The Bishkek Spectacular - a Loop from and to the Capital

Leaving the comforts of Bishkek! Riding out of the city via the flagpole, after which the mountains unveil themselves in the distance, is a real highlight. Until Kegety village, you're following a pretty quiet asphalt road.

The climb up to Kegety is long and can bear treacherous weather. Be prepared with a good clothing kit and enough food, since you won't see a single shop until Suusamyr. We recommend the village of Sovetskoye (day 1) as your resupply point.

Up and over! After camping before the top, we completed the last ridable switchbacks and pushed over the scree on top of Kegety. The south side is a landslide mess, you've been warned. The valley that follows is tranquil and slightly downhill until the next climb.

After making our way over the short climb, it was time to descend through the long Karakol river valley to Suusamyr. Fill your water from the early glaciers before heading west, as the river gets murky. Suusamyr is a resupply point, avoid the one roadside restaurant to avoid food poisoning.

As we ate in the one roadside restaurant in Suusamyr, I got foodpoisoning and threw up 6 times overnight. Horrible time. We decided to cut the trip short and hitchhike back to Bishkek. The track to the capital is pretty sweet though, so we encourage you to find our proposed GPX tracks inside The Bishkek Spectacular collection.