August 10th
83km (1,743m vertical)
Today was originally supposed to be 135km to finish at the Georgian border. We would have crossed in tomorrow. Instead, we veered South to the city of Kars, where we can find transportation to Ankara and then a flight to Baku. The upside is that we only rode 83km and we're in a hotel tonight instead of another bush camp.
Slept through the night and ate a full breakfast this morning, so perhaps I'm on the mend. Joan (the doctor) gave me some Immodium to take at night and while riding, which made things more comfortable. My stomach is still doing somersaults, but I felt some of my energy coming back on today's ride.
Every day in Turkey seems to have had a major challenge, and today's was a serious headwind. We spent the first 45km climbing into the headwind, which is a hell of a way to start a day. Poor Nic was exhausted and ended up walking up the steepest hills. At 45km, the road went sharply down and we sailed for the next 15km to lunch and then on to the hotel.
A few things I should have mentioned in my entries for the past few days, but forgot to as I focused on my own issues:
On Thursday, Clive had a fall on his bike too...so I wasn't the only one. He's ok but spent yesterday in the truck to make sure that his shoulders were ok.
On Thursday, Paul received the lame duck for going out drinking and forgetting to set up his tent. He ended up banging on Max's hotel room door at 3am, and sleeping on an extra bed there.
On Saturday, Louise rode the truck after breaking her seatpost clamp. She was able to borrow a replacement from Mike in camp. James also rode in the truck, which he has done a few times now from general fatigue.
Another stone villiage (this one was abandoned...we should have camped here!):
Riding upstream usually means riding up hill too:
Pause for cattle crossing:
A lake at the top of the climb:
1 comment:
Hi Dan, thanks for the excellent narrative and pictures of the ride, I can imagine it. Hope you are well on the mend and recovering? Sadly, you wont traverse Georgia, but it seems a safer decision. What is happening there is not nice and we wre worried you might get too close to too much adventure. Keep up the blog and the photos and hang in there. You guys and gals can do it! Say hi from me to Fred, Stewart, Mike, Al and the Aussie (awesome?)threesome! Cheers Jos
PS Look after the Duck!
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