Wind, rain, drafting trucks, sun, more rain, lunch, downhill, sunshine, ice cream, beer, hotel that we’re camping beside, not very friendly friendship bridge (it’s closed most days), dinner, wine (really), off to bed. Riding data
A tough day in the Tajikistan mountains (stage 62)
Despite the relatively short distance today always had the potential to be a tough day with two passes in excess of 4,000m, the altitude we were starting from and some 30km of gravel in the middle. Add to that the…
Telegraph Road (stage 61)
A long time ago came a man on a track Walking thirty miles with a sack on his back And he put down his load where he thought it was the best He made a home in the wilderness He…
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…
Movin’ on up (stage 59)
It was another chilly night – 4ºC in my tent when I woke up just after 0600 this morning – and check that out – woke up just after 0600, such a civilised hour for waking up 🙂 As I…
Welcome to Tajikistan (stage 58)
After escaping rain all day yesterday it came in the night which is fine by me – other than the fact that it means packing a wet tent, but that’s preferable to trying to ride or set up camp in…
Acclimatisation day (stage 57)
Getting somewhere shady for my tent last night proved to be unnecessary – the clouds rolled in before the sun set and once the sun was gone it got really pretty cold. The forecast was also for rain overnight, so…
Making progress
We had a rest day two days ago in Khorog but unfortunately the WiFi at the hotel was very slow on the afternoon we got in, and then died completely on the actual rest day so I was only able…
Into higher altitudes (stage 56)
Ah sleep…! What it is to be able to sleep without needing to run to the loo all the time. As unpleasant as yesterday was it would have been a whole lot worse if it had been last night that…
Spoke too soon (stage 55)
I was chatting with Adam yesterday afternoon and saying that I’d managed to escape the upset stomachs which had caused a number of other people issues. Unfortunately that was my undoing, and a night of constant trips to the loo…