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Hypothermia
If you cycle in Bhutan in late fall or in winter, you should be prepared for cold weather, especially on the high passes. As long as you are cycling up the effort will usually keep you warm, and even in winter a single shirt may suffice, although your hands may get cold. When you reach the pass, you better prepare for the next stretch right away. When it is cold the best procedure is to take off your wet clothes and fairly quickly put on several layers of dry clothes and a wind breaker on top. Add to it a pair of thick gloves and dry your wet hair before you put your helmet back on while you may want to tie a handkerchief around your head first. Dochula is the only pass where you can take your time for this change of clothes if you take a break in the often quite deserted "Busy Hotel".
 Don't start going down because you are hot at the top. If you wait till you start feeling cold before you change your clothes you may be very cold when you get back on your bike and if there is another hour of downhill you will not get warm for a long time. If you forget to take your dry clothes and wind breaker, expect a cold descent. Don't expect supporters with old newspapers on the top.
If you start shivering and especially if you start shivering uncontrollably, get off your bike and start running up or downhill until you are warm again, or find a forest fire to warm up, or stop a passing vehicle and ask for a cup of hot coffee. Don't continue on a still long descent in cold weather if you are shivering uncontrollably. The next stage is decreased coordination, confused thinking, unconsciousness and in the worst case you may stop breathing, because the temperature of the core of your body has dropped to dangerously low levels. The Bhutanese home remedy of drinking half a bottle of ara will only make things worse. It will transfer heat from the core of your body, where it is essential, to the extremities.
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