Day 46 - Well, didn't see that coming

You'll be pleased to hear we survived the night un-flooded. It stopped raining and dried out a lot quite fast in fact. We decided not to set an alarm and catch up on sleep, figuring that the tracks would be too sticky for us to ride early anyway. This proved to be a very wise decision!

1 mile in, after our leisurely 11am start, we were using the end of a toothbrush to scrape mud from where it had jammed up the wheels. At 3 miles in we'd happily made it to the more built-up track which was less sticky and started to make progress. At 5 miles I discovered I was missing a critical bolt holding my pannier rack on. No matter, we said, we have spares.

Except the bolt hadn't simply fallen out but sheared in two, leaving the end embedded in the frame 😱. Wuh oh. Not something we can fix in the wilderness. We bodged an attachment and protected the frame from any more damage and were ready to go again. Except should we go further into the wilderness with such a critical component at risk, or should we go back, repair and try again?

The whole event triggered a continuation of our discussion from the night before, about our goals, time limits and external constraints for this trip. It was looking like we were going to be tied up in the 'stans for much longer, much further and much more offroad than we expected. Of course we expected this and can keep working around it, but do we want to? Does it "count" as A-B? What's "cycling to New Zealand" mean? Was that even our goal? Is it finally time to go to India and South East Asia that we've both been really keen for before this trip even started?

Time for a cup of tea and lunch to discuss. As the truck that gave us water disappeared down the track the way we'd come, with 12 empty seats in the back we both thought we'd missed a trick, and in thinking, had our answer.

We continued cycling while we looked for signal to check flights and options, but when we saw the 4th vehicle of the day going the other way (two had absolutely blasted by spitting stones while we fixed my bike, and dove for cover!) we hesitated for a moment, then flagged him down and asked for a lift.

Idris was very obliging and we soon had the bikes loaded up and were absolutely blasting back the way we'd come. Slightly terrifyingly fast in fact, but he was driving well and I eventually dug out the rear seatbelt (optional in Kazakhstan).

It turns out that we got just far enough yesterday before the rain, the tracks there had turned to deep, sticky mud and large puddles that the 4x4 was struggling with. We would have clogged in seconds and been totally unable to move.

And then the car got stuck! Very like being stuck in deep snow, it was digging itself a trench in the mud. We made ourselves useful hitchhikers, and spent a full hour digging and pushing and digging and pushing trying to get it out unsuccessfully, until two motorbikes rocked up carrying four spades. Coincidence? I think not! One of the motorbikers eventually drove it clear using the "speed and power" mentality - creating quite the fountain of mud! It might sometimes be fast and comfortable, but this car driving business involves a lot of getting your hands (and face and arms and legs in Emma's case) dirty!

It took a gratifyingly long time to get back to Beyneu. In the end the car was barely twice as fast as us on the bikes! It was a 6 hour drive and 1 hour dig to get back to where we'd started a day and a half 💪 prior, albeit with quite a bit less effort. Didn't see that turn of events coming this morning.

You'll never guess where I'm writing this blog, but I'll give you a clue:

Food spend today: 22.23 euros