Welcome to Ashgabat, home of huge highways, marble clad buildings adorned in gold and the most water fountains I have ever seen - not to mention the paved footpath of health that was built for the politicians to walk on to improve both their fitness and well-being! Don't mention the helicopter pick up at the top though! Today was a blissfully flat ride along blissfully smooth pavement with blissfully hot temperatures and a blissfully pleasant and fun lunch stop and finished off with a blissfully fast ride into town. Due to the lack of traffic, it was deemed safe enough NOT to do a convoy. Most riders were off at the crack of dawn and were pedalling madly down the highway as the sun rose. The incentive was to avoid the heat and get to town early. As tomorrow is a rest day they wanted to get any chores done today! The whole riding group plus the trucks were in by 2.30pm! Once again, our Turkmenistan support crew were in full force on the road. The riders were churning up the pavement and not wasting much time except at the cold drink stops. Now that we are here in Ashgabat, bikes are getting cleaned, internet cafes are getting swamped (dial up is a time killer in this town!), our sick riders are resting up and most are trying to muster up some energy to attend the 'boat party' tonight. We also bid a sad farwell to two of our sectionals Bill and Paul, who leave us here. Both have been loads of fun and, as always, we are sad to see them go and we will miss the flying flanelette shirt of Paul D!
It was an early start for many of the riders today.
There were some indications at the rider meeting that the distance was going to be about 20 kms longer than previously planned (in order to shorten the ride into Ashgabat tomrorow) so many riders had packed up and were raring to go when the Af Routes boys put brekky out around 5:45 this morning. The distance combined with the heat spurred the riders on, so at first light there was a mass exodus out of camp.
What lay ahead... 162 km of bumpy, flat road and the wind gods deciding not to be so friendly. There was an annoying head wind for most of the day. With lunch at 90 kms many of the riders were on the second half of the day by midday but unfortunately the heat of the day had struck by then, so most made use of the holes in the aquaducts along the way (a great bath and cool down opportunity) A great little truck stop at 145 kms that sold cold beer and drinks and had enough shade to make the heat bearable took the edge off as the mercury soared to about 50 degrees.
However, around 6 pm tonight, just as the last riders appeared at the desert camp, so did a water tanker bringing cold water for the riders to have a 'shower' and wash themselves.
About 5 minutes later, one of our local Turkmen support vans arrived with cold water, cold beer and cold sodas.
So the worst of the day is over... with 162 km under their belts, cold showers and cold drinks in the middle of the Turkmen desert... it's heaven all over again for the Silk Route riders.
Yes, it is official! Our route in Turkmenistan is flat, flat, flat! And then a wee bit more flat. And, of course, it is also hot, very hot . At least the road was smooth! The riders hated to leave their 4-star hotel in Nebitdag but there was some cloud cover in the morning, offering them some protection fom the brutal Turkmen sun! In the afternoon, joy of joys, a tailwind made for effortless riding. The 2 coke stops 30kms from camp also made the temperature feel less extreme. Then some nice riders rode into town and brought back some 'cold' (the definition of which is getting more and more flexible) beers, water and sodas. You should have seen the other cyclists' eyes when they pulled into camp. The sun is setting on another warm day in Turkmenistan and giving the riders a brief reprieve from the day's heat. They are now feasting on Miles's specially prepared water buffalo curry and, other than some ice cold beers, what more could these sweaty, salty, dirty bikers need?
Hot, hot and maybe just a little bit hotter! Add in a headwind here or there and...wow! The hotel here is cool, clean and elegantly comfortable. The smiles of many of the riders say it all. The ride today was pretty flat the whole way although there was a 5km climb this morning. giving the riders' well-rested legs a wee wake up call. Then, really, all the riders had to do was follow the road signs to Ashgabat, dodge a bump here or there, navigate some construction on the road and avoid not becoming a melted mess on the pavement before making it to the end of the ride. A few opted to finish their ride at lunch but most pushed on through and finished at the Hotel Nebici with a cold coke or beer. The rugged sandstone mountains of the Kopte Ranges rise up on one side of us and although we did have the Caspian Sea on one side this morning, we now have a flat, scrubby landscape, dotted with a few small villages. Today, the main focus for the cyclists was trying to get enough water to drink whilst dodging working dogs and camels! Tomorrow is another riding day and guess what, it is ‘desert camp’ time! We’ll see who rides in early to get some shade behind one of the few trees that may be out there?! Turkmenistan promises to be a furnace, dotted with a beautiful rugged landscape and water has become the ‘gold currency’ in our biking world!
Stars in the sky
Riding on high
Life is short
And then you die
It doesn’t matter
What you drive
It only matters
What’s deep inside
For many miles
We yet do ride
Searching for the answer
Duncan keeps our spirits high
Shanny answers every why?
The miles roll on between our tyres
It is too far too soon
To look for bicycle buyers
Miles starts our day with bread and honey
Thor meets us halfway with a smile so sunny
Henry looks stoic and worries about money
Istanbul seems so long ago
Beijing seems so far away
Beautiful valleys, steep climbs
Campsites are divine
We search inside
For answers to
When will our next rest day hopefully arrive
Istanbul, Amasya, Yusefeli, Tblisi
It doesn’t matter where you have been
It matters only
Where you are going
Riders smile
For deep inside
They know the riches
They do find
- Barb & Ken Cross
While we wait for an update and pics from Turkmenbashi, check out the new
video clips just in.
Well, well, well……thankfully the ferry crossing the Caspian was smooth, fast, comfortable, cool, picturesque and……on time! If I told you we had arrived in port in Turkmanbashi around 8am this morning and then didn’t leave until 2pm…..would you believe me? Wecome to the land of desert sun and blazing heat……Turkmenistan! We were spoilt rotten on our ferry crossing. Ilgas, our delightful cook, not only made us dinner but breakfast as well. While the immigration process on board the boat was quick, when we hit the mainland and went through the actual process, something slowed down as the temperature rose. Everyone (support trucks included) made it through unscathed and here we are on rest day number 3 in a town created by the demand for oil, Turkmenbasshi - population of around 60, 000. It is surrounded by sandstone cliffs and, of course, the beautiful Caspian Sea (yes, it is polluted but if you saw it at sunrise, wow!). Our delightfully understated and simple accommodation for tonight is the ‘Hotel Hazar’. There really is a distinctly Russian feel to some parts of the city so far. However, the rooms have AC, there is still a small part of the day to rest and relax, drink cokes and hit the beach as some of the riders are doing, and rightly so, for what lies ahead is the assault on the desert through to the city of Ashgabat! It promises to be a hot, but flat, four days of riding. Let's hope the desert winds play nice and stick behind us all the way! Rumour has it that in this part of the world, temperatures can soar to 50 degrees C during the month of August! We really are on the other side of the sea now and the ‘westernised’ Baku seems many miles away. The Caspian twinkles in front of us, the sandstone hills rise up around behind us, the desert awaits us and riders get a last look at their permanent bags, their internet accounts and cold cokes for a few days anyways.
The Silk Route bikers, their bikes, all the gear and the trucks are all safely stashed aboard the Merkuri 1 and are crossing the Caspian Sea - bound for Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan.
450 foot long, with 3 decks above the water, Merkuri 1 has been described by the riders as a 'cruise ship' complete with cabins, cold drinks and views to enjoy.......especially those of the oil rigs all round!
The riders are feeling rested after a day off in Baku... so with the 18 hour ferry crossing and another rest day in Turkmenbashi on Tuesday, they should all be feeling dangerously fit before riding out once again on Wednesday to explore enigmatic Turkmenistan.
For now, the riders are reading their books, listening to their music, chilling with cold beers, enjoying cool breezes, catching up on some sleep (there are some party riders in the crew) oh... and of course... eating!
Another day in bike heaven! Life on the TdA Silk Route is good!
Well we have been warning the riders since the very start that the tour (being the inaugural pioneering trip) will be prone to many unknowns and potential delays and problems.
So far things have gone very smoothly from my perspective, but we're always on guard for what might be lurking around the next corner and one of those major unknowns is the ferry crossing the Caspian Sea.
If all goes to plan we expect to depart from the Baku ferry port at 2pm tomorrow afternoon (Monday 27th August) and arrive in Turkmenistan the following morning, clear customs, and have the better part of the day to relax, repack, and re-energize for the next 4 days in the desert heat on our way to Ashgabat.
The riders have been very cooperative with all the deadlines we have laid out for them to ensure that all bikes, bags, trucks and people get on the ferry on time. This morning we were told that instead of having all day and night to pack up red boxes that the trucks will have to head to the ferry tonight to clear customs and be boarded on the ferry and sit there overnight. Meaning that all red boxes and permanent bags have to be loaded tonight. Hopefully our drivers will not need to stay there the whole night too.
So hopefully everything else will go smoothly - the ferry ride promises to be an adventure regardless and I am personally really looking forward to the expereicnce.
In the meantime - the riders have been spreading out across Baku like ants in the shopping mecca of this region. Every western brand name is available here and the restaurants and bars are very familiar to what we'd see back home in North America or Europe.
The Ministry of Tourism has been very supportive to us since we arrived in Azerbaijan and again today they provided a complimentarty city tour for the riders.
You'll hear from us again in Turkmenistan.
Another warmish day in the saddle today as we lost some elevation and continued on our merry way towards Baku, Azerbaijan and our first glimpse of the Caspian Sea.
Actually, the temperature soared in the wee hours of the afternoon as riders made their way to the Police Checkpoint on the outskirts of the city and our meeting place for the 15 – 20km convoy into the city.
What stood between the riders and the convoy meet up point was around 100km of rolling hills or ‘undulating ups and downs’……..these no longer deter these finely tuned athletes anymore……however the bunch of wild, ferocious, snarling, barking and biting dogs did……a group of naughty but big and ugly dogs had formed a small pack on the side of a hill and took great delight in terrorizing the riders as they went by (and smart too as they hung out on a steep uphill section so the riders couldn’t pedal away fast). Riders had different ways of dealing with it all……grabbing hold of passing trucks and getting whisked up the hill (we call this the ‘quite dangerous escape’), getting a handful of rocks and throwing it at them (we call this one the ‘ok, you have a fairly good chance of escape’) and barking right back at them (we call this one’ yes, you will be fine as the dog will be on its back laughing at you’ escape). All jokes aside…..we were lucky as the riders all made it to the meeting point in one piece albeit a little tired and hot.
Unfortunately, poor Phil our mechanic did not adopt any of the above methods and was bitten by one of the nasty beasts……a high risk area for Rabies meant that he was taken on ahead to get the shots whilst the rest of us hung out drinking sodas, eating yummy cookies and devouring chocolate at the checkpoint.
Once the convoy began, it was all business as it was a huge convoy group…..TDA cyclists plus the contingent of Azerbaijani cyclists who had been riding with us all week plus our van, two support trucks and police cars and let me tell you……we needed it because if you were under the impression that Georgian drivers are completely crazy then drivers in Baku win the Gold star award for their crazy driving. Nevertheless, the vehicles did a fine job of protecting everyone and by 4pm we were in at the Velo Trek Hotel sorting rooms, getting red boxes and permanent bags, hiding from the heat and having cold waters and beers.
A few riders took a spin on the cycle track next to the hotel while most were happy to have showers (40 riders all wanting to showers at once wreaked havoc on the water system but it somehow survived), put laundry in (a luxury as the hotel does your laundry here……yeeehah!) and then headed off a check out the sights of downtown, mostly westernized Baku.
Tomorrow is a rest day and if it is as hot as it was today……many riders will be hiding in internet cafes, restaurants and shopping malls to get some respite from the heat before we board the ferry for the Caspian Sea Crossing……see you in country number four…..Turkmenistan!
