Central Asia Moto recycle Expedition

Chronicle of a three-week-long overland motorcycle adventure through four countries

- Piyush Sonsale

THE IDEA

On a balmy evening in August 2019, I was enjoying a meal with my friends when the phone rang. 'Hello, Mr MotoRover' said the voice on the other side, as Parbeer (aka Garry) usually addresses me. I have an idea for a ride,' he said. I stepped away from my friends, sensing an interesting conversation ahead.

We have participated in your motorcycle tours in Kyrgyzstan and Morocco but I feel like I want to bite into something bigger now. A multi-country overland motorcycle adventure on a tough terrain, preferably in Central Asia,' Garry said. My immediate reply was, 'Yes, let's do it.' I had been toying with the same idea myself at that time! All right then, start planning. I'll put the group together,' said Garry and thus was born the idea of this Central Asia Motorcycle Expedition.

THE BUILD-UP

The remaining months of 2019 were spent in research and evaluation of several aspects that we had to consider while planning the expedition, most importantly the countries to be covered. Central Asia essentially comprises five countries: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. We decided to skip Turkmenistan on account of the several complications related to visa as also the travel restrictions within that country, though we would have to take the risk of riding through Tajikistan. Our research showed that although Tajikistan shares a long border with Afghanistan, it is a safe country. It also has the Pamir mountains, potentially the highlight of our expedition.