Pedaling from the Black Forest to the Yellow Sea

daily distance: 74km
total distance: 8091km
riding time: just over 3h

There again isn’t much to report. Apart from maybe that the wind picked up at night and ripped big time at the tent. Not really pretty as it made sleeping difficult. Everything had calmed down when I went to bed only to come back with a vengeance a couple of hours later. In the morning I am first given more fruit, including some very yummy grapes.

The kids were amazed at everything concerning the strange bicycle in their tree lined dirt road …

Then it was time to head to Mashhad and it was a short ride ultimately. 50km, done by mid-morning. I took some backroads and again had almost no traffic. There were trees on the sides of the road until just before Mashhad. Beauty of a ride. When I entered the city, the road turned into a washboard and traffic was crazy.

As Reza was at work until later, I put in another long internet session to move things along on my US visa application. Not without hitting up some ice cream parlors though.

Then it was time to head to his place, which was further out than I thought at first, but which is also extremely beautiful. Reza is the local couchsurfing ambassador and had two other travelers at his place from France. Cyrielle and Ludovic are siblings and are traveling by bus and other means from China back to France. Their reports are great and together with Reza, his brother and his uncle we had a wonderful evening sharing stories and experiences.

daily distance: 136km
total distance: 8017km
riding time: 5-6h

There is not much to report - indeed there aren’t really any pictures of today. The night was terrible, I kept being woken up by the wind which was nothing short of ferocious. It still was when I crawled out of the tent and I wasn’t even sure whether it was a good idea to move out at all.

The choice was a good one. After a sluggish start (meaning just over 22km/h) things really got rolling. It wasn’t painful at all - for a good two hours, I was well above 30km/h and sometimes even above 40km/h for extended time periods. It was a great feeling and despite some high temperatures, it was possible to keep going until the early afternoon when I arrived in Chenaran. A couple of banana milkshakes later, I was doing well again. I found an internet cafe with the help of an owner’s whose own cafer was closed and spent the entire afternoon there trying to organize things for my US visa (good internet connection let me make calls over skype without much of a hitch). I hope that things are on track now.

Left Chenaran rather late, but found a good place to pitch my tent. It felt strange at first … there were only women. A long palaver later, a man arrives and within a couple of seconds he points to the inside of the compound and says to pitch the tent wherever I see fit. He later on brings tea, fruit and veggies in masses.

Feel very tired, but can’t complain at all about the day.

daily distance: 113km
total distance: 7881km
riding time: 6h

First things first … here is a book I recommend to those who read German and who are interested in things Chinese. Matthias, a friend and supporter of Cycling Without Borders has just released his experiences on his last four years in Beijing. Though I haven’t read it, I have seen one of his presentations on the subject and if that is any indication, then I am sure it is well worth reading. And Christmas is coming up fast … alright it’s not September yet. For those wanting to check out another of his projects, head over to A Day on the Planet.

Title: Ganz Woanders: Vier Jahre in Beijing

Co-authors: Matthias Kluckert and Thomas Tang

Really not much to report today … the sky was overcast in the morning (this is exceptional), there was a long climb to get to Bojnurd (see the picture below for a taste, this was the first of three such climbs, during the last of which I met Ahmad again) and then a good tailwind drove me a ways towards Mashad.

In Shirvan I tried (unsuccessfully) to place a phone call to the US (this is different here, you can’t just call and the places to make phone calls from are not authorized to let you make international calls). Ended up in a farming compound for the night and am glad not to be out in the howling wind.

daily distance: 105km
total distance: 7768km
riding time: 5-6h

Woke up in the dusty telephone station compound (still well protected from any predators) and made my way out after breakfast.

Uneventul uphill kms went by, the area vast and beautiful. After what I thought was the top of the pass the wind became a front wind and would remain so for the next 40km. It just wasn’t the top of the pass. I struggled for some good 15km until the actual downhill started which was interrupted by someone giving me two yummy peaches and then the police.

A pickup with two policemen stopped me, asked for my passport (no way to ignore them) and radioed my inform in. After some “I don’t speak Farsi” palaver he gave me my passport, let me move on … or so I thought. I had already thought I understood something about stopping further ahead, but why give me my passport back then? Thoughts raced in my mind - someone had said something to someone about something, someone had read the blog (which is pretty innocuous I think still and on the tame side, hello stranger if you read this) or someone had seen me taking a picture (I know this qualifies for the first alternative). So, sure enough an unmarked car with a plain clothes waits for me and he carries a radio and says he is from the police. Well, anyone can say that (it was clear he was police), so I asked for some ID, a question that took him aback and he pretended not to understand and then showed me something that looked official enough with him in a uniform. He spoke English, took down my passport information and then, when I asked him about why I was stopped, said he didn’t understand. He did. Clearly. But he either didn’t want to say or just really had no clue, was the only person in the area to speak some English and was sent out.

A bit more worried about the situation (yes, I have the German embassy phone number handy), I entered the next town where he stops me again. He had simply forgotten to write down the passport number, which I had realized before, but didn’t feel like telling him. He felt awkward to approach me again, that much was clear. I thought for a second to point to a different number in my passport, but thought better of it. No reason to get him and me (ultimately) into trouble.

I spent the heat hours in an internet cafe, the owner again refusing any payment (it was painfully slow, hence I couldn’t update the site). “You are a guest in Iran, no money is needed.” Moved on when it was still too warm I soon realized as I was slugging up a hill on the top of which there are some convenient trees to shelter you from the sun. I had no intention to make it to Bojnurd, the next major city and kept lookin for a place. On my left I saw some trees in an otherwise rather dry area. I hit the jackpot … it was totally unexpected.

The villages are surrounded by lush green vegetation and I was intent on staying there. Palaver I didn’t get me far - to a store with nothing in it. I needed some food though. Palaver II yielded more results. First, four tomatoes, deal. Then, Ahmad comes around who speaks some rally broken English, but it was good enough to make clear what I wanted. A gorgeous place to pitch was the result with a little stream among some trees. Ahmad wanted to invite me to his home, which I refused because I simply wanted some downtime. As it was still early, we agreed that I would go with him for dinner and as supermarket. Turns out that the 1km he was talking about were 10km and the quick meal was much longer than expected. I had a great time though and was given a tour of this very beautiful area on his motorcylce. I was also given a giant melon as a farewell present, part of which I will have to down for breakfast tomorrow. I ain’t taking this big boy with me.

daily distance: 104km
total distance: 7663km
riding time: 5-6h

I had tried to get an early start - it was going to be hot. Because of the late night that didn’t quite work the way I had hoped. More heat during the day than I had wanted. But there was another reason. After seeing Sayed to my astonishment (he had taken a car for a bit apparently because of his legs) in Minu Dasht and after being stopped by a Tehrani family who were doing their breakfast at the side of the road, I stopped in Galikash, the last place that I am guessing I would have internet access. It was a good move, time to get the US visa game rolling. I thought these places were complicated. But that too shall pass with the help of my parents and others and the good will of the immigration service I will be able to get this done while being on the road.

I spent more time because of this during the still-not-scorchingly-hot-part-of-the-day in an air conditioned place and was hit by the heat as soon as I stepped out. The people had been super kind, one guy on the street showing me the place and apparently leaving money for the owner to buy some juice as I found out later. They also brought out cookies, muffins and tea and offered lunch as well before I made my way out. Couldn’t believe it.

The rest of the day is quickly told: it was uphill through the Golestan Forest, a very magnificent part of the mountain range that I had been running parallel to. Now, I had to get over it. The heat was oppressive, but a good tailwind was with me all day long and which made the more than 1200m in altitude much easier to deal with prior to getting into and after getting out of the forested part. Just before hitting the shaded part, the mp3 player came up with some Midnight Oil - Beds are Burning (I know, this is old school):

“The Western desert lives and breathes in 45 degrees.”

I am not making this up, I had hit the 45C mark right there, the temperature increasing to 47C for the day’s high. What struck me in this really amazing national park was the littering. Here is my suggestion to the government. Instead of letting the fashion police go crazy on the people in Northern Tehran, how about sending some of them here preventing people from trashing this special place? Just a thought.

A bit on the heavy side, traffic was at its usual craziness. I had no idea how far I would go and ended up just over 100km in a little village after reaching what I thought was the pass.

People refused the idea of camping in a little grove because of wild animals. The Lonely Planet list is actually impressive and the wolves, bears and leopards probably a good reason why I am now in a gated compound with my tent. Yes, I do feel safe here.

Well, I just finished typing this when four men paid a visit. Here is the picture …

I was given all sorts of goodies and the local mullah asked all sorts of (very mundane) questions and invited me to his home (I somehow got out of that one though it could have been interesting, I was simply too tired). How many days I am traveling, how many km per day, whether I am married, the usual stuff. Made for some funny moments and worth remembering. They were really interestd to see my burner for some reason and took a long time to inspect the tent as well. Politics was a small part of it, they wanted to know whether Muslims can build mosques in Germany (that would be a yes) and whether women wear a hejab (that would be a no) Now, it’s really time to hit the sack.