The Winter edition of the world's most ridiculous three wheeled adventure across India and Nepal was delayed by a day after strikes in Nepal forced all vehicles off the road. The law of the sod one might say that this clashed with the launch of the adventure but after a ruddy great big stonking New Year's Eve Party to mark the beginning of the Run the teams seemed grateful for the lie in! Rickshawshank Redemption reported "No cars allowed on the road for one whole day so nothing doing, which is fine because we've had a day to recover from New Years!" Limeys in a Pickle agreed: "Thankfully that gives us more time in the very lovely Pokhara ... Not to mention the extra time to get over our hangovers from the very fun new years party last night!" One member of Team Justice League of Adventurists were also glad about the delay but for more urgent and personal reasons: “NEWS FLASH!Webbo has got the runs!!! He is delighted the General Strike is on. A Rickshaw is not a good place to be when your bowel movements are unpredictable. Our room smells very bad. So bad that I am considering joining the strikers outside.” New Year's Day hangovers out of the way the teams set out on the 2nd January. We Love the Lassis sent this update: "Fully kilted, we left pokhara at 10.30am ... in a cavalcade of rickshaws to the locals amusement. Gary did a sterling job with only one crazy manouver." Mocra off Railers said "this trip is amazing so far" after just 85 kilometres. They've now been on the road for three days and they've already been covered in dust by the leftovers of a rockslide, faced massive engine failure (blowing up according to reports from the road) and some hefty paperwork related border crossing issues resulting in some 'fines'. They've been sending in SMS updates from the road throughout – today they report that their new engine goes 20mph faster than the one that blew up. A handy silver lining after a suitably choatic and mayhem-filled introduction to the Rickshaw Run. Lots of other teams have been reporting similarly silly adventuring escapades, including an amusing contrast of tranquility and slight carnage from team We Love the Lassis: "Arrived in Agra just in time to see the sun setting on the Taj Mahal and see Chris crashing the Rickshaw in to the wall of the hotel! No lasting damage..... to the rickshaw :)" To follow the teams as they wobble across India check out the Winter Run Live! page. |