The morning didn't start terribly well. It turned out to be much more difficult to hitchhike out of Bishkek than I'd imagined. I'm sure that the long straight road that the traffic wizzed down at high speed was a contributing factor.
Even before getting my first lift a bit on my bike broke. It was a mounting bracket for my not so fabulous new rack. When I surveyed the broken piece it was pretty clear that this was bound to happen sooner or later. I was able replace it with something that I hope will last longer. I started formulating plans if further failures occurred on the rack, which in hindsight may not have been a good idea.
It wasn't until 11am that I got my first lift & soon after being dropped off I got my second. I'd hoped to hitchhike all the way to Kochkor & thereby get back the lost time for the return to Bishkek. However traffic was all going along Lake Issyk-kul & very little my way. Normally I would have loved this but today I needed cars to score a lift. After a short while I gave up on hitchhiking & cycled along what was a pretty nice road.
Soon after the road left the lake the countryside dried out & became quite sandy with low sparse grass covering the flatter land. On each side of the road rose dry hills with the sharp edges that come from a lack of vegetarian. It was reminiscent of the mountains in the desert around Yazd in Iran. I would have appreciated it more had it not been for wicked wind that was only a fraction from being from where I was going. Happily the road shifted direction & dropped into a narrow valley, I now had a tailwind which propelled me to Kochkor.
I'd decided that it would have to be a long day in order to try & catch up. That task made even more difficult when I got a message from Nick that the meeting place would now be Naryn, 110km up the road. To my delight I discovered frozen chicken pieces in a small grocery store in Kochkor. Such finds are rare & I grabbed my chance. I couldn't find a spot any better than 5m back from the road & I used almost all that was left of the day unsuccessfully looking for something better. I only just pitched my tent before night fall. While I was setting things up a local farmer watched & talked to me in Russian. He seemed to have difficulty comprehending that someone wouldn't speak it & continued to talk even though I told him several times that I didn't understand. I eventually ignored him & waited for him to get bored & leave, which eventually he did. Not being too sure of the provenance of the chicken I cooked it for a long time & that was after thawing it. I didn't eat until 10pm but it was worth it.
I cycled 106 km in 6 hours & 13 minutes
Total so far 9579 km in 140 days
GPS Coordinates of end point - N 42°10.406, E 75°40.427
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