Being one of the world’s most vertical countries, with six directions (east, west, north south, up and down) it was only a question of time before racing downhill on <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=1346#.XMrUIzAzaUk" target="_blank">mountain bikes</a> became a popular sport here.
Now it has. Pedal-powered, two wheel downhill races are gaining adherents looking for adrenalin and adventure. With the world’s most rugged terrain to practice in, Nepalis are even <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nepali-times-buzz/nepal-mountain-bike-champs,1234" target="_blank">winning international championships</a>.
Adventure seekers hurl themselves down steep slopes on their dirt bikes, careening throiugh narrow trails, dodging cattle, goats, people, trees and rocks, all the while striving to maintain balance and prevent themselves from losing control and veering off the path &nbsp;to the valley below.
Possibly the first daredevil mountain bikers here were Craig Moffet and Brad Grunewald, who rode all the way to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/on-thin-ice-in-the-khumbu/" target="_blank">Everest Base Camp</a> and back in 1983. Since then, as <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=15361#.XMrUKjAzaUk" target="_blank">roads have opened up Nepal</a>, adventure bikers have been venturing further afield into wilder parts of the country.
“Because trekking routes have been turned into motorable roads, many young people are taking up cycling,” explains Diwaslal Pradhan of the group Pangro.
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Mustang is gaining popularity for cross-country riders, but there are challenging ridge trails right here on the Kathmandu Valley rim, in Chobar, Dakshinkali, Pharping and Godavari.
And as they gain experience, many young Nepalis want to take part in competitive downhill races. “More than 20% of the participants in our last race were youth,” says Shyam Limbu of Grand Himalayan Enduro, adding that the sport is not just fun, but also a healthy, environment-friendly activity.
Grand Himalayan Enduro is now famous worldwide for its challenging terrain and tough competition. Cycle enthusiasts from 21 countries flew to Nepal for the 2019 downhill race earlier this year.
“There are 15-20 international participants who come to Nepal every year just to take part in the race. This year more than half of our participants were foreigners,” explains Limbu. He points out that while Nepalis are increasingly drawn to the risky sport, the proportion of foreigners is increasing as word spreads about Nepal’s challenging terrain.
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Besides Enduro, other international cross-country biking competitions in Nepal include <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/nepali-bikers-in-sri-lanka,1854" target="_blank">Yak Attack</a> and the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/celebrating-the-himalayan-outdoors/" target="_blank">Himalayan Outdoor</a>.
Adventure is risk, and it is this risk that seems to attract downhill racers. The danger does not seem to deter women riders either, whose numbers are increasing through platforms such as the Ladies Mountain League, which introduced women to outdoor sports like swimming, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/rock-climbing-nepal,1579" target="_blank">rock-climbing</a>, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/no-city-for-cyclists/" target="_blank">cycling</a>, hiking and kayaking.
“The platform for women gives access to sports by providing equipment, such as bikes, via a mountain-biking ‘library’, and at the same time women can get training,” says Jenny Lama from Himalayan Single Track, a branch of the Ladies Mountain League that has trained 30-35 women in the past year, three of whom participated in the National Downhill Championship. Others took part in cross-country racing, and some became so addicted to the outdoors they went on to become mountain guides.
Says Sailendra Dongol of the National Cycle Association and co-owner of Pangro: “Just organising races should not be our goal, we need to develop more athletes.”
<h2>Karma's karma</h2>
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Fed up with 12-year-old Karma Sherpa playing video games all day long, his aunt took him for a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/riding-above-the-haze/" target="_blank">biking</a> trip to Chobar four years ago.
That is all it took to get the young lad hooked to mountain biking. Now 16, Sherpa and his bicycle are inseparable, and besides winning many national races, in December he came second in the under-18 International Chiang Mai Enduro.
“I believe I was a pretty notorious kid,” he admits with a shy smile. “I didn’t like doing homework, so I was out and about in the mountains around Kathmandu in my bike every chance I got.”
The Chiang Mai race was a morale booster for the Nepali teenager, who realised he could compete with the best in the world, and was also inspired by meeting the big names in downhill <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-race-to-the-top,588" target="_blank">biking</a>.
“The competition was five days after my final exams in Kathmandu, so I could not practice much but the race went well,” Sherpa said, hinting that he could have even come first if he had enough training time.
The boy’s first race was the Kathmandu Mountain Bike Festival, when he was 13. &nbsp;Despite being nervous he finished seventh, then built on the experience winning three of his next six races.
Sherpa credits his trainer and mentor, Shyam Limbu of Grand Himalayan Enduro. “He is my biggest inspiration,” says the racer, explaining how Limbu is a holistic trainer, monitoring his technique, mental maturity, concentration and nutrition.
“He also tells me to be less shy and talk to people more. It is good advice and has allowed me to make many international friends,” adds Sherpa, who also looks up to Nepali bikers Rajesh Magar and Suman Tamang.
Sherpa’s foster parents are very supportive, and took him to Switzerland for bike training. He has been told his performance is much improved after that, thanks also to better gear.
Downhill racing is dangerous, and even at 13 Karma was already battle-scarred. He broke his collar bone while training in Switzerland and proudly shows us an x-ray of his shoulder on the cracked screen of his smart phone.
“I have broken my collar bone in the exact same place twice. I also broke this mobile screen in one practice,” he adds smiling.
The teen biker’s ultimate goal is to participate in and win the Red Bull Hardline, one of the toughest downhill mountain bike races in the world. He says: “One victory is not enough, I need to win more.”
Reeti KC

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Downhill all the way

Samsung Nepal has opened pre-orders for the Galaxy A57 5G and A37 5G. Both phones run Samsung’s One UI 8.5, featuring AI capabilities like voice transcription, Circle to Search, and photo editing. They feature a 50MP triple-camera system, a Super AMOLED display, and six years of OS and security updates.

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‘One early morning, we heard the ambassador’s wife cry out, “Ram, Ram, Ram!” A disaster has befallen Nepal!” She had heard on the radio that a fire had consumed Singha Durbar." This is not about the arson attack on 9 September 2025, but the one on 8 July, 1973. It started in the South Wing of the then single-largest building in all of Nepal. It took two days to bring the blaze under control, requiring the use of explosives to demolish one wing to protect the imposing western facade. As Bhekh Bahadur Thapa recalls in the English translation of his memoir A Life in Public Service: Nepal from Autocracy to Democracy, he was then on leave from the Nepal government serving with the IDRC in Ottawa.&nbsp; He had already served as Nepal’s Finance Secretary at age 25, went on to be Finance Minister and Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank. He was already younger than some of the GenZ ministers in Nepal’s present RSP government. Thapa, now 89, was at the launch of the book in February which was attended by former diplomats and bureaucrats. After speeches by panelists, there was a question from the audience about how Thapa had managed to be the diplomat he was, managing Nepal’s international relations on the world stage.&nbsp; Writer and journalist Akhilesh Upadhyay, who was moderating the panel, responded by going into the section of the book where we see Thapa as an ambassador to the US, playing tennis with White House officials, cultivating a network of contacts to project the identity and welfare of Nepal, and making it possible for a state visit by King Birendra to Ronald Reagan’s America. The book is full of anecdotes that suggest Thapa was a clever and strategic diplomat, always calm and unruffled, easily making friends in high places with his maturity and engaging sense of humour. Thapa’s memoir is heavy on details about Nepal’s administrative history during the years he was active in public service, serving as minister and ambassador under three kings: Mahendra, Birendra and Gyanendra, and alongside five prime ministers.&nbsp; Aside from an insider look on how certain treaties, development deals and research projects in Nepal came into fruition, Thapa goes into great detail about his personal and professional relationships with the kings, ministers, ambassadors, foreign leaders and politicians.&nbsp; As a reader, one is struck by the level of detail around the events that unfolded in Nepal over the years during Thapa’s tenure. Was Thapa recording a journal over the years of the events and the conversations that transpired, or were they committed to his phenomenal memory? Either way, the reader gets a glimpse of Nepal’s recent history from the early days of the Panchayat, through the People’s Movement and the democracy period, the Maoist insurgency, Royal Palace massacre of 2001, and Gyanendra’s coup of 2005.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026041204048_125dc8ae300a1e33124f394abe724d42727f83e067b0201d2008b58d60c459a4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2026041204048_125dc8ae300a1e33124f394abe724d42727f83e067b0201d2008b58d60c459a4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1584" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="How to win friends and influence nations NT"> </figure>  Not enough is said about the political parties of the time whose presence led to the way Nepal’s multiparty democracy came to be shaped. The book keeps its focus on the administration and the key figures around it, mostly those in the Panchayat era. Towards the second half of the book, we do start to hear about political parties, but not in great depth. Another figure whose presence in the book is conspicuously less prominent is that of his wife, Rita Thapa — the person who seems to have rescued him every time financial quandary or family care became a challenge. Yet, we do not see her as a full person. Perhaps because of the personal tragedies in his life, the children are also barely mentioned.&nbsp; The book is therefore less personal and more technical. Throughout, we learn about Thapa’s thinking as he navigated the world of diplomacy to win him the trust of those who mattered. There are tips here for a new generation of Nepali officials and diplomats about how much commitment and focus is needed to be good at one’s job and serve the national interest. This book adds to tomes that have been written on Nepal’s fragile relationship with India. ‘India has always wished for Nepal to remain dependent on it,’ writes Thapa, who served as Nepal’s ambassador to India and later in the Eminent Persons Group &nbsp;on Indo-Nepal relations that has been allowed to languish. The book has several insights into the Indo-Nepal trysts with diplomacy and agency.&nbsp; China’s role is also recorded, viewed through conversations during a visit to Beijing, but all that was before Nepal’s neighbour to the north emerged as a world economic and military power. The book also has such sudden instances of quirkiness and humour. For instance, we see a young Thapa in America explaining to a government official why he would like to return to Nepal instead of settling down in the US. “Because, Nepal is beautiful,” he said. The text is immaculate and does not read much like a translation, credit for which clearly goes to the team that put the edition together: translator Prawin Adhikari, &nbsp;Anagha Neelakanthan and Bhekh Thapa’s daughter, Manjushree. As Nepal enters a new era of governance and diplomacy, A Life in Public Service: Nepal from Autocracy to Democracy should be essential reading for students of political science, economics and foreign affairs who can gain a fresh perspective on the country’s trajectory.&nbsp; There are dozens of forgotten state secrets recorded in the book, but the reader must also remember this is a story told from one person’s perspective and there may be others.&nbsp; So, what really made Thapa the diplomat he was? I met him in 2004 at the Kantipur TV studio when he was serving as king Gyanendra’s foreign minister. He was there for a studio interview, and I was just done with my English newscast.&nbsp; He surprised me at the door: “Pratibha! I’ve been reading your articles in The Kathmandu Post. You must keep writing.” I thanked him, glad to have been noticed for my work by a stranger. That was perhaps one of the things that set Thapa apart — he excelled at staying close to those in power, while also noticing those who were not.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260412040412_213e706136a038ec9f5e2b8c6d7f7c1e9ceed9479e22fe2884872ad7bd20955f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20260412040412_213e706136a038ec9f5e2b8c6d7f7c1e9ceed9479e22fe2884872ad7bd20955f" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Book details"> </figure>

How to win friends and influence nations

Prime Minister Balendra Shah on Wednesday broke tradition and met with 17 foreign envoys collectively, a move that was a notable departure from how his predecessors operated.&nbsp;
Shah had already set himself apart by talking less, listening more, and delegating to trusted friends. But by meeting all ambassadors at one go in the presence of the Foreign Ministry, he signalled a paradigm shift in how he wants Nepal to be seen: no longer just balancing India and China, but as a country confident about its <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/guest-editorial/tripolar-contestation-over-nepal">strategic importance and place in the world</a>.
In just two weeks, the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/rsp-dos-and-don-ts">RSP has sprung into action </a>on multiple fronts to implement its ambitious 100-point, 100-days action plan. It has taken short-term measures to mitigate the impact of the Gulf war, as well as medium- and long- term measures to streamline the bureaucracy. A few high-profile figures have been made examples of to drive the message home.
Earlier this week, the government recalled six politically appointed ambassadors, the most notable being long-serving Shankar Sharma from New Delhi. The Kathmandu District Court issued arrest warrants against former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and his former foreign minister wife Arzu Rana on charges of money laundering and corruption.
Each ministry has been trying to clean up the accumulated rot from the past three decades: regulatory overhaul of microfinance, education, health and service delivery.&nbsp;
These actions widely disseminated campaign-style on YouTube and TikTok have made most Nepalis hopeful that the party they installed in power means business.
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BACKLASH
But such attempts to overhaul a long-entrenched political culture were bound to face backlash. In their impatience and enthusiasm to get things done, some of Prime Minister Shah’s ministers have over-reached.
It was common knowledge that government-paid advertising in the mainstream press was kickback-driven, but the PMO’s directive that official notices be published or broadcast only on state-run media has been denounced — especially as the media industry struggles to stay afloat.
More serious are some recent appointments by ministers of relatives and figures closely associated with the RSP to key positions. This has rankled because this party built its political plank on ending nepotism and graft.&nbsp;
News that Home Minister Sudan Gurung allegedly had not paid rent on leased land, which illegally encroached on the lake in Pokhara did not help. &nbsp;
Prime Minister Shah himself has come under scrutiny for appointing a kitchen cabinet full of male buddies from his time as Kathmandu mayor. To douse criticism he brought in as adviser investigative journalist Deepa Dahal, who has exposed corruption in high places of the previous coalitions.&nbsp;
Shah’s appointment of another political adviser Asim Shah to the head Constitution Amendment Task Force, is also seen as problematic. He is a filmmaker and former lawmaker, but does not have a background in constitutional law.&nbsp;
Even more controversial is the Cabinet’s decision to appoint RSP Chair Rabi Lamichhane’s legal counsel, Narayan Kandel, as Attorney General. Kandel used to be a UK permanent resident, and does not have as much experience practicing law in Nepal.&nbsp;
Kandel’s appointment drew flak and raised eyebrows, and with the pending legal cases against Lamichhane this appointment represents a flagrant conflict of interest.
Health Minister Nisha Mehta was also accused of favouritism after reappointing Junu Shrestha, wife of Labour Minister Dipak Kumar Shah, as member of the Health Insurance Board which had earlier suspended her. The Labour Minister’s rambling rant at the Board’s meeting on Tuesday has not helped the RSP’s image.&nbsp;
(UPDATE: On Thursday, Prime Minister Shah sacked the Labour Minister after the RSP found him in breach of the party's code of conduct and discipline. He served 14 days in the Cabinet, one of the shortest tenures for a minister in Nepal )
It is hard to know what <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/ball-in-balen-s-court">Balendra Shah is thinking</a>, and how Rabi Lamichhane is going to justify some of these moves. After all, making politics, governance, and bureaucracy a meritocracy has been the core tenet of the RSP, and it risks alienating its mainly youth base if these missteps persist.
But at least for now, most RSP supporters seem to be giving the party the benefit of doubt.

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How to win friends and influence nations

Nepal’s new government springs into action