http://zandmartin.com Adventure.Travel.Writing Mon, 20 May 2013 16:11:33 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://s2.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.png http://zandmartin.com http://zandmartin.com/2013/04/21/asia-rivers-expedition-fundraising/ http://zandmartin.com/2013/04/21/asia-rivers-expedition-fundraising/#comments Sun, 21 Apr 2013 05:52:49 +0000 zanderbmartin http://zandmartin.com/?p=728 ]]> http://zandmartin.com/2013/04/21/asia-rivers-expedition-fundraising/feed/ 0 zanderbmartin http://zandmartin.com/2013/04/17/polartec-piece/ http://zandmartin.com/2013/04/17/polartec-piece/#comments Wed, 17 Apr 2013 04:06:13 +0000 zanderbmartin http://zandmartin.com/?p=661 ]]> http://zandmartin.com/2013/04/17/polartec-piece/feed/ 0 zanderbmartin OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA http://zandmartin.com/2013/03/29/team-awarded-a-polartec-challenge-grant/ http://zandmartin.com/2013/03/29/team-awarded-a-polartec-challenge-grant/#comments Thu, 28 Mar 2013 14:58:47 +0000 zanderbmartin http://zandmartin.com/?p=646 ]]> http://zandmartin.com/2013/03/29/team-awarded-a-polartec-challenge-grant/feed/ 0 zanderbmartin http://zandmartin.com/2013/03/18/the-last-camp/ http://zandmartin.com/2013/03/18/the-last-camp/#comments Mon, 18 Mar 2013 03:54:52 +0000 zanderbmartin http://zandmartin.com/?p=609 ]]> http://zandmartin.com/2013/03/18/the-last-camp/feed/ 1 OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA zanderbmartin OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA http://zandmartin.com/2013/03/12/cycling-the-celestial-mountains-in-winter-2/ http://zandmartin.com/2013/03/12/cycling-the-celestial-mountains-in-winter-2/#comments Tue, 12 Mar 2013 03:48:13 +0000 zanderbmartin http://zandmartin.com/?p=639 ]]> http://zandmartin.com/2013/03/12/cycling-the-celestial-mountains-in-winter-2/feed/ 0 OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA zanderbmartin Our egos were tempered just as we gained the top of our first 3000+ meter pass. There we met the family that lives at the very top of the pass in humble buildings buried in 15 foot snowdrifts. The father of the family's job is to drive the bucket-loader and clear the wind-loaded snow from the road as it is deposited. Even on a gorgeous sunny day, we hurried off the pass as the wind howled. Entering the mountains, the frequency of towns dropped off precipitously, meaning we had to carry more food and for longer periods. It was a small price gladly paid to leave behind the flat, populated plains. Here, the only shop for 120 km offers juice boxes, meat-flavored potato chips, ramen noodles, and fresh naan. The loneliest little cell phone store in the Tien Shan. We passed a large artillery piece just wrapping up some control work along the road, and an hour later encountered its leavings. This wet-slab buried the road in a 300-foot long block of cement fifty feet high. We carried our bikes and bags over it in an hour's effort, smirking at the hundreds of cars lined up for 14 hours. Bikes win. In the shadow of spruce, the snow is deep. Work-hardening a tent platform, usually the province of winter ski trips, felt novel on a bike trip. The difference between the north and south sides of the final pass on the Osh - Bishkek highway was stark. Here, on the north side, the deep cold continues but the air is dry and the hillsides bare. Getting into Bishkek, we reunited with friends and immediately returned to the mountains for a blissful ski tour. http://zandmartin.com/2013/03/12/cycling-the-celestial-mountains-in-winter/ http://zandmartin.com/2013/03/12/cycling-the-celestial-mountains-in-winter/#comments Mon, 11 Mar 2013 22:37:28 +0000 zanderbmartin http://zandmartin.com/?p=590 ]]> http://zandmartin.com/2013/03/12/cycling-the-celestial-mountains-in-winter/feed/ 0 OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA zanderbmartin Our egos were tempered just as we gained the top of our first 3000+ meter pass. There we met the family that lives at the very top of the pass in humble buildings buried in 15 foot snowdrifts. The father of the family's job is to drive the bucket-loader and clear the wind-loaded snow from the road as it is deposited. Even on a gorgeous sunny day, we hurried off the pass as the wind howled. Entering the mountains, the frequency of towns dropped off precipitously, meaning we had to carry more food and for longer periods. It was a small price gladly paid to leave behind the flat, populated plains. Here, the only shop for 120 km offers juice boxes, meat-flavored potato chips, ramen noodles, and fresh naan. The loneliest little cell phone store in the Tien Shan. We passed a large artillery piece just wrapping up some control work along the road, and an hour later encountered its leavings. This wet-slab buried the road in a 300-foot long block of cement fifty feet high. We carried our bikes and bags over it in an hour's effort, smirking at the hundreds of cars lined up for 14 hours. Bikes win. In the shadow of spruce, the snow is deep. Work-hardening a tent platform, usually the province of winter ski trips, felt novel on a bike trip. The difference between the north and south sides of the final pass on the Osh - Bishkek highway was stark. Here, on the north side, the deep cold continues but the air is dry and the hillsides bare. Getting into Bishkek, we reunited with friends and immediately returned to the mountains for a blissful ski tour. http://zandmartin.com/2013/02/21/from-the-sea-to-the-mountains/ http://zandmartin.com/2013/02/21/from-the-sea-to-the-mountains/#comments Wed, 20 Feb 2013 22:26:11 +0000 zanderbmartin http://zandmartin.com/?p=570 ]]> http://zandmartin.com/2013/02/21/from-the-sea-to-the-mountains/feed/ 0 OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA zanderbmartin The Soviet-era cargo ship Dagestan took us safely across the Caspian in 15 hours, a record crossing for the rusty train ferry. Our canvas backgammon board proved its worth once again in the cramped cabin of the Turkmenabat to Ashgabat overnight train. The crusty gray-haired Red Army paratrooper we shared our cabin with didn't speak a word of English, but he sure could roll a pair of dice. Uzbek single-track. Bukhara has a gritty, inhabited feel to it: people walk freely through occasionally crumbling medieval monuments, groceries in hand, while shop keepers hawk wares from under the domes of ancient bazaars. With no tourists about in mid-winter, we were able to wander undistracted through the madrases, mausoleums, and mosques. Here, the Po-i Kaylan ("Foot of the Great") complex, showing the minaret of the Kaylan mosque and the turquoise dome of the Mir-i Arab Madrasah. Leaving Bukhara, we pedaled by the Ark, or central fortress, stopping for our photo op close to the spot the scheming Stoddard and Connolly were executed by the Emir a century and a half ago. http://zandmartin.com/2013/02/14/in-the-shadow-of-the-greater-caucasus/ http://zandmartin.com/2013/02/14/in-the-shadow-of-the-greater-caucasus/#comments Thu, 14 Feb 2013 02:35:14 +0000 zanderbmartin http://zandmartin.com/?p=568 ]]> http://zandmartin.com/2013/02/14/in-the-shadow-of-the-greater-caucasus/feed/ 0 OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA zanderbmartin Walnuts? Cherries? Eggs? We can pickle that! Stealth camping is always a source of minor stress at the end of the day: you want to be off the road in a quiet spot, and out of sight so no body bothers you, but not so far away that you are wasting energy getting there. Sometimes, I dreamed we would happen on an abandoned fortress that we could hide ourselves away in. On two occasions, that dream came true. Stalin looks out over waiting train passengers in his hometown of Gori, Georgia. The greatest mass murderer in human history is revered here, and almost no where else in the world can you find statues and likenesses of him in public. Looking up successive valleys, each more twisted and inaccessible than the next, gives one a good idea about how the mosaic of cultures and ethnicities came to inhabit this mountainous land. The stark newness of the road and infrastructure tells how recently some of these communities were liked to the modern world, for good and ill. Leaving Tbilisi, we raced north and east, eager to be in the mountains again. After tracing the foothills of the Caucasus into Azerbaijan, we stopped for a much needed rest at the restored caravansarai in Seki. Filling up our water bottles, buying food, or asking for directions always gave us a nice rest, and gave passersby a chance to ring us and ask questions. 'Where are you from?' 'Are you married?' and 'Do you have an iPhone and how much does it cost?' top the list. The (phallic) contrasts of Baku city. Oil money has remade the city half a dozen times over the last century and a half, leaving strange contrasts. While the mountains were ever present on the horizon, it was not often that we ventured into them. The Greater and Lesser Caucasus ranges sandwich the fertile valleys of Georgia and Azerbaijan, giving us fresh produce and good wine, and (mostly) snow-free roads. To see the supposed smallest book in the world, pay the Museum of Miniature Books a visit. You won't be sorry. Admission is free. The dreaded Baku Ferry Office. The only clue as to its true purpose was a couple of Mongol Rally stickers on the sheet metal door. We waited here for 3 hours before bulling our way to the ticket desk and demanding tickets. This won us another 5 hours wait, and a bunk on a cargo ship across the Caspian. http://zandmartin.com/2012/02/15/everest-attempt-needs-support/ http://zandmartin.com/2012/02/15/everest-attempt-needs-support/#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:01:49 +0000 zanderbmartin http://zandmartin.com/?p=527 ]]> http://zandmartin.com/2012/02/15/everest-attempt-needs-support/feed/ 0 zanderbmartin Screen Shot 2012-02-14 at 4.44.45 PM Screen Shot 2012-02-14 at 4.44.55 PM http://zandmartin.com/2012/01/25/cycling-silk-interviews/ http://zandmartin.com/2012/01/25/cycling-silk-interviews/#comments Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:03:04 +0000 zanderbmartin http://zandmartin.com/?p=516 ]]> http://zandmartin.com/2012/01/25/cycling-silk-interviews/feed/ 0 zanderbmartin mel-biking-stunning-road-600x400