Traveling the Xinkiang-Tibet Highway

reached Lhasa on Sept 19. Left Kashgar together with Imma & Pep, the crazy Catalans :-), and Joe from Switzerland. On the 2nd day out of Kashgar, a few kms after Yarkant we met the "Yakman" Claude Marthaler and Nathalie. We were just talking about broken rims, as I discovered that my backrim was broken as well! I didn't like this decision but I was so close to Kashgar, so I decided to go back to get this issue sorted out. At the Giant Bikeshop they didn't have as strong rims as I would have liked, but they had a 32 hole rim which was OK for my spokelength. So I used the old frontrim on the backwheel and the new rim in the front. Fortunately it was saturday afternoon, so they didn't use the trueing stand, and the staff let me do it myself. After 4 hours I was done, went to the hotel and the next day I caught a bus back to Yarkant from where I continued towards Yecheng (Karghilik) from where Highway 219 starts...

So I started the chase to catch-up again with the others. Asfalt ended after 100kms, from now on it was about 1800km of gravelroad more or less. Met a Chinese Mountainbiker with who I traveled for a few days, but it was a bit difficult with him as we had some communicationproblems and he was not really eqipped for the outdoors - no stove and camping equipment which was not warm enough for cold western tibetan nights. So he wanted to stay in dormitories or road repairstations, which I didn't want to. I don't want to plan my days to reach a certain place, or to stop earlier than necessary if I could go on. In the last town before the Aksai Chin Plateau I caught up with the others. From this day on I cycled with Joe. Imma & Pep where ahead of us. Also the Chinese guy took off. So we took it easy. We met the Chinese guy again in Domar and lost him when having lunch break in Rutok. That was the last time we saw him.

Arrived in Ali, enjoyed civilization again, went to the PSB to get the Travel Permit and took off after a restday towards Darchen/Mt Kailash. Did the Kora in 2 days. Left Darchen after a restday. Met Imma & Pep again and a couple from Tasmania. Perhaps I was pushing it a bit, but after 3 days Joe told me he wanted to continue solo. Well, sad to say good-bye as we got along really well on a personal level, but he was slower than me due to carrying a lot of (in my eyes) unnecessary items, which slowed him down a great deal. But it's fair enough not liking to be the one who has to follow up always...

So I caught up with the Tassies and cycled with them for a few days, but traveling with couples is always a bit difficult as a single person (at least for me) and they were pushing it even more than me. So I let go. 4 days after Saga I reached the Friendship Highway at Chawu and finally asfalt all the way to Lhasa. Getting back to civilization, hot shower, laundry, good food, and social contacts, was so tempting that I pushed it a little more and cycled the 450km in 3,5 days.

I was looking forward to finally see the famous Landmark of Lhasa, the Potala, but was a bit disappointed when I saw it surrounded by a chinese-style city infrastructure. But it is still an impressive building.

As a summary, cycling the western Tibet Highway was a great experience! High passes, remoteness, unique people, blue skies and mostly bad roads - a challenge for mind and body. But the overall experience is very rewarding.

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