The cyclists meet again at the famous touring cyclist hostel – the Pamir Lodge in Khorog. Everyone knows everyone either directly or through another cyclist or motorbiker. And everyone is doing bike maintenance. Khorog and the art of bicycle maintenance. Where have I heard that before?
The road ahead
One motorbiker was putting vegetable oil into his hydraulic gears. Reece, who I met again after our brief separation, was stitching up his tyre that had exploded (when a kid forced him into a massive pothole in the attempt to get a high-five). Maxime, who I met in Uzbekistan and again in Dushanbe was fixing a broken spoke. I swapped some tyres around on my bike, and put on some new brake pads. Also, we went for dinner – twice.
The road surface was quite good and flatter than it has been, and I was feeling better. I was able to speed through the 72km to Khorog by lunch time. Being flat, the regular 20m spurts of gravel, rocky, potholed road, requiring 5-10km/h speeds were less annoying. The surface was much better than a few days ago, where there was only gravel, rocky and potholed road. The valley remained beautiful, but wider than before.
Flowers in the valley
The road to Khorog
I will probably spend a day of rest and recreation in Khorog tomorrow, and then on and up to the really high mountains of the Pamir.
arctic-cycler.com 