots look like? We'll know it soon...stay tuned for part 2.

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