Today’s distance / 今日の走行距離: 46.79km
Average speed / 平均速度: 11.9km/h
Time on bike / 走行時間: 3h 55m
Total distance to date / 今日までの積算距離: 2106.8km (plus 4200km)
Ascent / 上り: +775m
Descent / 下り: -760m

English Summay: At last, the head wind stopped. It left a beautiful day in its wake, and I didn’t even mind the slow grind up the pass. It was silent apart from the occasional heavy truck, with only the sound of falling sand and the occasional rock. From the top (2400m), it was all downhill (see video below) to Refahiye, a small town of 6,400 people. Dinner was at Osman’s very unique restaurant – spicy chicken on Turkish pilaf.

やっとです。風がやんだ。空気がすんでいて、最高の１日でした。

夕べ、ちょっとだけ怖かったです。夜中1時過ぎに、テントの外に音がしました。

動物が何かのの委を嗅いでいるような音。そして足の音。うわさのオオカミなのか。心臓が止まりそうでした。ウサギだよと、僕が自分に言いました。しばらくすると音がなくなりました。オオカミが多いってみんながいうから、そうだったかも。。。

朝 が来るとほっとして、出発の準備をしました。朝ご飯の用意(ポリッジ – 燕麦(えんばく)300mlのコップいっぱい、カバノキ、乾燥アンズ、乾燥ブドウ、オリブ油、塩、水750ml – これを全部混ぜて、15分火を通す)、荷物の整理と荷作り、テントをばらす、荷物を自転車に乗せる。だいたい2時間の時間が必要。

今日の天気は素晴らしかったです。風が全くなくて、音は道路の横の砂と時に石が落ちている音だけ。最高。

峠のうえまで上る道は長くて急でしたが、ゆっくりと上って、午後1時ごろに頂上につきました。そのあとは下りだけ。

(Click on image for short video – will open in new window)

レファヒエ町についたら、子どもたちが走ってきて、Hello mister, you want hotel?と叫びました。6人の男の子が親切に僕をホテルまで連れてくれて、荷物と自転車を元気よくホテルの3階まで運んでくれました。いつの間にか、 明日、同じ男の子たちはレファヒエ町のツアーをしてくれることになりました。にぎやかになりそう。
夜の食事はオスマンさんのレストランで食べました。レストランの壁にトルコの骨董品がぶら下げていて、いい雰囲気でした。

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    Permanent Link     Comments (8)

How do you film yourself? Surely your arm isn't long enough to enable such a good view,is it? Or do you use a gantry?

Aunty Lyn, I have a 1m long aluminium pipe that has many uses. It is mostly for hitting angry dogs these days…

Rob

Have you heard of Cruzbike? a front wheel drive recumbent "cruiser" a kit that you can turn a cheap K-mart MTB into a jolly bent bike. The inventor of this conversion kit (they also sell complete bikes) can sell me the seat and mounting hardware which weigh only 1.7kg. The bike business is now US based but he is a Perth local and tomorrow I will get the seat at his workshop. I hope I will have a chance to see some of his prototypes too. I think my project bent bike will be a 20/26in straight tube Bacchetta clone or 20in Dahon folding-bike based bent.

Where are the belly dancers' photos?

Satoshi, I think I may have stumbled upon Cruzbike at some stage during my recumbent research…I have heard of them from somewhere. What kind of seat do they use? Mesh or hardshell? As for the belly dancers, give me some more time to get in shape (ie, get some fat on me) and I'll reveal the pics.

The cruzbike seat is made of two pieces of pressed aluminium shells with two layers of foams of different density in a mesh cover velcroed on. basically the same as your seat but in lieu of fibreglass shell it uses pressed aluminium which is pleasantly light. You should be able to find the details on http://www.cruzbike.com. I failed to test ride his bikes today which I should have. John the creator of the bike kindly supplied me with the seat kit (as it's a kit i drill holes and glue edging but his wife can professionally make the mesh seat cover and post it to my work address) at a reasonable cost and I also got an adjustable stem and a moustache handle bar from the spare parts box.

Ah this post is no fun reading for other readers so you can remove it later

Awesome videos mate!! Sounds bloody cold though!

I just realised that an aluminium seat would stick to your finger (or any part of exposed skin) in that temperature you are travelling in!!!! I think carbon or fibreglass seat would perform better in such an extreme condition.

by the way I managed to get hold of a DT Swiss 240 front disk hub for AUS $35 brand new incl postage. How could that be possible? I don't know but it's sold under Magura brand (also sold under Bontragar brand apparently). DT Swiss now has a factory in Taiwan but it's so inexpensive I am surprised that I could find an XTR level front hub at this price. The original DT Swiss hubs are priced around 140 USD and a lot more in UK probably made in Switzerland but are identical, made to the exact spec. DT Swiss front hubs have a very good reputation for their smoothness and lightness but the rear one is not suited for heavy usage. I only got the front one. The guy who sells it still has 40 something left. If it's a really good piece I will buy one more for future use!! Hows your DT Swiss rear suspension serving you???

OK it's another boring post you can remove after having finished reading it

Satoshi, great info about the bike bits. I'll leave the info on the site for others to reference…you never know, your experiences may help someone out! As for a brand new DT Swiss hub for 35 bucks, that is awesome. The DT Swiss air suspension on my bike is fantastic. No issues with it at all. Really easy to service yourself too.

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