It is always good to look back at the year past and see what has been done and where the time went. Here is our year in retrospect in 2015 - Year End Review - Bicycle Touring. January: We had an emotional start of 2015 when we went our separate ways for a while. Winter had definitely [...]
After having cycled for almost 22 months we have a special feeling for certain routes we have cycled on our journey. Sometimes because of the architecture, sometimes because of the people and sometimes because the cycling was just so tough and ultimately very rewarding in every aspect! It is hard to describe all our best roads, [...]
‘Left, we need to stay on the left!’ we were shouting at each other every time we re-entered the road. We had crossed over from Laos to Thailand and had not realised we also had to change the side of the road we drive on until we had passed the border and saw the signs. We had [...]
Bicycle touring Kazakhstan in November and December was chilly and special. We only crossed a corner of this huge country. The country that is known for the movie Borat and the pro-cycling team Astana, and got a good impression. We entered Kazakhstan on the 26th of November and left the country on the 16th of December. We have cycled approx. 514 km, hitchhiked 120 km because of a broken tooth and ascended 3850 meters.
Albania was our first encounter with a more Eastern culture and it was interesting to be in a country where roads and transport were less developed. Because of the size of the country we decided to make a loop south before heading towards the border. While bicycle touring Albania we entered the country from the ferry by sea at Durrës on the 14th of April 2014 and left the country on the 20th of April 2014. We have cycled 427 km and ascended 4647 meters.
Bicycle touring in Turkey is a great experience! Before we started travelling Turkey by bicycle we had heard from other bicycle tourers the country is one of the best for traveling by bike. We were enthusiastic to reach the country and make our way from Europe to Asia. We entered Turkey on the 1st of May 2014 and left the country on the 7th of July 2014. We have cycled a little bit more than 2440 kilometres and ascended around 20709 meters (2 and a half times mount Everest).
A well known section of bicycle touring in China. This is what we were preparing ourselves for. Mountain passes up to 4720 meter and no idea about the quality of the roads. We were heading out on an endeavour which would become one of our highlights of our journey. From the wild west of Litang, past mystical [...]
'This is how we maintain our bicycles' is part of the series “This is how… by TwistingSpokes.com”. Cycling on a well maintained bicycle is a great feeling. We give quite some attention to Mojo and Isaba as they are the main source of transportation. We really enjoy spending the time maintaining our bicycles, this does create a sense of [...]
'This is how we navigate' is a part of the series “This is how… by TwistingSpokes.com”. How do we navigate through the vast amount of roads in China, cities as Teheran and Istanbul, Turkmenistan desert, forrest of Albania, the plains of Mongolia? And the list goes on. In reality it is not as complicated as it sounds [...]
It was amazing! Arriving to Urumqi after cycling there all the way from the Netherlands. It was quite a huge milestone for us. But it was also a bit daunting because during the last days of the year we'd had some deep conversations about what next. The plan was clear but the feelings not so much. We [...]