I enjoyed the campsite. I was almost hidden from the road and the trucks continued all night, but I slept well and even my watch agreed.
The morning was sunny and a little cool, so I didn’t hurry. I had muesli and real coffee in the sunshine beside the dried up river bed, did some work on the blog then got going.
It was to be another day of more than 1000m vertical. That’s 3 in a row, and I could feel the fatigue after 10kms. It was uphill from the start but the highlight was the switchbacks over the last 7kms to somehow make it up the side of the mountain.
The kids were out in force today. There were lots of high fives early on. Usually if there are one or two, they’re genuinely happy to say hello. If there are more, then one or two normally are up to no good. That’s what happened as I passed a yurt camp before the switchbacks.
About 6 kids descended on me and as I prepared to do some high fives, one grabbed me by the arm and another tried to grab the small bag on the back (does that make it a grab bag ?) and the rest just wanted to say hi. It was a bit tense for a few seconds. I shouted at them and they took a step back and left me alone.
Further up the road, some kids ran out to say hi which is fine, but the road is choc full of trucks and I waved one kid back as he was about to step out into the path of one.
In one sense, I was relieved to have cleared the yurt camps and their big families but that left me in a narrow valley ascending sharply towards the switchbacks.
I ate some lunch and felt ok when I got there. Normally, switchbacks are a little easier than roads that simply climb through a valley. Not these ones. I stopped to see if I could spot where the road went, and felt sick at the result. It was so far up. Funny then, that after another few kilometres, my legs had had enough.
I walked a fair bit after that. Sometimes it was from fatigue, but often it was the terrible road and the hordes of trucks, all racing to get in front of each other.
This pass (Taldyk Pass) must have a lot of landslides as there are bulldozers strategically positioned along the way. When a landslide is repaired, the road gets traumatised by the bulldozers and rocks. So it’s really cut up and bumpy. Sometimes they’ll repair it with rough uneven concrete. It’s debatable whether it’s an improvement on the landslide. As well, there’s a fine layer of dirt and dust left all across the road. On days like today, each truck made a huge cloud of dust and I often pulled off the road and covered my face. It was too much and hard to breathe so progress was slow.
I got to the top, took the necessary photos and rugged up for the short descent. There was another pass to navigate, this one at 3450m after the initial one at 3600m.
I had nothing left for this one, but I rode most of the way before walking the last kilometre and a half.
At the top was a view of Sary-Tash and a beautiful downhill. It was good to start with but the road had some magnificent potholes.
As I neared Sary Tash an amazing view of the snow covered peaks to the south opened up. I thought that’s where I’m heading. I was so tired that I also thought – how the hell am I going to do it. I knew it was going to be hard but they looked huge.
After the last three days, I was definitely tired. It’s a combination of altitude, being on the road since Feb 4, carrying so much food on the bike and age. At this age, I definitely fatigue quicker and recover slower.
I found a nice homestay after a while, and the guy who runs it happened to mention that he has a 4wd and could drop me to the Tajik border at the top of Kyzlart-Art Pass. That would mean that my ride day would only include one 4250m pass not two, and not have any rough gravel switchbacks to navigate. That immediately made it more achievable and I’ll arrange that for the day after tomorrow. I’m having a rest day here tomorrow. (I’ve just extended it to two rest days because I’m still tired and can use some extra acclimatisation).
A couple of weeks ago, I’d completely talked myself out of the Pamirs because of fatigue and the difficulty of many of the passes at the start, but this is a good way forward. Now I’ve just got to make sure I can deal with the elevation gain, and I’ll do that with rest days here and in Karakul as well as some short days leading up to the famous Ak Baital Pass
I had a great meal at the homestay and retired feeling satisfied with what I’ve accomplished so far and happy that I have an achievable way forward.