Soul destroying

My plan today was only 80kms riding on a terrible road to the Chinese border then a guide to escort me the 200km Kashgar. I was scheduled to meet the guide at 10am but at 8.30am the bike suddenly dropped and the back wheel was rubbing on the wheel arch – rear suspension broken!! With all the pounding of the bad roads the bottom bolt of the rear suspension was broken and the rear shock absorber was left hanging. With the weight of the bike sitting on the wheel arch I couldn’t move the bike.

The border was shut today (except to me but that’s another story) so the only traffic was Chinese road builders. I flagged down a truck and lucky for me the driver had a pin that loosely fitted through one side of the rear fork. (the other side of the fork had the broken bolt). I jumped back on the bike and continued in second gear at 40km/h, 10km further the pin bent and rear shock absorber was stuck against the back wheel – no way was I going to meet the guide now.


I went back to my cave man origins and with a few rocks I banged the pin straight in an hour and rode in first gear at less than 10km/h for the last 20km.

After the border the Chinese roads were smooth and I made it 100km before the pinned snapped. The guide raced off to find a replacement while I stood on the side of the road, in the dark with the bike. New pin installed and I rode the last 100km into Kashgar – what a long day but very happy to make it.