Originally Posted by
philip041
The vague plan is to cycle from Austria to Kyrgyzstan (would start in London but I don't think I'll have time to make it to Bishkek - rough plan is head south through the Balkans, have a cocktail on a beach in Greece. island hop to Turkey, up the coast, boat across the Black Sea, across Georgia and Azerbiajan, boat across the Caspian and then follow the road to Bishkek via the Pamir highway. 5-6 months is my time budget so am sacrificing Western Europe as I live in London and can see it any time really. French is entirely unconnected - I'm just desparate to have a second language!
cool.
I cant recall if you've mentioned before, but what touring experience do you have?
What bike and setup are you going to use? I highly recommend a very tough bike, and also doing as much hands on "taking apart and learning as much as you can to do stuff on your own" re repairs and more importantly, keeping your bike and drivetrain in good shape, before the trip.
I've used a very tough bike for my Latin America trips, and cannot emphasize enough the importance of a very solid bike and pannier and rack system for a trip you want to undertake.
I could go on and on about the importance of low gearing, tire choice and all that stuff, but will wait for if you answer and if you want to go in this direction of discussion at all.
also, do you know of the website, Crazy guy on a bike? CGOAB, easy to find.
There will be lots of trip journals of the areas you are thinking of, with lots of very useful information.
My very strong opinion on trips like these is to get as much real and somewhat recent info from actual cycle tourers on the areas you want to go through, to plan properly and be aware of the realiities of a given country/area/whatever.
proper and realistic planning is key to avoiding potential crappy and dangerous situations, and you can gain a huge amount of insight before your trip from others travels through the areas.