Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Internet access here ain't what it is in China (where every second building has an internet cafe in the basement or the attic). Updates might not happen for a while.
We need Asmund back. It's going to take a concerted campaign to make him feel loved again, but with enough emails I think we can do it.
Please write to Asmund and say that you miss him and want him back on the 2wheels blog. The setting is perfect. I'm in Almaty, nobody knows where I'm going from here, and there may be no news from me for weeks on end. Asmund would be perfectly in his element, free to speculate wildly about any number of potential catastrophes.
I hesitate to publish his email address directly, but perhaps this will help:
The first word is the short form of Asmund's preferred form of transport. It is four letters long and rhymes with hike.
Then there is an underscore (_).
The second word is Asmund's first name, which rhymes with Hasmund and is six letters long.
Then there is an @ sign.
The third word is a well-known email service owned by Microsoft that has nothing to do with frigid females.
Then there is a dot.
The last word is three letters long and if you write it backwards looks like this: moc.
Please write to Asmund and tell him we need him.
Until next time,
Edward
right hang on
ReplyDeletegot the 4 letters 2 wheels mode of transport _ but thought his name was Roland how the hell do you get that to ryhme with Hasmund got at then AOL . coma
I don't get the refridgerated womens at all? thats currently flying circles above me ead?
Are you saying that there this Americain 50 cent fella wot does all the singing about him and his other chums going down the club as he a BIG "G" angsta but he hangs around the bottom of the garden with all the "snails"? or have i got it right with AOL? Or did you mean PMT which actually is MSN?
looking forward to sending Asmund a email but still think it's easier just to shout
ASMUND WAKE UP ED SAYS "SORRY"
Still think me old china you have to send him an apology that's from you and all nice and pleasant perhaps explaining that you was under some sort of stress like what you woz back there in the bush like desert if you know what am a sayin matey chum.
Ed!
ReplyDeleteI still read your blog but I feel no need to comment.
When you got a bit late with your update from Almaty I wondered if you had arrived at the border without a permit to cross on a bike,and then ended up in timeconsuming discussions with the short guy with three stars on his shoulders.
Or maybe you took the hardly ever used and oh so peaceful Shanzy shortcut and managed to get into troubble.
One of my cycling Lines will go from Almaty to Istanbul so maybe I will choose the same route as you?
Unless you go over the mountains in Tadjikistan,that will be 2.000 meters too high for me.
If you include Russia then they,a few days ago,made a new visa deal with the EU. What it was about I don`t know. But you probably know by now.
If you take "my" route to Aktobe then parts of it from Aralsk and north for two days or so will be at and below sealevel. At a place I stopped to eat the owner of the cafe,8 dogs,two cats and a giant safe told me the yearly temperature could wary from -40C to +43C.
But I think it can get even hotter.
There are eatingplases not too far between. But allways ask where the next one is.
In 2004 I had about 200 km with OK tracks beside the old broken road. In heavy rain parts of it could turn into mud.
This is the main road with some traffic.
If you go away from the main road like to some remote border crossing between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan,and you get into troubble like running out of water,then there probably will be no one passing you untill you are well and truly mummified.
Because I was pressed for time I had to cycle every night from Aktobe to Taraz. If you go cycling way out west you have to as well to avoid the heat of the day.
I avoided Shymkent by taking a shortcut. But there may be some truth in the warnings about the area.
It was about halfway between Shymkent and Taraz someone jumped out of the dark and tried to smash my head with a wooden pole. Thanks to my helmet and a rush of adrenalin I got away. Cycling like mad.
Maybe he/they thought I was a Mexican pinjata?
Do not cycle Taraz-Shymkent or S.-Tashkent or S.-Turkestan(town) in the dark. By the way they drive like maniacs on S.-Turkestan road any time of the day.
Sounds like the police in Shymkent are not doing their job!
Try not to screw up.
After a few days cycling with Andrea I guess you feel better.
Pity you were not going the same way.
Peace.
Asmund.
Hurray!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeletePink gloves is back.
Tell me about those Alex DH19 rims again.
Regards
Eddy Merckx
welcome back asmund! I misread your post and thought you'd eaten a cafe owner, 8 dogs,two cats and a giant safe. I got quite excited.
ReplyDeleteEdmund (really is my name, and as far as I know I'm not the result of a lab experiment to cross Edward with Asmund. my parents don't look like evil scientists, but i guess you never know)
Cycling makes me very hungry, but not that hungry.
ReplyDeleteI probably ate Plov or whatever it`s called.
The food on my pricelevel in outback Kazakhstan is very basic...
By the time I have got together enough money to continue my Lines, the wonderful strong and incredible cheap Alexrim DH 19 will probably be out of production.
Ed!
I can`t remember if you stretched your legs after a day of cycling.
On my first RTW trip I did not until I walked a day on and among very steep volcanoes on the North Island of NZ. For the next five days or so I could not cycle and hardly walk. My legiments(?) had shrunk!
So I hope you do your stretching!
pinkglovesforever!
Asmund.
And next on the scaremongering - Ed I hope your saddle has a notch cut out of it. Numbnuts notwithstanding, a full hard saddle might mitigate against lots of little (bearded?)Edwards being produced in the future...
ReplyDeleteHappy cycling amigo. (I'm a bit jealous as I am a certified desert freak, and it sounds like the hot stuff is about to start.)
TFXE
Yay for New Zealand. Although the South Island is better than the North.
ReplyDeleteI ate a shop keeper once with some fart beans, it gave me wind for a week.
ReplyDeleteGood to see your back in town Asmund, why not come over for lunch sometime?
I ate a shop keeper once with some fart beans, it gave me wind for a week.
ReplyDeleteGood to see your back in town Asmund, why not come over for lunch sometime?
I was reading in my big book of things, the powdered food drink stuff. I send over should be slugged back in a mix of three bottles of water and then one of mixed power energy stuff. Don't know why it says that perhaps someone else could shed some light on it?
ReplyDeleteThere's stuff about your metabolic rates which will have changed. It's all about how it affects your body as it manages the energy. it tries to draw from what your eating etc. Well interesting yawn-blah-blah there's more but can't go on and it's friday and I want to go home. Cycle safe and all that keep yourself out of the brown stuff.
All the best from darkest surrey
PS I enjoyed the Asmund piece as he does write fun and informative stuff and I did think he ate a shop keeper too...
Hannibal.
ReplyDeleteYour diet sounds very unhealthy.
Why don`t you pick a vegetarian next time?
X
sounds great!!! perhaps a nice salad of spring greens and a nice bottle of wine. Some opera playing in the background Tosca wonderful!
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you come and see me sometime? X
f,ff,f,ff,f,f,,fff, Hmmm