Author: Micah Markson

The Silk Route 2014 is officially over! We made it to Istanbul after an amazing few days of riding, through beautiful forests, steep hills, and a little bit of rain. We biked along the shore of the Black Sea before cutting inland and riding down the Bosphorus strait into Istanbul. Here is my actual GPS…

I am lying in bed in Safranbolu, enjoying the last rest day of the trip. Only four days of riding left!  

This final section of the Silk Route is aptly named the Hills of Anatolia. Last week there were hills, now there are HILLS. We just finished a very tough seven days of riding between rest days. The weather has been great – cool at night, and not getting too hot during the day. We now only…

Over the last several days we biked from Iran into Turkey. We are now just finishing our rest day in the city of Kars. The riding has been pretty tough, with lots of hills. But the weather has been nice – not the brutal heat that we have had to deal with for the last…

On our rest day in Tabriz, I went to the bazaar. The huge market is in a building with elaborate tiled ceilings. You can buy pretty much anything there, including some pretty strange carpets. The Iranians apparently really like sparkly shoes and gold jewellery. At night, I took a cable car to the top of…

In Tehran, we went to the Azari Traditional Teahouse. The place was pretty full, so we sat on the stage behind the band. They served us tea and a traditional Iranian meal. In the smaller town of Zanjan, we went to an amusement park. Most of the rides were closed after a safety inspection, but…

We made it to Tehran! We had a beautiful ride through some big hills. I found a place to carry an extra bottle on my bike. We camped next to a river and had another talent show. We took a bus for the last 50km into the city, to avoid riding in the crazy traffic. I went…

We have been in Iran for three days, and it’s great. If you have ever heard anything about Iran, it probably included the fact that the people here are very friendly. Really friendly. Half the time when you try to take a taxi, a car will stop and drive you there for free.  A TV crew came…

Here are a few photos from Turkmenistan. It is a very strange country – essentially a dictatorship under the president. The government spends there massive oil and gas revenues on the tons of white marble buildings in Ashgabhat.  Most buildings are covered with hundreds of satellite dishes. One night, we said at a horse racing…