Onwards to Arabel! #6

 9 Aug 2022

After a night in Naryn where I had a fantastic meal, a magically decorated room, and even better, real coffee! I was ready to grind my way into the mountains once more. With dark clouds coming up behind me, I decided to stop at a yurt camp for tea. 

Tea of course involves cup after cup of tea, but always you are strongly encouraged to eat bread, salad, yogurt, potatoes, gristly meat, melon, hold wiggly babies, and stay the night. With the weather clearing up I managed to extract myself and continue on my way.

With the biking relatively easy, I decided to make a detour and head up the turn off towards Tosor Pass. 6 miles up the road are the Jily-Su hot springs. After being invited in for tea, an hour and a half later I was was able to use the springs. In a little hut, the water is hotter than bearable, so instead of the nice soothing soak I was hoping for, I poured dipper after dipper full of scalding hot water over my body and emerged bright red and much better smelling.

I camped next to the springs and in the morning hiked up 3 miles to Teshuk Lake. Surrounded by high snowy peaks, it was just me and some horses to enjoy the views. Back to my camp, I packed up and cycled farther up the valley until my legs said stop.

Sometimes travel is amazing views, kind hearted locals, and experiences that make your heart sing. Other times it's being woken up in the middle of the night by wind slamming into your tent, rain driving itself through the rain fly to soak your things, finding out you've started your period two weeks early, and having diarrhea all at once. Fun night.

The morning light was gorgeous, so even with a rough night I found it hard to be grumpy. I vowed to just take it slow as I set of with gurgly stomach and a 12,600' pass to climb. Fortunately the Burkhan Valley is a pleasant gradual climb. There are many creek crossings, but most you can ride right through. At the deepest one, only about one high, a shepherd came over on his horse and made sure I made it across safely before heading off to his sheep.

Soon I found myself at the bottom of the pass. 11 switchbacks later I reached the top and was rewarded with views so spectacular it seemed like cheating to be able get there via bicycle. The Arabel plateau is massive, full of little alpine lakes, and all above 12,500'. I was called over to join a shepherd for some sweet tea and cucumbers. He needed a knife to cut the cucumbers so I pulled mine out. He was so tickled with it that I gave it to him and then he of course insisted I stay at his yurt. Saying my goodbyes I headed north to the edge of the plateau.

It does feel like you are tipping off the edge of the earth when the road starts to drop. Unfortunately my rear brake had completely stopped working (this had already made for some exciting and terrifying times) and my front brake barely functioning. Only 30 miles down to lake Issy-Kul, I figured I could walk my bike down 7'000' of switchbacks.

I made it 3500' down when a semi truck driver from the mine stopped to pick me up. He threw my bike in the back and had me wear his safety orange coat, white hard hat, and sunglasses to drive through all the check points. Once at the lake, he unloaded my bike and I pedaled the nice flat road into Tamga to find a guest house for the night. Lucky for me I found a place with an amazing garden and fantastic meals.