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Down from the mountains
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  • From Dust We Ride

Down from the mountains

Starting from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan... Read more
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  • From Dust We RideDown from the mountainsTraveler
    On Tajik and on Afghan side, villages are where a stream is - where the soil is a bit more fertile1

    Dust, smog, and back to the city

    October 3, 2025 in Tajikistan ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    The last stretch from Khorogh to Dushanbe, the capital city.

    We head north along the Afghan border and RidingKismet prefers to stay in a hostel in Rushon to have some peace, while IronChris heads up the Bartang valley with FlyingNick. In the luggage we have some dead chicken and refreshments, since we will need them after eating dust. And there is a lot of it next to the wild creek, and lighting a big fire the pilots celebrate life.
    On the way to the capital city, a new asphalt ribbon allows us to fly along the Afghan border near the speed of sound.
    A puncture at the last Gorno-Badakhshan checkpoint allows us to have a break, and a charming soldier helps us fix our tyre and invites us for some snacks.
    Still, this delay led us to enter Dushanbe at dusk and smog joined the dust due to heavy chaotic traffic. Since Kismet has no backlights and indicators due to a fried regulator, staggering like hornets now the two pilots now fought their way to the Green House hostel, the place where all the travelers in the region meet to exchange stories, Infos, and for instance have a drink or two.

    In the end, the two heroes stay for nearly a week in this cheap hotel, trying to figure out how to get into Afghanistan in the following episode...    Read more

  • From Dust We RideDown from the mountainsTraveler
    Finally arriving at the Pamir river that marks the border to AfghanistanAt the water, some green can be found - didn't see that in a while....although still, most is just dust.Steep hill after river crossing - best place for a breakdown2Learning of the day: if you're annoyed, have a cup of coffee. We should have known earlier...Where Pamir and Wakhan kiss, the river Panj arises, making the land fertile below 2000mIn Khorogh.

    Along the Pamir and the Panj

    September 25, 2025 in Tajikistan ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    The next day we pack our gear and continue down the mountains, hoping for a bit better roads.
    We manage to kick 95 km in 9.5 hours.
    Again, we encounter sand and stretches of baby head sized rocks, and as a team building method RidingKismet would hand her bike to IronChris whenever things become a bit tricky.
    After a river crossing, Murghob shows difficulties and starts to stall, leading us to the weird assumption the CDI could be burned. Changing the latter brings nothing. Eventually, a loose connector is found to be responsible for power cuts... If not basic knowledge of electric circuits, then the learning of the day is that first of all we need to take more breaks to enjoy a coffee instead of getting annoyed.

    The more we descend, the more we get back into civilization, and the easier the roads become "normal", as our host in a guest house tells us. "Normal" means though some memories of tarmac in the villages, a bit of sand, and mostly gravel. That's fine.

    At Bibi Fatima's hot springs we soften our sore muscles, which is really needed, to then do the final stretch to Khorogh, the capital of Gorno-Badakhshan or the Tajik Pamir.
    We meet FlyingNick who, once again, arrived here way earlier than us.    Read more

  • From Dust We RideDown from the mountainsTraveler
    The petroglyphs - in the middle of nowhereSome soldiers make us understand to stay at this shack for the night, next to the checkpointOur room - a tent in the shackFlyingNick has got his own room including a bed - luxoryA cozy living room...Glad to have slept in the shack - outside temps went down below zero in the night

    Crossing Khargush

    September 23, 2025 in Tajikistan ⋅ ☀️ 2 °C

    We then have our last breakfast prepared by the lady with the beautiful golden teeth smile in Murghob, fire up the thumpers and head south. The valley here is a fairytale and we fly like the eagle.
    Where the road is asphalt, the driving is really sketchy due to ridiculously big potholes and waves that throw us around.
    A couple kilometers down we turn left into the empty lands to find the Grotto Shakhty petroglyphs, and later the abandoned Soviet star observatory. Without tracking, we still would hang around there.
    We continue since the actual plan is to get down to the Wakhan Corridor, so we have a café in the 40 foot container chaikhana in Alichur and leave the M41 to go south. What initially seems to be a normal gravel piste quickly turns in one of these roads that take you 4 hours for 20 km... Heavy corrugation, loose rocks, and deep sand demand heavy efforts, and RidingKismet is collecting bruises for the memories.
    Eventually, we arrive then at the military checkpoint near the southern border, where FlyingNick is sharing his cigarettes with some soldiers - again waiting for us for hours... Enough for one day. The soldiers signal us an empty shepherds shack where we hide from the cold wind and have a beautiful evening.
    Tomorrow everything will be easier...    Read more

  • From Dust We RideDown from the mountainsTraveler
    Dancing with Sary Tash's kids
    Facing the Pamir...and heading towards it.The kyrgyz border post, just a detour of a remote, rugged road.......leading us out into the lawless lands.Up the Kyzyl Art Pass...and down from the mountains towards the Kara KulCafé at the salty shoreWe ride and ride and ride......and are alone on this empty road...At Ak Baital Pass, thinking of Fiore and Luca...that brings us to the old caravanserai. سلامObviously, there is a guest bookWe are the first ones leaving our message here.At noon we join Nick and his DR 650.To save taxes and MOT, a new plate is found......and Murghob is now registered in Tajikistan.Taking a walk down to townDogs enjoy carrion here in harmonyIn Murghob's best guest house, Aruf's mexmonxona.

    Into Murghob

    September 21, 2025 in Tajikistan ⋅ ☀️ 5 °C

    Back in Sary Tash we play with the kids on the streets, they love it to dance and be tossed around. After somehow arranging a couple jerrycans of fuel we then cross the Alay Valley to the Kyzyl Art Pass (4280 m) that forms the mountain border in between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan - in between Turkic people and the Persian empire.

    Again a remote border, 30 km no man's land in between the Kyrgyz and the Tajik post. We are the only ones crossing and nobody wants to check our luggage, just a stamp here, a fee there, and the soldiers are in a good mood since they're going home now for a couple days.

    The road can be described as interesting and diverse, and once we crossed the mountain range, we found ourselves in the empty world of the Kara Kul lake.
    Although made out of heavy metal, one of the heroes felt the urge to stop here to donate some iron tears, regarding the incomparable beauty of this place.
    The two knights cross the Ak Baital Pass, one of the highest points on the route, and Kismet and Murghob cough heavily at 4655 m above sea level. According to Luca, we are now allowed to say we've done the Pamir Highway.
    Passing the old caravanserai, a place of meditation and peace, the shadows grew long as the prophecy becomes true and Murghob is finally brought to Murghob.... This outpost of civilization at the verge of the world.
    Nick is lasciviously clapping at Aruf's, handing us some drinx. Time to inhale the smoke of burned yak dung and the absence of the noise we're used to from where we are from.

    And from now on, it's getting cozy and hard at the same time...    Read more

  • From Dust We RideDown from the mountainsTraveler
    We raid a truck...
    The trucker is a bit embarrassed about the chaos in his cabin but happy to have some guestsTaking a ride with a badass trucker is absolutely worth the experienceThe beautiful old town was recently decorated with a lot of red flags1We manage to find a good coffee!The mosque was transformed into a museum. In prayer times, nobody can enter.People don't see foreigners so often. Of course, take a picture of us...Finally back to Kyrgyzstan!

    Kashgar

    September 15, 2025 in China ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Next morning we manage to survive the assassin car drivers to get out of Osh and make it to Sary Tash. We grab some calories at the small Chaikhana and hit the mattress early, since the plan is to get up early, leave the bikes at the hotel and cross the Irkeshtam border to China.
    So next morning we get out with little luggage, manage to stop a truck and take a seat in the dirty cabin, to take the bumpy road. It's cloudy, misty and cold, and serious soldiers in thick anoraks ask for our passports way before the border.
    While the kyrgyz side is dusty and full of unshaven soldiers, typical for this region, the Chinese side is an embarrassing, ridiculous demonstration of both, power and illiteracy. Since it's not allowed to hitchhike on a truck, we have to walk a stretch of no man's land, then take a shuttle from the border to customs.
    People ask us where we are from, holding our passports in their hands (on which it is clearly written). Very few employees speak another language than Chinese, and some seem to live in the realm of the unknowing when it comes to dividing the world outside of China into different sub countries.
    After the actual border, we find a taxi to bring us to Kashgar - stopping another four times at immigration checkpoints. It gets tiring, we agree.
    _____________________________________

    Kashgar itself: a new puzzle part on the silk road. We roam around in the old town, characterized by Persian style arches and arabesques and of course uncountable cameras. Obviously, the Uyghurs need to be controlled, not only suppressed.
    Tourists from the big cities though love to dress up in the traditional Uyghur style to do sexy photo shootings. We are impressed by the tourists cultural awareness in a region where people are afraid to be imprisoned when performing their way of living *eye roll*

    The food is good though...
    We are happy when we make it back to Kyrgyzstan - we miss our bikes and need to kick dust...    Read more

  • From Dust We RideDown from the mountainsTraveler
    Some maintenance in Osh. Actually, it took a bit longer.
    Beers and maps and silly ridersEventually, we make our way out of Osh...The mountains are calling, the girls are cheeringLandslides often make it hard to drive here. Whereas we do it to explore, others do it as a jobOn our way to Sary TashSary Tash in the Alay ValleyHeavy trucks roll up from china constantlyIn Sary Tash, Kismet and Murghob have to wait a bit, since the knights want to go out...

    Osh and ahead

    September 12, 2025 in Kyrgyzstan ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Osh is a relief, as we arrived at a hostel and met other travelers.
    Although we started just three weeks ago and spent most of the time not on the pegs but in workshops, we have quite a lot to tell and are equally eager to listen to other travelers' experiences.
    At ZorroMoto we perform some maintenance on the Iron Ladies (such as checking the valve clearance...). The busy employee with the intercom on his head doesn't stop excusing that everything has a price, promising at the same time a discount here, a discount there - at the end it feels a bit like a rip off comparing the final price for the work we did on our own.
    But since everything has a reason and leads us to a good place, we get to know Alan, Manuel and Derek at Zorro's, and later Nick, who seems to ride his DR 650 on very similar paths like us for the next few months. We all have dinner together, tons of laughters and maybe a couple drinx too much.
    In a peaceful moment, RidingKismet and IronChris sneak out to the old graveyard - again a historical site for the beginning of their common flight.
    _____________________________________

    We hug, wishing each other farewell, and ride into all directions. Only Nick stays in Osh to do some maintenance, but we promise to meet up in the Pamir....    Read more

  • From Dust We RideDown from the mountainsTraveler
    Roads can disappear, but who cares... Not Kismet and Murghob!
    In Kazarf*ckThere's plenty of reasons to take it easy on these roads - sometimes just to enjoy the view.An accident here takes some effort to be fixed...and although the traffic is scarce, the induced chaos is immense.1We didn't have dinner but the mosquitos had, still, early mornings are always nice.

    Crossing to Osh

    September 11, 2025 in Kyrgyzstan ⋅ 🌙 11 °C

    ...after one night in Karakol we continue to the west. We ride along the southern shore of Issyk Köl, a lake so big it resembles the sea on our right hand. On the left, red canyons and behind them snow covered mountain peaks. We're kicking some dust and mud on the gravel road, which in parts is being transformed into a wide tarmac ribbon.
    Later, the wind blows heavily in the valley of the Orto Tokoy reservoir, where horses, cows and camels graze in peace.
    We make it to Kochkor where first we enjoy a pizza to then decide to take a room in a guest house.
    The next day, a beautiful road north of Song Kul brings us to Kazarman. It's said to be the new road and in fact it is in pretty good condition although every now and then a landslide made it disappear and Murghob and Kismet tractor us through the rocky alternative.
    Kazarman - some say "the pearl of Kyrgyzstan" , some refer to it as "it's @ssh0le"... We have a Laghman, get some groceries and head out to to the dust again where we set camp next to the river.
    The following day starts with 100 km of heavy dusty gravel road up the mountains towards Jalal-Abad. The maps say it's taking ridiculously long, and in fact it takes even longer: Although leading us through a cinematic, wild landscape, the road takes it's toll as one tipped over truck blocks half of the road, and another one blocks it entirely. We have to then wait until two diggers pull it aside. The little traffic accumulated here, starting then a wall of death without any order once the road is cleared... One has to have IronBalls over here. After Joon Kunggöy the road turns to asphalt, giving us the true threat of the region: other traffic participants. Jalal-Abad close to the Uzbek border is a headache, to an extend that at 7 pm, after only 165 km, we decide to set camp in the mosquito governed swamps next to the busy road. After a short sleep, we finally make it to Osh, where we will stay three nights to recover minds, flesh and steel, since the bikes will have an oil change and us some drinx as well.

    Keep kicking, it's getting tough!    Read more

  • From Dust We RideDown from the mountainsTraveler
    1We find our way between horses, sheep, ......and cows......to have a drink in The Hut.A road side café

    Into Kyrgyzstan

    September 8, 2025 in Kyrgyzstan ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    The border in the south of Kegen is easy peasy, apart from a Russian lad on a Chinese 125 ccm there's only two other cars, and crossing into the other direction three Rock'n'Rollers in a beaten up car to whom we give a Kazakh sim card.
    From the steppe now it goes into the rugged mountains, empty lands, then fertile and peaceful valleys. It seems to be the season to bring the cattle down from the mountains, and around twelve times we need to find our way between the animals. We arrive in Karakol, one of the many towns we stayed during the last visit. We decided to retrace our footprints and stay in the same hostel, buy our favourite ground coffee in Kyrgyzstan 'Egoiste', head to the Dungan (Chinese Muslims) Mosque, eat up, and finally grab a drink in The Hut - a historic place for us. We met up again with the owner, a Kyrgyz with a girlfriend from Kassel, as we reflected on our presence there 2 years before.    Read more

  • From Dust We RideDown from the mountainsTraveler
    Kismet's kickin!
    At CharynThe cows don't seem to be too bothered of the overnight guests.

    Out of Almaty

    September 7, 2025 in Kazakhstan ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    Salam Alaikum, honey bunnies,
    We finally hit the road out of Almaty.
    Even though we had a lot of fun in Almaty we are happy the wrenching days paid off - Kismet is running so smooth, she starts so easy, she is willing to kick km! After a brief visit at Charyn Canyon we found a beautiful place to camp, light a fire, have a bebe beer. In the morning, our tent is surrounded by cows as we enjoy a coffee and get ready to cross over to Kyrgyzstan.Read more

  • From Dust We RideDown from the mountainsTraveler
    Comfy new seats...
    Piston 0.5 mm down...The bill for the GermansHalal Champaign to celebrate 🥂

    Katabraaap Katabraaap

    September 5, 2025 in Kazakhstan ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Remember, the stuff was at ROMAX, right?
    So two days later we are told the parts can be collected. Fresh and shiny they are, and the bill for "the немцы" doesn't even say 50€. Max wants us to pay less, we give a bit more remembering that any solution including shipping anything from Germany would be more time and money consuming. Treat your wife and kids to a nice restaurant ;)

    We grab some gorilla energy drinx and snax and pull up at Adlet's workshop where we start the Friday evening wrenching. Carefully, meditational, yet with some old school hip hop and loaded with sugar and caffeine we throw the barrel and the head on, adjust the timing, install the periphery. In the meantime, Adlet's wife and a bunch of bikers come around to check the situation... What are these Germans doing with this tiny old bike? (Yes, neither of us are Germans and yet they refer to us as 'the Germans')

    Finally, we put the tank on, click click the kicker, and brrrraaaap she wakes up ❤️
    The crowd is cheering, the wrenchers hugging, everybody happy! We notice though it's past midnight now and indeed now the operation is a success, the party is over, everybody leaves, and we go to our shabby apartment room.

    We're ready to rumble now!    Read more

  • From Dust We RideDown from the mountainsTraveler
    No hesitation for decapitation
    Rarely you find a more cozy place than a nice workshop with chai and rock music.The guys at ROMAX come across to be very experienced and dedicated.Uncomfortable lose seats

    Finding Reasons and Solutions

    September 3, 2025 in Kazakhstan ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Salam fellows,
    A lot is happening in these intense days but eventually we're forced to have a break and slow down a bit.
    Grinding the shims down manually turns out to be ridiculous as we removed not even the thickness of a joint paper so we went to a grinding shop where in the end we are handed a fistful of shims from 2.1 to 2.4 mm. With 'em we adjusted a quite conservative/big valve clearance and run around the workshop spreading high fives to the workers as we fire Kismet up. We then get on the bikes and braaap off and we make it to the outskirts of Almaty as - on a very busy road, of course - Kismet again suffers of low pressure and faints. F*CK. Well, what did we expect? With these shims we might have adjusted the clearance somehow, but not solved the cause of its disappearance.

    We decide to call Adlet, a chap we just had met 20 mins before leaving Freeriders workshop and exchanged contacts *destiny*. He tells us to get to his private, small yet very well prepared workshop, with even a decent hotel just around the corner. Same evening, with a good soundtrack and chai we do the decapitation and with cylinder and head in hands we go to Adlet's friends Roman and Maxim (ROMAX, Almaty) the next day. They quickly find out the exhaust valve seats are lose, just in place out of convenience, which explains both variable valve clearance as well as lack of compression especially when hot. BAM, explanation found!

    Some very clever ex-owner apparently installed a high compression "tuning" piston, creating higher pressure and temperatures in the anyway quite hot running XT 350 combustion chamber. Different thermal expansion of the aluminium head and steel seats over time might have shaken them off their place.
    Apart from that, valves, head, piston rings and cylinder seem to be fine.

    They then offer us to:
    1. Hone the barrel just because they can
    2. Install some new valve seats
    3. Take 0.5 mm off the piston to decrease the compression (remember: high power is something for your home trail; if you want to get home in the heat with bad juice keep your head and piston relaxed...)

    This might take max 3 days they tell us, and although it's an unexpected start of our journey weirdly we are always grateful for the things that happen to us.
    We went to the industrial side of Almaty. We met very helpful people, cheers Denis (Ricambi motor) , thanks Adlet (the most badass engineer in Almaty), peace Olzhas, rakhmet to the guys who know somebody, call someone, drive around for us, drive us around, etc. We get to wrench on old bikes in good company, a lovely thing to do. Also, we are forced to keep the revs low for a bit and breathe, didn't really have a break since before we left home.
    We're breathing... Breathing the smoggy Almaty air, and IronChris' tissues are blood red when he cleans his nose.
    We're fine, life is good, the dust, the wind, they are waiting for us out there!

    Kick it always,
    RidingKismet and IronChris    Read more

  • From Dust We RideDown from the mountainsTraveler
    On the right side we have the exhaust cam, cups and shimmies. Clearance here is non existent.
    211

    Grinding it down

    August 30, 2025 in Kazakhstan ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    ...As the diagnosis brought to light, the valve clearance in both exhaust valves is zero. Boring... This means either valves and valve seats are tremendously worn down (from one second to another?? Remember: she was running, then didn't start any more) OR in best case, a pile up of soot creating bigger clearances in the past that now just cracked and flew out the tube, allowing now the valves to sit in their original seat which means no clearance. If, if ....
    Maybe not willing to know the truth and also in lack of new valves, head and pipe gaskets, we leave the head where it is and grind and grind and grind the shims down to allow some clearance. This took the entire day ....The idea of reducing the thickness arose through deep discussions with Luca and Fiore, our Italian friends we met in Bishkek, and telecommunication with their XT350 pope back in Italy as well as our XT-legend Nico back home.
    At the same time, severe investigations are performed in order to get a spare head because you never know.

    In the end we try to always be grateful: this day allowed us to bite the bullet and do some uncomfortable work that you would not do when you have access to all the spare parts. For some reason, Fiore and Luca stayed all day long with us in the workshop rather to explore the city, helping us with the work, bringing us drinx, being a sunshine. Finally, we go to have the famous one meter mixed grill kebab for dinner.

    Guys, thank you, you are awesome!

    So back to the same boring hostel, catch some sleep, and back to grind the shims... Let's see where this journey brings us!    Read more

  • From Dust We RideDown from the mountainsTraveler

    Almaty

    August 29, 2025 in Kazakhstan ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Day 6
    Salam alaikum sweethearts, we're in buzzing Almaty! Not really just for fun though, but because of Kismet's unstartability. After having checked the spark and carbeurator next to the road in Samsy (a random village we stopped in for a drink) together with the local motorcycle hero (all the kids here go crazy on noisy Chinese 250cc motorcycles) we stayed the night at a locals backyard to then get a lift for Kismet to Freeriders Almaty workshop. Some snacks in the closeby park, groceries and an early night (finally) at a quite boring hostel. In the end, we think, we are fortunate since we really needed a rest.
    So fingers criss crossed Dimit at Freeriders can fix that thing!    Read more

  • From Dust We RideDown from the mountainsTraveler
    1
    11

    Windy roads to Almaty

    August 28, 2025 in Kazakhstan ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C
  • From Dust We RideDown from the mountainsTraveler
    1
    11

    Arriving in Bishkek

    Aug 26–28, 2025 in Kyrgyzstan ⋅ 🌙 22 °C

    After a long day and night of traveling we then arrived at 7 am local time at the airport in Bishkek. Sitting in the taxi on the way to Salut hotel we have a first glance in what the law on the road is like...
    Thankfully, we can enter our room and get a late brekky, and then we collapse in the bed.
    Later, we stroll out and get SIM cards, cash and calories.
    Aiming for an early night we go back to the hotel, and since things apparently always work out well the truck arrives at the same time to make people happy.
    F*ck early nights, let's get some drinks and celebrate with a bunch of polish bikers the unloading of the truck!
    We remember how lucky we are: people shipped their bikes here for a 3 weeks holiday, to then wait 10 days for them to arrive. We just arrived this morning, and our bikes came just at the right time after a little rest.
    Excitement governs RidingKismet's face, she needs to kick it and RIDE NOW in the dark streets of Bishkek, so we did just that.
    And now, let's test pack the things and get started!

    RidingKismet and IronChris    Read more

  • From Dust We RideDown from the mountainsTraveler

    Plaza Premium Lounge, SAW Istanbul

    August 25, 2025 in Turkey ⋅ 🌙 21 °C

    Here we are now, after some intense days of celebration, tired at an airport lounge that pretends to be cozy.
    No news about the situation of our bikes which we placed into the hands of a Polish trucker six weeks ago... The unaware employee of the shipping company who promised to bring them to Kyrgyzstan's capital city. Tomorrow we are supposed to arrive there, so let's see how the journey comes into motion!

    RidingKismet and IronChris, but without Murghob and Kismet    Read more

    Trip start
    August 25, 2025
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