Day 16 Karakol to Bishkek

Today was our last day on the road and we knew it wasnt going to be an easy one. Normally a 385 km ride is a walk in the park for us but riding in Kyrgyzstan we have come to realise  that even on a sealed road you can only average 60kph on a good day. We had no idea what was in store for us.

We were leaving the comforts of our hotel room and taking on the cars and buses of Kyrgyzstan. As was the case on all rides, we stopped after an hour for a leg stretch and make sure everyone  was travelling OK. At that point everything seemed ok although Ann (Anya) has told me her bike had some hesitations when overtaking. We had only just started off again and these hesitations became worse and the bike was unrideable. At first  we thought lack of fuel but a check of the long range tank dispelled that line of thinking. We had thought a fouled plug as there was mention the bike was using oil. I noticed some oil at the airbox and thought maybe the filter was blocked. We proceeded to remove the airbox cover to find it was full of oil.

This bike runs a dry sump and the check valve that holds the oil in the reservoir was not holding and therefore when they dipped the  oil, it showed empty. Naturally it was topped up but this actually overfilled it and cause the excess to be pumped into the air box. Once we drained  off the excess we were on our way to a fuel stop and lunch  stop at the petroglyphs.

This is a 42 ha site on the shore of lake Issyk Kul that has thousands of petroglyphs dating back to 8 -10 BC. Our guide was Max who had very limited English. Even so, with our limited Russian and his limited English we managed to understand what he was saying.
With lunch done we set off for the final leg, or so I thought. From here on a series of events made the ride back to Bishkek interesting to say the least. My bike, which had been relatively faultless aside from a dodgy key was feeling weird. At first the brakes felt hard and the ABS was fluctuating, and around 60 kph the bike was shaking. I signalled everyone past and waited for Ellis to come with the support vehicle. We looked at the wheels and brakes and coulnt find any problems so we continued on. We had only just got to 60kph when a traffic cop pulled Ellis over. He wasnt going any faster than me so I was surprised to see that happen. They claimed he was doing 75 kph and an on the spot fine of 1000 com. ($20 AUD) On the spot means pay now. I wonder what happens to that money.
Not wanting to risk being picked on as well, I headed off and went on to catch up to the rest of the group. No less than 10 km down the road was another speed trap and in total I counted 10 between there and Bishkek. It seems all the newer flash model cars get pulled over and I wonder how corrupt the traffic police are here. Eventually I caught up with the group and Ellis was close behind. Once again we all set off to the next stop.

 This stop was to be a coffee break before the final run. The temperature was increasing and we were getting tired from the ride. We had no sooner  set off again when some of our group were pulled up again for speeding.  Once again the validity of the actual speed versus the  claimed speed was in question with one rider being cleared only to be booked when he went to  ride off. Luckily for me I had stopped on the other side of the hill to wait for the girls. So we rode past at around 60 kph in a 90 kph zone. Even then they tried to pull over Zelda, although she kept riding thinking they waved her through. Everyone except Zelda was at the stop so I very slowly took off and caught her and convinced her to stop. Our first Kyrgyz Fugitive!
With the rest of the group released we just wanted to get to Bishkek. We were very cautious for the rest of the ride and having to deal with the increasing traffic  and impatient  drivers was becoming a chore. Finally we made it to the final fuel stop and eventually th B Hotel in Bishkek. Our ride was over  but our journey continues.