Day 124 (Iran): some field between Qa’em Shahr and Sari - Galugah

daily distance: 92km
total distance: 7396km
riding time: 5h

Late start - I needed the sleep apparently and very slow progress to Sari. It was only 18km, but they felt like forever. My legs were not up to anything it seemed. So I took a break, bought some new headphones (the fifth on this trip I think, none of them seem to last long and some sound better than the others) and updated the website. Then it was back on the road and the usual craziness ensued in the sticky heat of Northern Iran. 

Not the best of days, the kms just didn’t seem to fly by despite not completely unfavorable winds. Then another annoying driver passed and stayed beside me for a while. He was starting to tick me off. Wanted to take a picture. Alright, take it then, but I ain’t stopping I thought. He moved ahead a couple of kms and then I saw him again. Pretty persistent so I stopped and it turned out to be a great meeting. Mohammad is a biker himself and soon enough he gave me his address in a town slightly off my route … and then drove behind me for a while. Didn’t know what to make of it and motioned that he should go ahead. He did, only to wait for me again about 5km up the road with a nectarine in hand.

He told me about a geography teacher from Iran by the name of Sayed who was also biking and who was heading in the same direction, about 20km ahead. Ouch … didn’t want to go that far without lunch. But off we went, the winds in my back at first, making for easy progress. It was a bit up and down in hot conditions and when Mohammad was gone I thought “wouldn’t it be great if he brought something to drink”. I can hear the groan already, but lo and behold a couple of minutes later he was approaching me from behind with a tangerine drink in hand which came just at the perfect time. Little Tour de France feeling (without the doping that is arguably going on there), him handing me the can out of the moving vehicle (and reaching across the passenger seat).

Once in Beshahr I was spent. I needed fuel badly. A sandwich and three bottles of soft drinks later I was up and running again. Things were good and we met up with Sayed, who is doing a 500km tour through Northern Iran. Problem was that he speaks no English, well better than my Farsi, but that doesn’t mean much. He offered that I should stay in Galugah, about 20km further East. I wanted to move further though, so we agreed to bike there together and take it from there. Mohammad was concerned about the camping part and wanted me to stick with Sayed. That wasn’t an option, our speeds were not compatible at all. I was looking for water as I was out again too soon, but couldn’t find anything until I was on the outskirts of Galugah, way further than I wanted to be. Creeped out by some youngsters who were always behind my back and asking for money I waited for Sayed. We biked into town together and in the end I decided to stay put, finishing the day off. Can’t hurt to not be biking past 5pm for a change.

We are spending the night in the offices of some environment NGO. The term shouldn’t be taken litterally. From everything I can see (and I don’t mean the ubiquitous photos of Khomeini and Chamenei), the place is government funded. Sort of like a number of NGOs in Central Asia.

Here is also the difference in how a down-to-earth Iranian writes his diary and how a spoiled little Western kid who grew up with computers and now has some terrible handwriting goes about the same task.

The guy that set everything up was nice enough though. A shower and some laundry later I was feeling fine again. Food and some drinks at the Caspian Sea finished off the day.