Place your bets: READER PARTICIPATION TIME!!!

July 3, 2014

The day started with amazing views down from the summit plateau and a huge downhill. Not a bad way to begin a day of cycling of course, but the terrible road restricted my speed to eight kilometres per hour on a steep descent. Not exactly good for my brakes or worn front rim, but more time to take in the views I suppose.

I could see really far. Can you see really far?

The road only got worse as things flattened out and there was a fair bit of the old cyclists’ nightmare - a corrugated surface of ruts like a washboard. Bumpety bumpety bump. Add in gravel so thick you could be on a posh person's driveway and you've got yourself a road ladies and gents. My recommendation? Take your time, enjoy the scenery, and just be grateful you're not in Uzbekistan.

Just past the village of Ak Kya I stopped to make noodles under the shade of a tree, my daily escape from the heat, being careful to pay attention for snakes. I whittled away an hour and then got ready to continue, but as I did so a huge big massive truck with German plates came up the hill from the village. It pulled over next to me and the driver leaned out the window. This truck was really huge, I had to crane my neck to see him. As for his wife in the passenger seat, forget it. The driver's name was Peter and they were driving this thing across Eurasia. He looked at me and chuckled "I haven't seen a loaded bicycle like that for... oh... ten minutes!"

"What?" I said, confused.

"There's another touring bike parked up back in the village," he explained, "just outside a shop. I didn't see the cyclist though."

I was intrigued of course. Who could it be? I hadn't seen another cyclist for a couple of days, and no one going my way for a really long time.

"Did you see what kind of bike it was?" I questioned.

"No. I mean it had dark panniers. Blue or black."

So that was all I had to go on as I watched Peter and his wife disappear in a cloud of dust. I considered who it could be. My first thought was of Gabor as he had to leave Tajikistan on the 25th, putting him one day behind me at that point, so he could easily have caught me up. Or maybe it was Rob? He had dark bags. Then I remembered Jacques, the Frenchman that I'd met when I was going the other way with Ana. He was coming this way, and he had dark bags. Yes, it was probably him.

I waited to see who would come up the hill towards me. I didn't want to go back to look because the hill was really steep. I figured that they must be coming my way because otherwise I would have seen them when our paths crossed, but nobody came. After 40 minutes I got my record score of 12 points from throwing six successive pebbles at the tree (it was a great game, with complicated scoring systems) I gave up waiting and decided to keep cycling. Whoever it was they must have been going faster than me and so would soon catch me up anyway.

The day wore on as the road got even worse. I distracted myself from it by coming up with the odds on who the mystery cyclist might be. The even money favourite had to be Jacques, although Gabor and Rob were also strong candidates. Who else was there? Perhaps John had just had enough of Gayle and gone on without her, but he had red bags. Who else had dark bags? Ana! Could it be that she enjoyed our time together so much that she'd turned around and come after me? Hmmm... bit of a long shot I agree.

Anyway, in the interest of reader participation I decided I would give you all of the runners and riders, and the odds that I came up with, and you just go right ahead and take a punt on who you think it was.

**JACQUES - Evens**
For: Said he would wait a day in Osh which would put him in the right place, right time
Against: Didn't seem like a man who would take 40 minutes to do his shopping

**GABOR - 2/1**
For: The kind of man who takes 40 minutes to do his shopping. Had to go ahead of the rest in Tajikistan as his visa ran out sooner
Against: I'm pretty sure immediately after he got out of Tajikistan he would have stopped and waited for Gayle and John

**ROB - 7/2**
For: Solo cyclist with dark bags
Against: Not sure he was going this way

**AN AS YET UNKNOWN CYCLIST - 5/1**
For: Lots of cyclists about
Against: I would have heard about them on the Central Asia cyclists grapevine

**AN AS YET UNKOWN CYCLIST, GOING THE OTHER WAY - 12/1**
For: Nobody came out of town in my direction
Against: I would have seen them go past me, and there were no bicycle tracks in the road

**THE KYRGYZ GIRL - 20/1**
For: I heard she might be going this way
Against: Only a rumour, strong possibility she doesn't exist

**ANA - 200/1**
For: She might have missed me so much she turned around and came after me
Against: The last I heard she was 600 kilometres away in another country and determined to keep heading away from me at great speed

**GAYLE - 500/1**
For: It did seem like she would do anything to get away from Gabor, including abandoning her life partner as a sort of sacrificial lamb
Against: Her refusal to cycle for more than five hours in one day

**JOHN - 500/1**
For: Gayle can be a bit naggy
Against: Red panniers

**DR DAVE - 10,000/1**
For: Most of the time we cycled together he was lagging a bit behind me
Against: Not seen near a bicycle since November. On the wrong continent

**ROD HULL AND EMU - 100,000/1**
For: Would probably both fit on the one bike
Against: Not likely to be bicycle touring in Kyrgyzstan at this time of year. Deceased.

PLACE YOUR BETS HERE

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Today's ride: 58 km (36 miles)
Total: 21,894 km (13,596 miles)

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