Out of Almaty we were in a convoy to ensure that we got out safely – the early hour (though something of a sleep in for us) also helped to ensure that there was relatively little traffic on the road as we headed out.
Rider notes out of Almaty
Part of the issue with not much traffic – particularly heading our way – was that overtaking vehicles were prone to be on ‘our’ side of the road, sometimes three wide (!!!!!) and heading straight for us.
Once we left Talgar things improved significantly and we mostly had the road to ourselves – we found out why some time later when we passed a section of the road which had been washed out, and technically the road was closed – thankfully our vans managed to sneak around them so that lunch was waiting for us.
From Talgar we were also following the canal which brings water in to Almaty – it’s an impressive engineering feat of nearly 200km in length. In places there are some pretty steep drops:
Tonight we’re camped near a river – though it’s been a bit challenging to find somewhere flat to put our tents as anything lower down near the river is pretty swampy- and near a town so after dinner Michael and I cycled into town for pudding ice cream.
Riding data
| Total distance: | 134.87 km | Total Time: | 06:22:17 |
| Max elevation: | 995 m | Min elevation: | 727 m |
| Total climbing: | 1078 m | Total descent: | -1095 m |
| Average speed: | 21.17 km/h | Maximum speed: | 54.72 km/h |
View from my tent
Sunset view of the hills from my tent
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