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Mar
2004-09-14 15:23:35

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(it’s raining anyway). Four pair of eyes are blind or someone has moved the crossing. We say goodbye to our friends who are continuing to Bishkek (over asphalt instead of gravel). Hopefully it’s sunny tomorrow.

Attempt number two, today, we are ready. If Raymond’s pedal axle wasn’t making this ‘tik’-sound. It gets worse and worse. We combine tea with a maintenance check. Raymond can’t find anything wrong, missing or not in place and we return to Jalabad, after 40km, to find more tools or even replace the pedal axle.

Exactly at the moment we are (again) checking in at the Mol-Mol hotel, a car stops and Brieke and Jan start talking in Dutch to Raymond. They saw the very Dutch Agu-panniers.

And invite us to stay at their house. We explain why we are in the city for the second time. But what is happening here!?! Both Brieke and Jan are cyclists as well! We try to calculate the scientific chance of meeting other Dutch people and at the perfect timing, AND who like cycling AND have the right tools to help us out, AND detailed maps of our route. We come with a change of 1 in a very large number. The detailed maps (1:200.000) come in very useful, imagine we are cycling at a map scaled as if it were Europe in one map (1:1.750.000).

06/08/2003, we will never know about the ‘tik’-sound but the fact is that it is gone after Raymond and Jan have pulled and pushed the pedal axle several times. Maybe it is in place now? I try to make a usefull day by picking apples and making juice.

Attempt number three, we are even more ready for the mountains. Jan has decided only yesterday that he wants to join us until lake Son-Kol, he will turn west to Bishkek and home. The two years he’s been living in Jalabad he has always wanted to cycle this piece, but never found the company wanting the same. The first 40km are known, after this the asphalt changes to gravel and we start ascending. The ...