Awoke at 6ish as the sun made its presence known on my face. We lolled around in our sleeping bags not eager to repeat yesterday's mediocre performance. Eventually got up and had a non-delicious breakfast of two-day-old, sun-roasted meat, bread, and cheese. We headed toward Shalkar, but this time chose the better track beside the pipeline.
Our average speed was better, but still only around 16km/h on the dirt road. Headed up and over the ridge and spotted Shalkar some 15km in the distance. Came down the hill and, when stopping my bicycle, managed to mash the my left heel into the pedal causing some minor blood loss and a nifty skin abrasion. (I, excitedly, got to use my medical travel kit for something!)
Rode the last kms into Shalkar and started to inquire about the next road stage to Aralsk. We had been piecing the story together ... but were getting conflicting stories. Version 1: "Good road and about 350km"; Version 2: "Sand road and 140km". We finally realized that the 140km 'highway' marked on the map was nothing more than a soft sandy track requiring 4WD vehicles to navigate. Having only two wheels (and maybe 1.5 considering the state of my back rim - the photo shows only 1 of 6 spots!) and my experience pushing my laden bicycle through soft Mexican sand did not make me too confident about taking this path.
The other option, a 200km detour, would put me two days behind that I didn't have because of my visa expiring in just over two weeks. So, with a heavy heart, I decided to break the consecutive trail.... I then bade fare-the-well to the Germans and headed over the train station to enquire about southeastward trains to towns with bicycle shops.In the station I chatted with a few people who said that I probably wouldn't find any good replacement rims until I got to Shymkent, some 1000km down the road. I had been hoping for Qyzylorda or even Baikonur, but people were emphatic that it wouldn't happen. With this information, I went to ticket counter to get a ticket to Shymkent. Unfortunately, the only train with a baggage car left in the middle of the night and would arrive past midnight the following day in Shymkent. Seeing me somewhat displeased, one couple talked to the station agent and informed me that "for a little bit of cash" I could get me and my bicycle on the next train. This sounded like a good option, so when the train pulled into the station I grabbed my ride, threw off all the bags and we quickly loaded it in the compartment. A quick handshake in an enclosed compartment and $50 later (the price for me and my bicycle's southward journey) I had secured a nice upper berth amidst friendly babushkas for the next 24 hours. Read a little bit and chatted with the locals (after they had stopped starting at me) and then settled down to enjoy the endless clickity-clack of 19th century conveyance.
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