More Cushion, Less Pushing! #5

 4 Aug 2022

After a fantastic descent and my first shower of the trip at the perfectly named Solviet era Hotel Desperation, I felt almost ready to tackle the next climb.

 A cycle through hot valleys, past hilltop cemetery cities, and then up, up, up. The climbs are so steep, upwards of 12% on lose gravel and rocks. Just when I was thinking this was crazy, I'm was passed by a guy driving a 2 wheel drive dinky car towing a trailer with a large cow in it. If that thing could make it, so could I. 

Mels Pass was of course gorgeous and the struggles are quickly forgotten when a good view is in front of me. With storm clouds chasing me, I zoomed downhill, crossed a river, and started the next climb. With tired legs and the storm catching up, I decided to camp for the night. As soon as I set my tent up, the rain started and lightning lit the sky around me.

The next morning I climbed an 11,000' pass and on the way down I stopped to have some tea and conversation with 2 Spaniards and an Austrian. The Austrian, Dani, was getting ready to ride the Silk Road Mountain Race, a 17 day, 1900km mountain bike race through Kyrgyzstan. Because of my light set up, people have been asking if I'm racing, I must look better than I feel! Many racers are riding through the mountains right now to try and acclimatize before the race. 

The two of us rode down to Tash Rabat, a 15th century caravanasi built into the hillside of a high mountain valley. It's much bigger on the inside than it looks. With rooms and passageways leaving of the main corridor. 

After a lunch of soup and butter, we headed back to the main road where Dani headed back up the mountain pass that she had just descended and I turned east to Naryn.

 A beautiful gentle descent on pavement along the base of a glaciated range, past beehives and small towns. I rode until my sit bones became to painful to sit on anymore and called it a day.

Next morning I had a short ride on still sore sit bones into Naryn where I found a guest house, a shower, a real restaurant, and a latte! 

On the way, I took a "back road" really just a cow trail. I met a man on horseback who asked where I was going. When I told him Naryn, he asked me if I had a map. Sometimes this trip is just navigation by general direction but so far it's all worked out! 

So far I've gone about 375 miles on mostly dirt roads and trails. The next section takes me deeper into the mountains and to my highest pass yet. Time to get my bike pushing muscles ready again!