Lots of rain overnight, so the roadwork in town will be fun.
Enjoyed the breakfast but felt quite lethargic. I’m probably just overthinking this. From Osh to Sary Tash are 3 hard days of riding – but it’s just an introduction. From Sary-Tash, there are a few 4000m+ passes to negotiate before any significant descent.
So I’m taking it slowly and making sure of altitude acclimatisation along the way. That means a rest days in Sary-Tash and Karakul and Diamox twice a day from now on. I’m hoping my asthma doesn’t flare up again too.
The ride was similar to yesterday’s. Both had 64km of almost continuous climbing. Today’s had some amazing mountains to look at, and lots of kids wanting high-fives along the way. They were great. A lot wanted me to stop, but if I stopped and spoke to everyone, I’d never get anywhere.
One kid saw me coming, and ran over the road, took a run up and an almighty back swing for a high five. I’ve made that mistake before. I had a sore elbow for a day back in Vietnam from a similar situation. So this time, I lifted my arm at the last second and saved myself and injury. The kid was on a mission.
Another kid was so excited, he high fived me and grabbed my finger to try and stop me. They were all so happy to see other people. If they didn’t high five, they waved and called out hello, what’s your name and where are you from. All good English practice.
I met Sven from Belgium (I thought the name Sven wasn’t licenced for use outside Sweden) and had a chat. He had ridden the M41 and mainly stayed at homestays and told me food wasn’t an issue. I later found out that he was very quick. He’d ridden through Tajikistan in two weeks !
The truck traffic was very light until after lunch when things got ridiculous at times. I found myself having to put up with a lot of reckless driving. There’s nothing a lone cyclist can do about that except watch the mirror and get off the road in split second if necessary. It’s all a bit draining though. The good news was that I had a light tailwind.
It was hot until mid afternoon. I stopped in a bus stop for a rest and something to eat and four cyclists came the other way. So we talked about riding in the Pamirs for ten minutes and the two french, one Italian and one english headed off. So did I, but immediately, I met two Germans also going the other way. They had done a loop of the Wakhan and the Barteng Valley and recommended the Barteng but warned that it was remote and quite difficult. Both routes are beautiful, they said.
As the afternoon progressed, storm clouds rolled in and went to the west (I was heading south). I took a few breaks and watched them go past ahead of me, then during one break, I noticed rain clouds coming up the valley I was in, so I got going. The clouds followed me and dumped some light drizzle until the junction with another valley that meant I could outrun them.
I’d picked out a camp spot on iOverlander that was near a decent roadside restaurant. (I’d hardly seen any all day). As I got to the restaurant, it started raining. That was a sign. I don’t want to cook in the rain, so I went in for an early dinner of Manti – beef and potato dumplings and tea. Very nice.
The rain duly stopped, so I filtered some water at the tap nearby and went in search of the camp spot. About 1km up the road, I turned off and stopped beside a dry stream and behind some trees. Not bad.
The drizzle returned as I was putting my gear in the tent, so I parked This Moment under a tree and had an early night