The Heat Is Gone for Now…

This morning I didn’t wake up until eight o’clock after a deep and refreshing sleep. When I woke up, I saw that it was indeed raining outside, just as forecasted, so I turned around and immediately fell asleep again. But when I woke up the next time, it was dry outside already. So apparently it wouldn’t rain all day after all. That made me decide to continue riding today — after all, rain is forecast every day until Sunday, so waiting wouldn’t really change much.

At 10:45 a.m. I set off after buying something to drink in the gas station shop. I still had all my other supplies with me. The cashier was surprised that I wasn’t cold wearing shorts and a cycling jersey, but I found the temperature of around 17 degrees Celsius perfectly comfortable.

After barely ten kilometers, I had already reached the highest point of the day — though the climb was very gentle, only about 200 meters of elevation gain, and it had only drizzled a few drops. The descent afterward was just as gentle. At first I thought today would be much faster than yesterday, but the wind was once again so strong that even downhill the bike wouldn’t simply roll on its own. But I had plenty of time, so I took everything very easy and relaxed.

After around 46 kilometers, I took a break and started feeling slightly cold. So I continued on, and then came the only “real” descent of the day. It was quite steep, and for several kilometers I rode at around 60 km/h.

At the bottom, it was the same situation as before: the road slightly downhill, but with headwind. It also started raining lightly now and then, but my rain jacket was enough since it had become a bit warmer as well. The temperature probably didn’t rise above 23 degrees Celsius today, making it very pleasant overall.

By 4:30 p.m., I had already arrived at the hotel and checked in. Time to recover, because I still felt somewhat tired — and I fell asleep pretty soon afterward. In the evening, I found a restaurant with lots of vegetables and finally caught up on some missed vitamins and fiber.

Let’s see how things go tomorrow — maybe I’ll ride a longer stage so that I can reach Bishkek within two days. But that will probably also depend a bit on the wind.