Going to Kyrgyzstan

These pictures are so great. Also really enjoy the present tense style of the story telling, if that makes sense.

Lol. No nothing like that luckily. A few nasty village dogs was the closest thing...

Thank you! Every evening before going to sleep I wrote a short summary of the day on my phone. I like that moment. Lying in the warmth of the sleeping bag, thinking back. I also find that it's really easy to forget stuff if I don't do it. The texts I post here are just quick translations of these notes.

That's the plan, though it's the absolute arse end of the season, and too early for ski season. No concrete plans, will just get there and see what happens...

You'll have a great time! We spent our last day in the country walking in Ala-Archa. Seemed like a cool place and it's just a short taxi ride outside of the city center.

You took only 5-6 days for riding the 760km route in though conditions?!! Or did you change the planned route on page 2?

Anyway, this is still an amazing trip!!! This country is on my list!

These stories and pictures are just nuts

Ha, no that would be crazy. This is only half way. We did about 300km in 5 days. It was a vacation after all :) One of my friends had to go back home after a week so we planned to be in Naryn by then so he could get a taxi back to Bishkek. Then two of us continued on after one day of rest in Naryn.

This is absolutely fantastic to read through, from your planning and kit list before the trip to the photos and accounts from the trip itself.

Makes me want to do some more touring.

Simple question - how did you find flying with your bikes? Did you take any extra precautions or pack them in a certain way?

top tip - always take the rear mech / mech hanger of the frame

I just chucked the bike into a cheap CRC bike bag. No special precautions really. Just took the rear mech off and put a couple of bits of wood in the dropouts. The bike's steel so I wasnt too worried about it being damaged. I was worried about it not showing up though, getting stuck in Moscow or worse. But it all worked out!

A* Adventure.

Day 7. Our rest day in Naryn is spent getting supplies and eating stuff while enjoying the surprisingly good wifi. We buy about 5 days of food. We leave our 'hotel' one man short. John is in a taxi, on his way back to Bishkek. The road out of Naryn is pretty uninspiring but as the day goes by the traffic ease up and we approach the Eki-Naryn valley. This place is beautiful, with miniature like perfect pine trees and a wild light blue river. Down below we see a gang river rafting themselves the other way. I pedal up the slopes with the Zlatan biography in my headphones. It makes this place feel even more surreal. We stop early. I climb up the hill by our tents and as expected the view is pretty special. The sun is on it's way down, it's still warm and I see our tents far down below. I just sit there for a while.

Googles flghts to Bishkek

Ha! Do it!

Just a few shots of our bikes. Sadly I forgot to photograph Johns hybrid before he left.

There's meant to be a race there next august (silk road race) so I intend on doing that.

wow, love your mate's giant gap between the two rings, and that watch looks super useful

Nice! Is there any info on it online? Might be tempted...

£350 return for me. And everything is fucking cheap. Just got to Karakol (6hr trip, about £4) and had dinner in the best restaurant in town (three courses, two beers, £9) surrounded by glorious snow-capped peaks. Can't wait to get out amongst them...

Edit: £7 when the bill came, and it was a pretty swish place with arts on the walls and even an extensive veggie menu. Amazing.

On my list now

https://m.facebook.com/silkroadmountainrace/?locale2=en_GB

Cheap! Enjoy

Yeah the chainset is from Spa, it's pretty nice. Think it's a 40/24 or something like that, he was still moaning about not having a low enough gear but we all were :)

Thanks!