Kokand, Uzbekistan to Osh, Kyrgyzstan – 135 miles (6,033 total)

Detail of traditional Rishtan ceramic, Rustam Usmanov Ceramic Workshop, Rishtan, Uzbekistan.

Well it has certainly not been a dull few days since my last post. I’ve ridden my final few days in Uzbekistan (hitting 6,000 miles along the way) being blown away by the incredible ceramics at the Rustam Usmanov workshop in Rishtan, achieved another one of my cycling goals (riding 100km non-stop) as well as finally meeting up with my new riding partner Stephen Cunningham. Within a couple of hours of getting to know each other we found ourselves in the back of a police car being hassled for money and threatened with a truncheon…

Samarkand, Uzbekistan to Kokand, Uzbekistan – 326 miles (5,898 total)

Some bold communist architecture outside Goliston, Uzbekistan.

Due to acquiring an extra day off, which I’ll go into shortly, I thought I’d squeeze in another short blog post. In the last stint of four days cycling I’ve covered the largest distance in that period of time of the whole trip thanks to, in no small part, riding a 185km day (116 miles) achieving one of my goals of this trip, riding a century (a 100 mile day). To achieve this goal I was forced, by circumstance, to ride well in to the darkness of night against my better judgement.

Bukhara, Uzbekistan to Samarkand, Uzbekistan – 173 miles (5,571 total)

Bukhara, Uzbekistan.

A short post this week, covering just a few days riding, but based on my schedule it’s going to be about 12 days before I post another. This week has involved yet another round of illness, some of the toughest winds so far, new friends and seeing some wonderful sights.

Mashhad, Iran to Bukhara, Uzbekistan via Turkmenistan – 480 miles (5,398 total)

Bukhara, Uzbekistan. A relief to reach the city.

I’ve used this phrase twice before to describe sections of this trip but I am confident that I am once again using it honestly. The last 8 days, which included racing across the Karakum desert in Turkmenistan to stay within the confines of my 5 day transit visa, have been the toughest of my life. To counter this though I have smashed through the 5,000 mile marker in style!