82km - 5242km, warm 34C, 20km tailwind, 0 shots, 0 Lenin, Homestay
Awoken by the 6am sun, I fought a losing battle against an increasingly warm tent until 730h. We got up, made coffee, and breakfasted on a starchtastic combination of bread and biscuits. Started heading uphill and, after 25km, reached the start of the steep climb through the green, yurt-filled hills. Had to negotiate paths around equine/bovine roadside barricades and out-snarl the protecting dogs.
About 4km from the top, Andre had to change his completely shot front tube, which afforded me a great opportunity to dunk my head in the river and wash away some of the seven days of accumulated hair nastiness. We continued up to the top of the pass, cresting around 1330h with a nice view of the 50km path down to the city of Kochkor. Celebrated with a bottle of Coca-cola chilled to a nice 30C temperature. 
After the first 5km on rough gravel, Andre hit an immodest stone that punctured his front tire and led to a repeat of the tube-patch process. Three km further downhill led to a paved road and our speed jumped to 40-50km/h for the next 25km of gently downhill slalom cycling.
The following 25km of road was over a lesser grade, but, with modest effort, afforded fantastic speeds through luscious farm land and roadside streams. Eventually, we made it to the town of Kochkor and grabbed a delicious lunch of 'Chinese Meat' at a local cafe before heading to a local homestay. 
(Sadly, I was shocked to see so many tourist after having spent the good part of three months well off the beaten track.) We went out and grabbed dinner at another cafe before trying (and failing) to find the unfortunately named 'Men Disco' for a couple of evening pops. We headed back to the homestay, where I first grabbed my camera to download photos, and then 'The Great Gatsby' off the bookshelf, and went to sleep with Jazz-age visages.
Awoken by the 6am sun, I fought a losing battle against an increasingly warm tent until 730h. We got up, made coffee, and breakfasted on a starchtastic combination of bread and biscuits. Started heading uphill and, after 25km, reached the start of the steep climb through the green, yurt-filled hills. Had to negotiate paths around equine/bovine roadside barricades and out-snarl the protecting dogs.
About 4km from the top, Andre had to change his completely shot front tube, which afforded me a great opportunity to dunk my head in the river and wash away some of the seven days of accumulated hair nastiness. We continued up to the top of the pass, cresting around 1330h with a nice view of the 50km path down to the city of Kochkor. Celebrated with a bottle of Coca-cola chilled to a nice 30C temperature. 
After the first 5km on rough gravel, Andre hit an immodest stone that punctured his front tire and led to a repeat of the tube-patch process. Three km further downhill led to a paved road and our speed jumped to 40-50km/h for the next 25km of gently downhill slalom cycling.
The following 25km of road was over a lesser grade, but, with modest effort, afforded fantastic speeds through luscious farm land and roadside streams. Eventually, we made it to the town of Kochkor and grabbed a delicious lunch of 'Chinese Meat' at a local cafe before heading to a local homestay. 
(Sadly, I was shocked to see so many tourist after having spent the good part of three months well off the beaten track.) We went out and grabbed dinner at another cafe before trying (and failing) to find the unfortunately named 'Men Disco' for a couple of evening pops. We headed back to the homestay, where I first grabbed my camera to download photos, and then 'The Great Gatsby' off the bookshelf, and went to sleep with Jazz-age visages.
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