This will probably get moved to the Asia forum but I hope the mods will leave it up for a bit.
For those of you who enjoyed following my husband's previous crazy bike trips he is now on the Silk Road. Started in Beijing, currently enjoying Mongolia and has 4 or 5 more riding days before they are flown to Kazakhstan. Not sure why they are being flown there, I think it's to avoid something or other.
Anyway his Instagram is: afreakaonabike

I have just come back from an amazing tour of the Champagne region, Paris, and 2 points on the Med coast where basically I swam in the sea, drank aperitivi/aperitif and went out for dinner, our friends who follow us both find the stark difference in our travel styles completely hilarious.

This is amazing!

Your trip sounds perfect though.

rcg, I also prefer your trip!

OK... I just went to his Instagram. He is either amazing or crazy. Now I REALLY prefer your trip.

Thanks starrs and schmerl- most people do prefer my trip ha ha. Sometimes our friends remark on his Insta about it. But he absolutely loves and prefers his trips so each to their own. And yes, he is kind of a combination of amazing and crazy, he is just so competitive with himself and loves a challenge, apparently the more gruelling the better.

An in-law by marriage did the Silk Road on horseback. I was really intrigued by that.

If you do a TR, please let us know!

Thanks for posting, rcg! I’ll be following along - it looks like an amazing trip. I wish I were the type of person to do this - would be amazing to see the landscapes and sights. But the camping would do me in! Your trip sounds fabulous!

What fun, RCG! Your trip, I mean 😎😂.
Andrew’s ride looks amazing, exhilarating and no doubt fun for him - as you say, viva la difference!
Thanks for sharing 🤗

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Yes would like to read the Trip Report also.

Thanks for asking her starrs !

I'll think about doing a trip report, have never done one.

I am intrigued by your in law by marriage Starrs who did that route by horseback!!

Please do a trip report! That's a trip that many of us would enjoy!

She was an amazing woman. I only met/ was around her a few times. She died shortly after the couple married. She lived life FULLY.

The reason the riders have been flown to Kazakhstan is that Mongolia doesn't share a border with it, only with Russia and China. They won't ride into Russia to get to Kazakhstan for obvious reasons and the area of China that borders Kazakhstan is Uyghur territory and the Chinese gov't doesn't want foreigners roaming around there, it's forbidden.

rcg, glad to see Andrew is finally on his long-delayed and long-dreamed of trip to the antique land. Impressive. I remember thinking this will probably make his Africa trip feel like a warm-up. I'll go check out his Instagram site.

And, um, your trip doesn't sound too shabby either!

RainyCity..PLEASE do tell...both about Andrew's odyssey and your own swimming and lounging....you already know which would be my own choice.

rcg, I just visited Andrew's Instagram page again. WOW! What an amazing experience he is having.
His photos are fantastic and I'm learning a lot reading what he has written. He is really getting to experience the culture of so many different regions.
I can't begin to imagine the stamina this takes.

Yes, it has taken a long time for this trip to happen- first Covid, then Putin's war. He is really enjoying it so far, check out his Insta, he posted some pics from Kazakhstan this morning, he is quite impressed with the city they are in now.
And yes, my trip was definitely not shabby.

Oh I know you would like my trip better-most people would I think, lol. If you are on Instagram you can check out Andrew's page: afreakaonabike
He is riding the Silk Road from Beijing to Istanbul and really enjoying it despite the gruelling riding-at least 100km per day and lots of very high elevation climbs.

My trip started in Paris, then we did a very intense 5 day private tour of the Champagne region with an Australian woman who is a Dame of Champagne and represents a lot of different Maisons in Australia, puts on champagne events etc. She seemed to know everyone in Champagne and is highly regarded so we had intimate access and access to things you wouldn't see on a regular tour, it was beyond fantastic, we loved every minute. It was very busy and intense so we had 12 blissful days of lounging, dining, wine and sea in Camogli and Villefranche sur Mer then back to Paris where my friend went home and I had 4 lovely days on my own.

Oh I'm glad you are enjoying his posts schmerl! He is loving his trip and yes, experiencing so many interesting places and people.
The stamina needed is incredible, he has already lost weight (and he was lean to start with) because it is just impossible to eat enough to keep up with the burn rate every day. He always says though, that what you need most to do these trips is adaptability.

rcg, yes. I didn't just mean physical stamina. Mental stamina is greatly needed to do something like this. The ability to modify and adjust is crucial.

Yes exactly.

Andrew tells me his new nickname given by the group medic is "Andrew two meals". The medic was concerned by the amount of weight he had lost so gave him a talking to and now he has made a bigger effort to eat more and regained some weight. He says the restaurants in Almaty are really really good and very inexpensive so everyone is fuelling up for the tough riding and camping coming up. Yesterday he was off to see the museum of folk music instruments and then they were all going to the circus which is apparently made up of the top performers from 15 different countries.
Almaty sounds like an interesting place to visit.