Bicycle Touring the PAMIR HIGHWAY | The Northern Road #37

[@the_primsi]

Looking forward to the "worse than shit" part video :D We passed there in the other direction by a rented 4x4, but then opted for the southern road to Dushambe because our stomachs decided so. The part from Kyrgizstan to Khorog was incredibly awesome for us.

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

The “worse than shit” part was between Kalai Khumb and Khorog. Everything else was indeed amazing 🥲

[@stephandrube8658]

Ungefähr der zehnte oder zwölfte Bericht, den ich mir wegen des Pamir-Highways anschaue - am liebsten auf Rädern. Und doch tauchen bei Euch unerwartet neue Gesichtspunkte der Betrachtung auf: über diesen quasi-autonomen Teil hatte bislang niemand berichtet. Man wußte es schlicht nicht. Jedenfalls recht vielen Dank und Euch beiden eine erfolgreiche Weiterfahrt

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Das ist tatsächlich überraschend. Die GBAO Permit ist ein großes Thema unter allen die im Pamir unterwegs sind. Wir haben sie einfach mit dem e-Visa gebucht. So spart man sich den Stress sie umständlich in Tajikistan zu besorgen. Mit der Permit sind dann fast alle Ecken des Pamir zugänglich. Es gibt zwar ein paar kleine Ausnahmen, die sind aber für Radfahrer in der Regel nicht relevant, weil die Zeit limitiert.

[@КостяЛопунов]

I like those holes at Mattias's t-shirt at 4:52! It's great to see that you helped to fix that boy's bike, he looked so happy, ride on!

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Haha, yes this shirt went through a lot 😅

[@DanielEarlester]

Good save of bike by Arev. Look forward to the next episode and 2025.

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

More to come! We have great adventures in the works 😀

[@JohnRobinson-km4kt]

I think that of the many cycle touring channels I have followed, yours is by far the best😎🚴🏽😎John

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

🤭

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Please feel free to tell us more about it 🤭

[@JohnRobinson-km4kt]

@ it in your respect and embracing of the people that you meet on your way…

[@JohnRobinson-km4kt]

@ it in your respect and embracing of the people that you meet on your way…

[@gabrielgullette6695]

Great that you were able to help the kid with his tire, he looked happy! Awesome scenery throughout, and the honey at the end must have been a treat. Wonder if you had any chocolate haha

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Actually Mathias and Valentin did not understand that they were asking for chocolate 🍫 We might have had some chocolate wafers, but I was not paying attention as I was too tired. The honey was indeed tasty but a large part was actually the bees wax 😉

[@stupidmonkeykev]

oh no ... now I have to wait for the next ep! Thanks for sharing.

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Life is hard 😆 But we are working on it!

[@waynemorton5073]

Thanks. Love your videos.

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Thanks for watching!

[@nikolovesfood]

Fantastic episode. Besides the content itself, I also really enjoy watching how you are steadily getting better at making the videos. Excited for the next ones!!

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Glad to hear it!

[@paraickelly701]

Watching this is inspiring me to plan a bike tour for next year!

[@spektrumB]

I say go for it.

[@StuartFarmar-r5v]

Were will you ride to and from

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Awesome! Don’t let anything stop you 😎

[@SlowMovingSaddles]

Again a wonderful video. Besides the beautiful landscape I especially love to see how you are in contact with the locals ❤ And ofcourse respect for your achievements!☺️

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Tajik people make everything look easy 😉

[@rohatalp7052]

what an incredible ride. keep it up guys, really enjoyed the video. very good music picking as well especially the beginning of the video. sending lots of love :)))

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Thank you, we appreciate you noticing the music! Arev puts a lot of effort into finding an appropriate local soundtrack.

[@2wheelsrbest327]

Thank you really pleased I have just found you. Its an interesting journey and aged 73 your teaching me things I never knew which is great. Happy New Year to you all.

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Welcome aboard! How could we teach you anything we wonder 😅 Keep it rolling! We were absolutely stunned by a man almost your age who absolutely crushed it in the Pamirs!

[@saralannebo1769]

Such an inspiring and beautiful episode. Looking forward to the next episode! Hope you guys a nice and relaxing Christmas and new years :)

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Thank you! You too! For us it’s been fairly quiet days, but we enjoyed them nonetheless!

[@MrJx4000]

Wow, I was glued to my video screen the whole time 🤩. That was some very amazing scenery, especially seeing those people eking out a living in those mountains (we think we have it difficult here in 🇨🇦 ). You make it look so easy. Keep on truckin'

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

It's all relative, isn't it? But yeah, huge respect for the Tajik people 🥰

[@MrJx4000]

@@AmazingWorldBikeTour, what really got me was that little girl that came up to you at the 23:00 mark--what a little darling, and then that barefoot little boy near the end at 32:28. Yes, huge respect for the Tajik people to be able to survive out there.

Legendary german rockets, again and again. Splendid video, looking forward to next one 😉 Hope you enjoyed Christmas, wherever you are. All the best for 2025 !

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Stephane, is it you? How are you doing? Any new adventures planned?

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

All the best from 🇸🇳😉

@@AmazingWorldBikeTour What the fuck are you doing in...Senegal, right ? Incredible 👏👏👏

@@AmazingWorldBikeTour You got me ! China next summer, still cycling. Your videos are so beautiful, I found them recently. It's a little bit weird watching what you were doing before we met 😄😄

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

We are cycling home 😬

[@brunoschaer3758]

thanks for the great video! I cycled the south route this summer: Great memories of a wunderful country with good-hearted, friendly and hospitable people! Clear recommendation for visiting this country!

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Wonderful! How did you like the southern route in particular?

[@khorogify]

@@AmazingWorldBikeTour The route is tarmac7asphalt, so riding is really easy (besides the very very high temperature in July/August. So it just was too hot.) Also, there is the place where the terrorist attack happened in 2018. Feels somehow frightening passing this place, but i felt very secure the whole time! Great landscapes along the Panj river! and some beautful places along the way (a presidental park, and something like a disneyland (Varmar Land)).

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Well, if we ever get the chance to do the Pamirs again, we will make sure to check out all the places we couldn’t do this time!

[@bikepackingg]

waaoow Thank you guys for sharing this wonderful experience with us.

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

You’re welcome! 😊

[@manasinene5518]

Arev we need that HAIR-CARE ROUTINE girl! 12.36 does not look like someone who had a whole day of dust and wind! Looking forward to more videos in 2025, safe riding!

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Hair routine? 🤔 I guess being soaked in sweat and full of dust all day not having a shower for days does the trick 🥳😂

[@NaggieNag]

Thank you for sharing your content. I’ve been following you for a while now, and it’s clear that the journey isn’t easy. Yet, you make it all look so calm and inspiring to watch. May the wind be in your back in the reet of the journey! And Arev, you're always so kind to kids 😊

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Thank you. I guess we grow with the challenges, which feels quite natural on the kind of route we’re taking. Needless to say, we have good and bad days 😅

[@arcoulant87]

Chapeau .Great video.

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Thanks 👍

[@kyikyimyint2772]

Thank you for your sharing this video. I like watching cycling video. Be healthy and happy.

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Thank you for watching, and we wish you the same! 😄

[@WorldBudgetWheels]

Being a cycling youtuber, I can relate it to. Soon, I will be crossing it. Keep this video as a ready reference.. ❤

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Amazing! I hope you enjoy the Pamir Highway as much as we did.

[@spektrumB]

I hope you aren't crossing it in the winter. There are wolf packs in the region. Normally they stay away from human settlements. However in the winter, when food is harder to come by. They become more aggressive and attack villagers at night. They even dare to get close to bigger town like Khorog. In Khorog, there is a pack of street dogs. I count 10 to 12 of them. No one feeds them. They just pick up what left over from the market. However, this pack of dog does keep the wolf away in the winter in Khorog. The first time I visited Pamir in 2017, in the village Vankala. A villager told me the wolf pack took away a 6 year old boy. And last winter, in another village, the wolf attacked a mother and her daughter when they went to the toilet(toilet is outside). The girl escaped but her mother was taken away. If somehow you have to cross the Pamir in the winter, avoid camping if possible.

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

I don’t want to imagine doing it in winter, even without thinking about wolves 🥶🫣

[@jamestoday2239]

That's an amazing ride/climb guys!!

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

It was one of our favorite weeks in the whole journey!

[@beeveeme]

I cannot believe I’ve never heard of some of these beautiful cañons. Stunning, beautiful video.

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

It's a hidden gem for sure, even us were surprised!

[@jeffdible8171]

Phenomenal! Watching you ride this makes me think you need wider tires tackling those kinds of road conditions. At least its dry.

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Oh, yes! Wider tires would absolutely make it a lot easier on those kind of roads. Cyclists who fly to Tajikistan to do the Pamir Highway often have setups optimized for such bad roads. Since we are in for the long run we compromised with 26x2” tires. They run good enough on asphalt and bad roads alike, but on soft and sandy sections we obviously struggle.

[@tanwei1931]

After years of 'training', we are so glad to see that uphill climbs now seemed like nothing much more than eating pieces of cakes for you two 😅 !!

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Haha 😆 Well, that climb was indeed enjoyable. It wasn’t too steep and we met such wonderful people along the way!

[@harrisfriesen9886]

Enjoyed this segment and look forward to future videos. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Thanks! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you too 🙏

[@marietossings2882]

Oh my, those landscapes just got me deep inside. What an awesome place. Your videos give me so much joy. At 71 years old, all I can still just do now is dream about these places (until 2 years ago I always traveled). By the way, this honey must have been excellent and full of energy. So thanks for taking me with you. What you are doing is a real achievement. You've come a long way (literally and figuratively) since you left. I can't wait to see your next video. Hava a blessful and happy New Year. 🤗

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Our pleasure! We always hoped to enable people that can not embark on this kind of journey themselves to see how it feels ☺️

[@spektrumB]

Tajikistan is expanding the paved road from Kalai Khumb to Khorog, Murghab and eastward to China. It will be finished at the end of 2025, if it goes according to plan. On one hand, I'm happy for the locals. They don't have to suffer from the dreadful broken bumpy road anymore. However for adventure cyclists, this is the end of something. The northern route from Dushanbe to Kalai Khumb will remain broken. And from Murghab heading north to Kyrgyzstan also. Other alternatives are to take the Bartang valley route, or the Wakhan valley. These routes can be done with a touring bike. However I'd really recommend to take a hardtail mountain bike for these.

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

@spektrumB how was that section when you did it this year? As you might know, our videos are behind and we did it in 2023 which was appalling, but you can compare it with the coming episode 😅 We always joked that we will not impressed when someone will tell us about how hard the M41 was in a few years 🤣

[@spektrumB]

@@AmazingWorldBikeTour From Khorog to Kalai Khumb, many bulldozers and heavy machinery were widening the road. They only opened certain part of the road for traffic from 12:00 noon to 2pm. All the lorries and cars tried to rush through in that time gap. You can imagine with all the big lorries how insanely dusty the air could be. I started with a clean bike(cleaned it in Khorog). By the end me and my bike became completely yellow, covered with all the dust in the world.....:) Good that you pointed out the people living in GBAO don't call themselves Tajik, but Pamiri. 😇 Looking forward to the next episode from Kalai Khumb to Khorog? Happy New Year. 🎉

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Okay, then it was very similar to when we did that part.

[@spektrumB]

@@AmazingWorldBikeTour You were there in August 2023. I rode that part in late May 2024. Only nine months apart.

[@linigen1951]

Great story so well presented, one of the best bike travel videos I have seen. Look forward to the next section.

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Thanks for appreciating! The next one was a tough cookie

[@bloemherrebout4924]

Wonderful guys! I can remember the first kilometers of your departure from your hometown. How strong you both are now😊 enjoy en wishing you a happy and prosperous new year in advance

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Thanks so much! 😊 Yes, we’re glad we got some practice on the way 😅

[@bellamolloy5141]

So good legends!!!

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Thanks Bella! 😘

[@ingmarvanzutphen29]

Again a great episode. Already looking forward to the next!

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

The next one was a tough one 😅

[@šarampov90]

Thank you for the subtitles! Now my family can watch it too. ☺

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Wonderful! It is great to know that the effort we put into making good English subtitles literally translates into you being able to share the journey with your family!

[@KoonnieTrip]

It's nice to see the greenhouse again

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

We were to stunned and tired to film it, but when we arrived there were about 20 touring bicycles in the yard 😃

[@jeffieh]

Thank you! Loved this ep, really looking forward to the next. And captivated by Medoni yo ne:) Ride safe, Jeff

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Yes, Medoni yo ne is really catchy! 🙏 They were so kind to allow us using their music 🎶

[@MesutEkener]

Great Thanks.

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Awesome, thanks for watching!

[@alafenetre81]

Happy New Year to you! And thanks for this adventure!

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Our pleasure!

[@andreasemetas3047]

As always, great video, great music. Hope you had lovely Christmas! I would love to know what shirt make is your friend wearing Heeeeeeelp 😊

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Thank you! Our Christmas was calm as our current country has no Christian background. If you mean Valentin, we believe most of his gear was from Decathlon.

[@andreasemetas3047]

@AmazingWorldBikeTour thanks so much! I found it. Enjoy your journey, you are doing so well. We follow you since the beginning ☺️

[@vincentb893]

Fantastic

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Glad you liked it, hope you enjoyed the scenery!

[@StevSalise-vu7cv]

Amazing vid❤

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Thanks 😁

[@geoffwhite3664]

Amazing video! A truly epic adventure.

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

The best part is that this is just a little taste of the Pamir Highway!

[@edprotas4148]

Thank you for making this lovely video.

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Glad you enjoyed it. You might like other parts of our journey as well 😉

[@Imran-qz3xm]

High quality content. Thank you 👌🏻

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Glad you liked it! 👍

[@nigelstopes36]

Thank you for another episode full of adventure and breath-taking scenery! Looking forward to more Pamir goodness soon. I hope you met more local people who could show you a bit of life in the Pamirs... it certainly helps that Arev speaks Russian.

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

We always love to meet new people and learn from them, but we also respect their privacy. In some cultures people don’t like being filmed, which is also the case most of the time in Tajikistan.

[@nigelstopes36]

@@AmazingWorldBikeTour Thank you. I appreciate your respectfulness. Do tell as much as you feel comfortable with in the narration though.

[@neilwalton4474]

Good morning, Merry Christmas, and Happy new year ! The Pamir highway certainly looks like a physically demanding ride. Do you feel you would of been strong enough to ride this route at the very beginning of your world tour ? Or do you feel like much stronger cyclist's today? I really hope you are still taking a little break, and enjoying the Christmas season, where ever you are. Neil.

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Well, obviously we are much stronger and experienced. However, with plenty of time and realistic expectations most people could probably do it. Arev speaking Russian surely made things a lot easier too and the people we met were just amazing, so anything is possible then…

[@luisalbertoubillusperez5758]

👍👍👋

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

🙌

[@lunititis]

I am curious about Valentin journey. He also traveled from europe to Tajikistan by bike like you did?

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

If I remember correctly he had to take some flights back and forth for private reasons, but to the best of my knowledge he pretty much also cycled all the way, although on a different route. Balkans, Turkey, Georgia, Russia, Kazakhstan if I am not mistaken. cheni.activity is his instagram. He takes really nice pictures!

[@alexanderlawson1649]

Pamir higwhay the motorway of western tourism. The bycicle is the start, next the avalaunch. You do not know what is coming, get ready.

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Well, yes of course. Places completely untouched from any kind of tourism are more difficult to find. However, there is still a massive difference between Tajikistan 🇹🇯 and so many other continents. Will it change certainly. Will it be better? Maybe, maybe not. However, we feel that cycling is probably the least invasive kind of travel one can do.

[@mohammadaz4746]

Corruption , abuse ...every place in the world

[@AmazingWorldBikeTour]

Well, hardly on the same level, right?