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Kyrgyzstan

Mar
2004-09-14 15:23:35

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Okay, okay, here we go, attempt number five,

The first hour the road follows the river, going slightly up and down. Then the road start climbing and I wonder if this is the start of our 3000m pass (coming from 1650m). It is indeed, the first u-turn appears. We ascent fast but is a long way and the road is now and then quite steep (due to repairs on the road after it was washed away). What a day, spectacular views when we look at back and somehow the ‘I am good’-feeling comes up when we are almost there. A beer at the top would be a very welcome present even tea would do. One more u-turn, we breath heavily (it’s only 45C in the sun and no wind). The smell of fresh baked French fries reaches us, but all we find is a plate of dirty snow. We take a picture, touch the snow, dress up heavily since there is a cold wind up here, and start our descent over the 4wd track.

11-13/08/2003.

The next three days we take to cycle from Kazarman to Baetov. We have been told by Jan, two Swiss cyclists and the people we have stayed with this night that the northern (direct) route to Naryn is too heavy for cycling and there are bandits active at night. Better do an extra 80km extra southwards. The road is now and than awful with loads of small stones that work as a constant brake and irritation. The views are on the other hand spectacular make you take breaks just to stare at the Grand-canyon shaped mountains.

Once over the top of the 2700m pass, the road stays at altitudes of around 1800m for the next 150km. The last part is somewhat different. We are cycling in a very large valley of a couple of kilometres wide with mountains on either side, in the middle of the valley there is a big crack in the ground of approximately 200m, stretching to the horizon where the mountains meet. We don’t see anybody, no car passes us and the wind starts blowing from behind like it’s telling us to hurry ...