Bikepacking Kyrgyzstan – Mädelsurlaub im Tien Shan

[English subtitles available!] Zwei Frauen. Zwei Bikes. Ein Abenteuer. Und ein kleines bisschen Strandurlaub. Zumindest, ähem… Der Versuch…

This video is definitely made for imitation. Should I have packed third pair of socks?…Hope the sleeping bag will work… Will the bikes arrive…? Hope the purifier will work… We didn’t pack enough food…Hope it will not be too cold at night… Did I pack the multitool? … How do put up the tent again? Girls trip in Tien Shan Okay, surely it is not “normal”, if you spend your free time with things like squeezing air out of soup bags. But, hey – what do you call “normal”? The challenge was to pack as minimalistic as possible. We were not ALWAYS successful. But we need hot coffee! Where to pack it? In the jersey! The gas would have been enough to cook for three Kyrgyz families. 8 hours in the mashrutka before we finally, finally started. First, there was one thing we mostly did: Riding uphill. No, not only riding uphill! Riding uphill for DAYS! Neither “fast” was the word for it… …nor “elegant”! Crossing Rivers was the biggest challenge in the first days. The invention “bridge” has not yet established in Kyrgyzstan. First real challenge of today Really cold feet! – yeah we had a really deep river to cross with crazy strong currents. We nearly drifted away. But, we were very lucky, because we met some very kind Ukrain hikers who helped us to cross that crazy – You can hardly see it They helped us to cross that crazy river! That was really, really crazy! They told us the way could not be done on mountain bikes well, the hikers told that… But – going back is not an option! No, going back will work in NO case! Otherwise we have to wait for another group of hikers… …cause in no case we will succeed in crossing the river again! We have food for 5 days left! – Or we have to wait for next dry season! Sometimes you question the sense of things. Especially at the beginning of our trip, we sometimes wondered… …why we actually had our mountainbikes with us. We pushed, and pushed, and pushed. It’s getting dark… In an altitude of more than 3000 meters, we made acquaintance of mountain weather. Escape from the rain today… We just had to put up the tent as quick as possible That’s what it looks like in here! Not enough time and energy for the inner tent! But it started raining, and rain is so strong that we thought if we continued and rise in altitude with thunderstorm… …would be not so good. Now we’re just sitting and waiting for the rain to stop! Now it’s 11pm. We’re camping in an altitude of 3300 meters. You feel that you get some kind of gasping. Martina is freezing a little bit. You can’t see her any more. We are both not tired any longer because the problem is: It’s looking a mess when you go for sleep at 7pm! But we should sleep some hours now and hope to get enough oxygen up here that our brains will work tomorrow, our bodies will relax…By the way, I’m pretty hungry!!! And then, tomorrow, make it to the pass in the altitude of 3850 meters. Good night! Camping in an altitude of 3300m: Your body feels challenged. Each body reacts differently to the height. Martina’s reaction: She vomitted. At least this time we had a tent… …with two entrances, or better: Exits! That was a real advantage for me. For one whole day, we did… Nothing. But – I read 758 pages in my book!!! I couldn’t even spend my free time eating because the food was strictly rationed. Martina tried to recover. She slept the whole day! A very good morning from the mountains! Martina is trying her resurrection and as we have to continue somehow because otherwise food will run short I will take the first bike up to the pass As you can see not the easiest thing… We will see how much time it will take me. I need to rise 400 meters in altitude particulary through scree fields. In any case: It will be hard now! I don’t know if gravity had strongly increased over night. I felt as if I had NEVER EVER made any sports in my entire life. The first bike and the first bag are on the top now. Now I go down again to get the other things. Luckily Martina was fit again. So we fought our way uphill in the afternoon. Today, it is “hike and hike”! This is a picture-book bicycle holiday … We made it! We conquered that mad ascent! Really good! It’s very beautiful up here Unfortunately it is still going slightly uphill from here, but…shit happens! Slightly uphill? Yeah, that’s what you call optimism. We were on a huge plateau at 3700 meters height, and to the pass it was another 50 kilometers… Camping in an altitude of 3700 meters… your body does NOT like that. Water retentions in your body. Your hands swell. Your arms and legs swell. The face… Yeah, there were times when you looked better. But hey – What does it matter? It’s just really, really stunning… On our way to the pass, one thing was missing: The way! We were just riding across country. We were really in the middle of nowhere. It was not easy to tell the shepherd that we want to cross the river by BIKE. But: Our pantomimic skills are nearly perfect right now. We had little doubts first but, how you say in Cologne: “Et hätt doch emmer joot jejange” (it has worked every time) It took him 5 returns until everything was on the other side. Including ourselves. But, when I look at this…: Maybe we should just stick to cycling. Finally on a road again! We thought of rolling now… Unfortunately we have really strong headwinds. At least now we are already in the UPPER single-digit speed range. We’re on the top! Probably you can’t see that, but: 3809 meters! Awesome! And really snorting up here. Yes, there’s hardly any oxygen. Now, fortunately, we’re going back down so we can breathe again! Maybe there is an oxygen tent for us. We are already getting stupid! 100 Kilometers descend through the Naryn valley. We were SO MUCH looking forward to that. But the joy didn’t last long because we had not calculated with the wind. If you have to go downhill on that LITTLE chain ring you know something’s DEFINITELY wrong. Are you fine, Martina? Excellent. Cold water is said to be very healthy. It’s raining! Perfect! What do we take? Maybe…that? Ah, I have the money… Maybe they something like bread…or noodles… Oh a bag of candies! Or watch the curl pastries, they look salty. Yes, we can take them. These. Toilet paper! Do they have? No idea, but – would be good! We just bought new toilet paper that is the VERY soft edition! The good thing is: It is elastic! But better then nothing, right? After 7 days we are back in civilization. What a feeling! You feel it with the cola! In Naryn we first had to go to the bazar. They had Kyrgyz specialties like for example fermented… something between “Muh” and “Mäh”? Oh, it’s gassy! Show me! This is gassy milk! Probably because it is fermented… Ah, plant! Now you get “Muh”? Tastes like butter! Either I get real power from that, or… …it will backfire! What do all gravel roads on earth have in common? Lateral grooves. Irritating beasts. After 5 Kilometers, you just find them funny. After 10 kilometers, you don’t talk any more, you just try to catch the best line. After 50 kilometers, you only want to escape from that road. And, yes: It is definitely much worse than it looks like. We changed to an asphalt road. This road could hardly have been more exciting. It’s going… straight ahead A groove! A 3-degree-curve! Maybe the clouds move? A flower! But I think Long roads are good for chatting! We can talk to each other again! After the trauma of lateral grooves! 3 hours later we are still on that road still driving 9 to 10 kph and we thought it is the top over there but now we know That is not true! It goes on and on and on. However, I am really sweating. Where did he, go – left? Or straight? I think left. Little bit wet today. Equipment is everything. Shall we put up the tent? No, not yet! Martina is overeaten. Not the first time today. The THIRD time. I have great… …respect. How do you get a morning grouch to leave the tent after 12 hours of sleep? I have the easy solution. A little bit of clattering with the pots… Still no movement, but, I know it will work! Yes, I need my time… I won’t come out until the coffee’s ready. Good morning! 3300 and what… 46 meters! We are on the top! They are also happy with us! Awesome! – Yeah! What a view! But it’s going uphill again over there, right? – WHAT? That’s not the plan! Meanwhile we were an experienced team. We present: Our tent-choreography! If there was one thing you couldn’t count on, it was the weather. In the morning you are sitting and relaxing while enjoying your breakfirst and you think: “What a really nice day!” You put sun cream all over your body with strong sun protection and, half an hour later… Windy and cold!!! There is a decicive disadvantage when you are above the timber line. There are no trees! You are defenceless against wind and weather. And that can be really cold sometimes. It is not longer transparent who had the idea to strike the shoe covers off from the packing list. Indeed: We did not have any. And that was so severly cold, that we had to push our bikes to get our toes warm again. After having spent 3 hours in the rain, we had a great idea. Time for handicrafts. We have frozen feet. So we have another possibility cause we have no shoe covers and it is really cold We now create… warm feet! Awesome! The first impression is really positive! Looks a little bit strange, but… They need to get in the oven! It looks EXTREMELY strange! Don’t care about that. Noone can see it. Main thing is that you can still move the foot. Like in plaster! Bending still works. – You only have to get the shoe over it! That could be difficult… Socks over it – and we go on! We learned two things: The first: Normally, feet are supplied with blood. You COULD consider that. Second: Better to have good ideas MAYBE two hours earlier. To cycle in the blazing sun with feed wrapped in foil is NOT an experience you should not miss in your life. This morning we are slow again but this time it’s not our fault! There is a jam on our route. Herd-jam. All lines are occupied. Hi! Apart from animals, of course there are also people living in Kyrgyzstan. At noon, we made friends with Arsen. Arsen was highly interested in my mountainbike. Chain goes over there! Now pedalling is easier! You have to push here. This is the brake. For braking. Get on the saddle! Okay? There’s the brake! Okay, let’s go! Into the river! During summer many Kyrgyz people go with their herds to the highlands and live in yurtes then. So does Arsen with his family. Arsen is 6 years old and a very clever and EXTREMELY curious boy. He understood the functions of my camera much quicker than me, at the age of… 26. Photographic talent? Yes, abstract art. He was also fascinated by my water bag. Yeah, airplane! After lunch, we decided to ride down the valley instead of taking the Kengeti pass. Little hurricane we got in! What’s going on?! More luck than reason, but… the decision was right. Some weather conditions are not worth to experience in an altitude of 3800 meters. Already in the altitude of 2000 meters, the night in the tent was pretty sleepless. We felt like being on the Titanic. Just without iceberg. Anyway, the water was rising. It never rains at night! Does the water come in? We’re facing a little storm this night. We are the human replacement of our tent pegs. Unfortunately our pegs surrendered. Everything is flooded… We hope rain will stop soon… Awesome camping spot! The next morning Looks as if nothing has happened but we need to dry EVERYTHING. Everything was flooded. After all this bad weather we wanted to go to the beach. So we rode to Issyk Kul the second-largest mountain lake on earth. What shall I say. I already talked about elegance. Holidays on the beach are obviously just not our thing. I can’t get out of here! My shoe!!! I better take off my sandals. This is dangerous!!! What a dirty brew is that??!! Black brew!!! I can’t get out of here! We look for another place for swimming… This is no water for swimming! I can’t get out of here… Oh no, my shoe!!! An amazing trip came to an end. An amazing country, amazing people… Also the Issyk-Kul a magical place. However, also a good place to make a horror film. Called: “The Mosquitoes” All persons and activities are real and not invented by us. Humans and equipment are restored. Okay, nearly.