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Great list by an absolute expert on the subject :) I'm hoping to do the Silk Route by bike in the next couple of years. TAD Global Cycling puts together yearly

by bwb 6mo ago

Great list by an absolute expert on the subject :) I'm hoping to do the Silk Route by bike in the next couple of years. TAD Global Cycling puts together yearly runs, and it looks amazing: https://tdaglobalcycling.com/silk-route https://tdaglobalcycling.com/silk-route

shrx 6mo ago
I traveled some of the countries along the way last year, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan (by hiking and offroad vehicles). The landscape is beautiful, but be very prepared to survive in the scorching sun and dust in the desert for days without any option to resupply food and water. We met some solo cyclists along the way, I have great respect for those individuals. For example, this is how the main road looks like in some parts of Tajikistan: https://i.imgur.com/MlZauBn.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/MlZauBn.jpeg The traffic on these roads consists mostly of Chinese trucks and an occasional crazy traveler like us. Note how a secondary track emerged along the side of the main road because the original one became so filled with potholes.
- bwb 6mo ago
  Nice picture :) The nice thing about going with a group is that it comes with a support vehicle and water/food/bag carrying. Doing it on my own would be about 10x more intense in terms of prep, I think. I've watched a few biking videos where they started getting close to the edge on water and had to ask random houses they finally found.
  - defrost 6mo ago
    If you like an epic trek, there's always horseback: https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna20925119 https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna20925119
    - bwb 6mo ago
      Hah, I read his book, it is fantastic and worth a read -> https://www.amazon.com/Trail-Genghis-Khan-Journey-Through-ebook/dp/B00C2M4G6I?ref_=ast_author_mpb https://www.amazon.com/Trail-Genghis-Khan-Journey-Through-eb... It also makes my butt hurt just to think about.
      - defrost 6mo ago
        There's footage / DVD from his trip also - up on youtube some is, IIRC :-) Yeah, sore bum, ouchies. That can be bypassed if you don't mind walking, don't mind camels, and don't mind being thought a bit girly: * https://www.sidetracked.com/fieldjournal/crossing-australia-sophie-matterson-and-her-five-camels/ https://www.sidetracked.com/fieldjournal/crossing-australia-... * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robyn_Davidson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robyn_Davidson Our family doesn't mind a long jolly, one of my favourites (that someone else did) was into the more restricted bits of Papua: Cannibals & Crampons (2001) In 2001, two British ex army officers set out to climb the unscaled face of Mandela--a remote mountain rising 15,400 ft. above the jungles of New Guinea. This is the extraordinary story of their trek through some of the world's most unexplored terrain. * https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2142721/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2142721/ * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShIfMP8rfg0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShIfMP8rfg0
- TFNA 6mo ago
  "be very prepared to survive in the scorching sun and dust in the desert for days without any option to resupply food and water" I have done Central Asia from Europe to China by bike twice, most recently 2024. Absolutely no problem with resupplying food and water daily. There are food stops and railway-worker infrastructure in the Kazakh and Uzbek deserts. And while Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have a lot of wild mountain beauty, they are still inhabited. Indeed, local families earn some money by catering to cyclists.
  - bwb 6mo ago
    Ah great to hear :), thanks! Did you do it solo or with someone or a group?

by bwb 6mo ago

shrx 6mo ago

I traveled some of the countries along the way last year, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan (by hiking and offroad vehicles). The landscape is beautiful, but be very prepared to survive in the scorching sun and dust in the desert for days without any option to resupply food and water. We met some solo cyclists along the way, I have great respect for those individuals. For example, this is how the main road looks like in some parts of Tajikistan: https://i.imgur.com/MlZauBn.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/MlZauBn.jpeg The traffic on these roads consists mostly of Chinese trucks and an occasional crazy traveler like us. Note how a secondary track emerged along the side of the main road because the original one became so filled with potholes.

bwb 6mo ago
Nice picture :) The nice thing about going with a group is that it comes with a support vehicle and water/food/bag carrying. Doing it on my own would be about 10x more intense in terms of prep, I think. I've watched a few biking videos where they started getting close to the edge on water and had to ask random houses they finally found.
- defrost 6mo ago
  If you like an epic trek, there's always horseback: https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna20925119 https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna20925119
  - bwb 6mo ago
    Hah, I read his book, it is fantastic and worth a read -> https://www.amazon.com/Trail-Genghis-Khan-Journey-Through-ebook/dp/B00C2M4G6I?ref_=ast_author_mpb https://www.amazon.com/Trail-Genghis-Khan-Journey-Through-eb... It also makes my butt hurt just to think about.
    - defrost 6mo ago
      There's footage / DVD from his trip also - up on youtube some is, IIRC :-) Yeah, sore bum, ouchies. That can be bypassed if you don't mind walking, don't mind camels, and don't mind being thought a bit girly: * https://www.sidetracked.com/fieldjournal/crossing-australia-sophie-matterson-and-her-five-camels/ https://www.sidetracked.com/fieldjournal/crossing-australia-... * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robyn_Davidson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robyn_Davidson Our family doesn't mind a long jolly, one of my favourites (that someone else did) was into the more restricted bits of Papua: Cannibals & Crampons (2001) In 2001, two British ex army officers set out to climb the unscaled face of Mandela--a remote mountain rising 15,400 ft. above the jungles of New Guinea. This is the extraordinary story of their trek through some of the world's most unexplored terrain. * https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2142721/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2142721/ * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShIfMP8rfg0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShIfMP8rfg0
TFNA 6mo ago
"be very prepared to survive in the scorching sun and dust in the desert for days without any option to resupply food and water" I have done Central Asia from Europe to China by bike twice, most recently 2024. Absolutely no problem with resupplying food and water daily. There are food stops and railway-worker infrastructure in the Kazakh and Uzbek deserts. And while Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have a lot of wild mountain beauty, they are still inhabited. Indeed, local families earn some money by catering to cyclists.
- bwb 6mo ago
  Ah great to hear :), thanks! Did you do it solo or with someone or a group?