The Tailwind Made It Easy Today...

When I left the hotel shortly after 10 a.m., I had not yet had breakfast. So I first rode to the nearby street full of restaurants and had something to eat at the same restaurant I had visited the evening before last before officially starting today's stage.

Although the previous stage had ended with a long descent into Dushanzi, the city itself still sits at a slightly elevated location. So today also began with a descent. Once I reached the bottom, the road headed almost exactly east. The wind was quite strong today, but wonderfully at my back, allowing me to make excellent progress. I also passed several cyclists riding in the opposite direction, and I felt a little sorry for them because I know what it is like to ride into such a strong headwind. Their bicycles were heavily loaded, and I guessed they were heading towards the Duku Highway.

The weather forecast had predicted a high chance of rain today, along with somewhat milder temperatures. When I reached the first climb after the descent and the wind eased a little, I actually felt drops falling. However, it wasn't rain—it was my sweat. Despite the cloud cover, the temperature was around 29°C, and with less cooling wind it felt quite hot.

Once I reached the highest point, however, things sped up again, and my sweat became a thing of the past—or at least I stopped noticing it. The beginning of the stage was very dry, but after passing through a town, the landscape became greener and also felt noticeably cooler.

Today I passed several police checkpoints, but I didn't actually see any police officers there. As a result, I once again went through the entire day without being checked. I still don't really understand the logic behind these controls—perhaps there isn't one to understand.

After taking a break around halfway through today's distance, the tailwind was no longer as strong, but riding was still easy—just not at the effortless 35–40 km/h pace from earlier. In the end, I arrived at a hotel shortly after 5 p.m., roughly halfway between Dushanzi and Ürümqi.

At least, that's what I thought. A man greeted me enthusiastically, immediately offered me fruit and tea, and started chatting with me. I asked where I could leave my bicycle, and he opened a storage room next to the main entrance for me. He asked whether we could take photos together—which is nothing unusual—and I replied that I should probably shower first because I was quite sweaty. By then, the temperature had reached 31–32°C. He then asked whether I was staying in the hotel next door, and I answered somewhat puzzled that I was. It turned out that this wasn't a hotel at all but a massage salon located in the same building. The man then showed me the actual hotel reception entrance, which was remarkably inconspicuous. Only then had I really arrived at my hotel. We agreed that I would come back later for the photo session.

And I did return later. However, while preparing this blog post, I had immediately fallen asleep on the bed. When I went back, several women were there as well, probably employees of the massage salon, since they all referred to the man as "boss." They had great fun taking photos with me because of my height, and I was also treated to an exceptionally sweet watermelon. Afterwards, I said goodbye and went to the restaurant across the street for dinner.

There are now less than 130 km left to Ürümqi, which should be quite manageable tomorrow, especially if the wind helps as much as it did today. Once there, I will set my bicycle aside for a little over a week and travel through Xinjiang with friends. They booked this trip back in March and will arrive in Ürümqi on Saturday. It's truly incredible how perfectly the timing has worked out after more than 8,000 km of cycling. When they booked the trip, I had only just left Switzerland. They said that perhaps we could meet in Xinjiang, since I was planning to pass through there. I replied that I had absolutely no idea how far I would have made it by early June. A few weeks ago, when it started looking like it might actually work—I had even considered storing my bike somewhere and taking a train or bus to Ürümqi—they arranged everything so that I could join their trip as well. And now, I will arrive by bicycle the evening before they arrive. It really couldn't have worked out any better. Some things simply can't be planned; they just happen.

I am incredibly excited about this "vacation within the vacation." After nearly three months on the road with very few rest days—apart from Tbilisi, where I rested for more than a single day only once—I have started to feel a certain fatigue building up. This cycling break therefore comes at exactly the right moment and will certainly do me good. If it weren't for my friends, I probably would never have allowed myself such an extended break from riding. That makes me all the happier that things have turned out exactly as they have.