Deresoplan - Catkese 30 km 22/12/2010

Little to report today. Dominated by several wifi stops and a pause to dry out the gear. At one such stop several of the attendants do their best MJ impersonations for us - one guy gets close despite his generous gut. The other fellow couldn't be further away.

Nice days riding - not that we test ourselves with 30k's!


Nice Riding - Turkey from James Rathbone on Vimeo.



We bust out the tents once more - I'm quite keen to experience some cold camping.

Gerede - Deresoplan 34km 21/12/2010

When we wake we are greeted with the sun pushing its way through the clouds. Once up and about we search the frozen abyess for suitable 'toilet paper', and also look around for any edible plants. We chance upon a mistle toe tree...that was an awkward moment....

Nice riding, long mellow hills that don't burn the legs too much. At noon we stop and melt snow for our lunch of spicy bulgar - gotta get your grains in kids!

In the afternoon we hit some killer downhills. We hit some killer downhills - at around 70kph I overtake several trucks. We roll into Deresoplan and spot another suitable cell for the night.

Baltali - Gerede 33km 20/12/2010

Lazy start. Reluctance to leave palatial abode. Lack of riding due to some mammoth wifi searches. We ride on into the night a little to break the thirty kilometer mark - I feel a long way from the big distance days in mid Europe.


Stu gets his first flat of the trip. At a truck stop we pause to fix it. The kind truckies offer us cay to help keep the cold at bay. With inflated tyres we ride a little way down the road and select a suitable camping spot.