Murgab market
Murgab market first appeared bleak and deserted. Then the shops, built from refurbished shipping containers, opened. Out spilled bright colored… clothes, Chinese plastic, and fruits from Osh, Kyrgyzstan.
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Karakul town
Where is everybody? An eerie silence pervaded the place as we wandered Karakul’s dusty streets. The town used to be… an important military base. Nowadays the local youth have left to find work in Osh, Kyrgyzstan.
Descent
The Pamir plateau in Tajikistan is so enormous that even when we saw the town of Karakul in the distance… it took us the whole day to reach it.
Pamir Landscape
Vast, enormous, immense, are just some of the adjectives used to describe the scenery. To truly appreciate it, you have… to pedal it yourself.
Pamir highway – traffic
Traffic is almost non existent on the Pamir highway. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that there aren’t any vehicles there
Bus station
We were mobbed at the bus station in Bukkittingi, Indonesia. Everybody wanted to help us buy tickets to Medan. Yet nobody knew when… where or even if a bus would be leaving in that direction.
Harangaol market
Every Friday villagers from around the lake sail to Haranggaol for the weekly market. After a day of shopping, they… return with food, beer, and the latest news. As for us, we were able to catch a lift to Samosir Island.
Chess in Sumatra
The ‘Kasparov’ chess computer was to be ‘put to the test’. Chess masters were summoned to the local café for… the match. The final result; ‘Kasparov’ was defeated in just under 2 minutes.
Cycling – Sumatra
The scenery alongside the Trans-Sumatra highway gave us a new definition of the word ‘green’. Green is overwhelming, multi-hued and… Tropical. So it’s also dreaming of a cool shower at the end of a long, hot day.
Trans America trail
Looking out over the Pacific Ocean we began to realize what we had gotten ourselves into; a 3 month bicycle… trip between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. What would we come across? How steep were the mountain passes? What about the heat in Kansas? Would everybody be able to get along? We then turned east towards Virginia as America slowly unfolded itself before us.
America – little red cyclist
The photography theme ‘Little Red Cyclist’ shows what it feels like to be a small, humble bicyclist pedaling through the enormous, overpowering landscapes of the American Southwest. Download the free Little Red Cyclist e-book full of images from around the globe.
Moki Dugway
The Colorado Plateau stretched out in every direction, flat and featureless. We wondered when it would ever end.
Then, a sign appeared: “10% grade, switchbacks, narrow gravel road.” We had arrived at Moki Dugway, where over 1,000 feet below, the paved road snaked onwards.
Dodge tow-truck
An advantage of cycling over driving is that you can’t have engine problems. So you’ll never have to call a… tow-truck.
Ophir Pass
“Ophir Pass? It’s spectacular! You guys should have no problem cycling up it,” said the tourist information lady reassuringly. Perhaps… she had been altitude training – or lying – because we suffered. We weren’t acclimatized and by midday, we were still struggling to reach the summit. She was right about the scenery though. We ended up pitching our tent near the top with a panoramic view of the San Juan Mountains.
White Rim trail
After heading down the switchbacks of Mineral Canyon, we spotted the entrance sign to Canyonlands National Park. “Entrance to another… planet is more like it,” remarked Paul as we struggled to pedal (and push!) our bicycles through the sand. Dwarfed by this landscape of immense rock, we realized why the White Rim Trail has become a classic mountain bike route.