Going to Kyrgyzstan

I think you would have to make arrangements beforehand if you don't fancy ending up in a Pakistan military camp... It's been done before: http://www.mockandoneil.com/stg04r1.htm

Looks good. I can't find anything super small scale through online searches.

The wikitravel page for K is a good read too!

Yes, one thing tourism lacking is a map! You will have a hard time with following old maps. Not sure if you are using any good tour companies, but in Karakol there are a lot of them. They use locals to provide their mental map ;) the locals of course don't use any GPS...they have been there forever. People in kyrgyzstan don't really relocate, so they know the area the best.

I really enjoyed travelling around Kyrgyzstan for a few weeks, unfortunately, not with bikes. I was pretty blown away by it all, but towards the end of the trip we decided to visit Osh on a whim, and it was great. The market has to be seen to be believed. If I could go again, I would definitely ride from Osh to Naryn, the road looks pretty damn cool.

I really wanted to go to Osh and I was working on a route from Bishkek ending up in Osh. But in the end we decided it made more sense ending up at the same place. Now we've made reservations for a hotel in Bishkek for the first and last night. So we're leaving our bike bags and other stuff there during the trip.

Our route is based on the route taken by these guys: http://www.bikepacking.com/routes/tian-shan-traverse-kyrgyzstan/ It's funny because I had been working on a route for a long time before their trip came online and it turned out we had almost the same ideas on where to go. At first I was I bit pissed, here I was thinking I was planning on something special and then these guys come along and invite everyone to come. It settled though, I mean what does it really matter? I ended up using a lot of their ideas and some of mine.

This is our route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/20964157

Cannot wait to go!

510-700km looks a hell of a drag! Trip sounds amazing, look forward to reading about it.

That first day looks fun!!!

Yeah the start will be crazy. I reckon the first climb will prob take us two days, or at least 1,5 sleeping on the way up and on the way down.

Sleeping bag ordered today. Decided on a down one from Cumulus that should be alright down to about 0 degrees.

Trying to decide which tyres to take. The Vagabond will swallow about 2,35" in the back and there's a bit more room up front. I've been running 2,1" Thunder burts before and I like em. Thinking about taking 2,25" Thunder burts in the back and something else, something wider, up front. I know next to nothing on mtb tyres, there's just sooo many options. Any suggestions? Thinking 2,4".

So this is how I plan on getting up those mountains. I figured if 30-40 is not enough, I might as well walk.

ooft, that's meaty

as for tires I have heard great things about these in dry conditions https://www.backcountry.com/vittoria-mezcal-g-plus-tnt-tire-29in

Subbed!

A colleague of mine did a trip in kyrgizistan on a bike i gave to him. I had 35mm cyclocross speed mounted, which seemed to be fine. Roads were not that bad, even though i don't know the exact route he went..

Well most guys I've seen on similar routes to this one have been on fatbikes or 29+ so I'm gonna squeeze in as much rubber as I can. I might even be able to go 2,6" on the front. Gonna take some measurements this week.

Thanks, I'll look into those!

Sleeping bag showed up today. It's a bit bigger than expected I have to say but I'm gonna try a compression bag see if it helps. It's got a nice feel to it though! I've never had a down bag before. Anyway, this is my sleeping setup:

Exped Synmat, Gossamer gear the one and the Cumulus Liteline 300.

Great thread...

Moved to Middle East and looking to go walking in Tajikistan next month, and some ridiculous snowboarding in Kyrgyzstan in the winter.

Never really considered Stans as holiday destinations before but they really look like they have some incredible scenery and interesting history.

Good luck, I will be following your adventure on here!

others I might consider:

Conti X-King Protection
Schwalbe Smart Sam Double Defense
Schwalbe Marathon Plus MTB
Any DH tire, as it'll probably be super tough!

In March it was a little tough on 30c tyres for some friends of mine who did some kirgi

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Nice! I would love to go on a more road based journey in this part of the world some time. Packing really light, no tent, no kitchen, just fast and fun riding.

I have those poles, I use a cut down rebar end cap on top to give a bigger surface area to support the tarp. Maybe not a problem for you, but still handy.

Haven't used in high wind yet, but worked well otherwise.

Thanks! I'll keep that in mind. So far I havent even slept in the tent, just set it up once. Gonna have to get a few nights out in it before we leave.

Not gonna start counting grams but kilos might be alright? I just realised my new tent, sleeping bag and mat weighs about as much as my old tent at 1,7 kg. The old total was 4,4 kg...

This looks great. Looking forward to updates.

New drivetrain fitted. Feels a bit weird to spin out at about 30 km/h but it will no doubt be of help later on. Sunrace 10spd 11-40 cassette feels good, shifting is just as good as my old Sram one. New chainring clears the chainstays by about 0,01 mm. Had to take the file out to make a couple of the wide tooths clear. Guess this is because I'm using a road crankset? The chainring being oval didnt help either. I also finally got around to mounting the Igaro charger to the handlebars.

Things are starting to come together. Ordered the cheapest soft bike bag from CRC today. Should be alright. I'm still undecided on whether to bring the pizza rack +porteur bag combo. Maybe I could do without the rack and just use some handlebar mounted bag. It would be lighter obv but I don't know if I'd be able to fit everything.