Today I headed out for Tajikistan on some of the most scenic roads I have ever ridden. The roads were twisty, turny, and had massive grade changes, they were essentially every motorcyclists dream. This is a welcome change since I have not seen a mountain pass since central Turkey. Interestingly enough, central and southern Kyrgyzstan is starting to become not only an adventure bikers dream, but their destination vacation. Since my departure from Western Europe, I have encountered only a small handful of fellow riders, but on this stretch of road alone I passed maybe a dozen or so, and this in a country that does not have a single motorcycle dealership. Apparently, at least one European adventure travel agency has set up shop in southern Kyrgyzstan and offers guided tours and motorcycle rentals for this area. At the time, this seemed a bit immaterial, but this little observation would become very important very quickly.
The second half of this wildly scenic ride was met with cold driving rain and high wind. I believe I would of been quite miserable if the roads were not so incredible. I descended out of the mountains and into an intermittent valley to find a much needed gas station. I gassed up, grabbed some food, and sat on the curb and ate. Looking over at Greta, I noticed oil coming out of the main hub of her rear wheel. I looked more closely, and part a strap had come loose from the bike, a piece of it was torn off and sucked up into the hub destroying the main seal and causing the leak. The rear brakes no longer worked, and to be honest, at this point I thought I had damaged the brake caliper, not the hub (the hub oil had gotten on the brake disk). Unfortunately, I still had 70 miles to go to my next stop. So in the driving rain, I crossed another mountain range with dozens of switch backs, all on an injured Greta. Two exhausting hours later I rolled into Osh, thankful to not have rear-ended anybody or gone off a cliff.
Now what to do? With no motorcycle service centers or dealers for literally 1,000 km, I was kinda stuck. Well, remembering all of the adventure riders passing me, I started looking for the touring company that was supplying their bikes. By the grace of luck, the company (MuzzToo) was located just 3 miles from where I was staying, so I went and visited them. They were extremely helpful, pulled the back of the bike apart, found the issue, and then started making calls, within an hour they found the proper size seal (from a machine shop supplier), and it will be here on Monday. So with luck, I will be on my way to Tajikistan Monday night or Tuesday morning. The motorcycle brotherhood is extremely strong in this part of the world, and as I come to learn, it is the only way to survive here.
Leg Distance: 432 mi (696 km)
Total Distance Traveled by Motorcycle: 27,149 mi (43,787 km)
Countries/Territories Visited: USA, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar, France, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, San Marino, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Transnistria, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan
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