I was so hopeful when I went to bed last night that all was going to be well, but frequent trips to the loo and the now familiar nausea were still with me when I woke this morning. Again I’ve…
Stunning Samarkand (rest day 1)
Things weren’t great overnight on the stomach front and I wasn’t feeling too flash when I woke up, but decided to eat breakfast anyway to try and replenish some of what’s been burnt over the last 48 hours. We average…
Struggling to Samarkand (stage 73)
Physically I was feeling like I was improving when I went to bed last night but four trips ‘out’ overnight dispelled that. Yesterday six more riders elected to skip today’s riding and take a taxi into Samarkand – a combination…
Welcome to Uzbekistan (stage 70)
Today was another of those slightly surreal days Someone: “What did you do today?” Me: “Went for a ride on my bike” Someone: “Cool, where’d you go?” Me: “Oh you know, Uzbekistan” On ‘paper’ today looked a pretty easy day,…
Dripping hot in Dushanbe (rest day)
I didn’t manage to sleep in as much as I’d have liked to as I woke up starving just before 0700 and couldn’t get back to sleep after that. The hotel breakfast was fine, but they only had instant coffee…
Downhill to Dushanbe (stage 69)
Slower start, quick downhill to tunnel, fast convoy through tunnel, 10km of awesome downhill (top speed 77.8 km/h), long climb (Grant and I dropped Will), descent to lunch, even better descent (30km in 50min), crazy traffic, car wash, into hotel by…
An unexpected hotel (stage 67)
Good road to begin, much more pavement than expected, sections of new pavement even once gravel started, construction impressive, short walk in steep dusty area, lunch, have a hotel for tonight, continue climbing on better construction road, initial descent awful,…
Rest day in Khorog (rest day)
Arrrggghhhhh…!!! Awake at 0330 because I’ve got a runny bottom again! And it turns out I’m not the only one, by the end of the day there were eight of us who were unwell. As a consequence my plans for…
MMMMMMM Murghab (rest day)
After dinner last night where the bread was super fresh the rock hard stuff we got at breakfast was a serious disappointment! The rest of breakfast wasn’t so bad, with fried eggs, a pancake with home made jam and tea.…
On top of the world (stage 60)
Today we hit the literal high point of the trip as we crossed the 4,664m Ak-Baital Pass! The day started off very cold, -3ºC in my tent when I was getting ready to ride. We could see that the sun…