Few months ago, a pop-up appeared on a Facebook group for ‘Bicycle Travelling for Women'. Joanna who hailed from Poland was interested in doing a month-long adventure in Central Asia covering Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan and was looking for people to join her. She was very well-versed with solo bicycle tours having done a solo tour in Bosnia and chronicling all about it on her blog. However, it was her first time coming to Asia and she did not want to camp alone, and thought a flexible bike partner would be perfect for a trip like this. I thought about it, crunched the numbers, looked at the cheapest ticket, asked around if my bicycle could me modified to a bicycle touring bike, figure out how to fly with my bicycle and two months later booked my ticket.

Come 31st of July, I made my way to Bishkek a week before Joanna’s arrival just to get my bearings in place, figure out the rhythm of Kyrgyzstan, buy some supplies and meet some other bicycle tourers who may have some ideas on what routes to take.

Staying in this plush and newly-opened hostel in Kyrgyzstan was really quite something, I met couple of bicycle tourers who had just completed the Pamir Highway, some on a 3 year tour all tanned and wrinkly but with years of smiles, laughter and stories and living their life at some extreme temperatures.

I was enamoured by their outlook on life and loved how decked up their bikes were with stickers, flags and mud to show that they had gone through extremes and survived them. I was slightly embarrassed by mine: it did not have all these mud stains and gravel tyres and it looked spankin’ new the moment I peeled the box open. Two Brazillians, Felippe and Marianna from @pedalispelomundo went like “woahhhh this is so clean!” I just took it in my own stride and figured there’ll be a time and moment before it collects dirt. Marianna thought I was so brave for going on this trip with a complete stranger I met online. She mentioned she went on a bicycle tour around the world simply because her boyfriend sold her this idea and it was not something she would readily decide on her own.

The nerves were starting to creep in but meeting other cyclists who were so open-minded and at ease with everything made me feel like I could definitely do this.

Also Read: Cycling in India: On The Leh to Srinagar Highway

Taking the old Soviet train from Bishkek to Balykchy