Afternoon ride in Almaty

After some google earth work for the rest of the route and some delicious Kazak lunch from my host Magdalan, decided to ride to Medeo and the ski resort. There's a brand new cable car that's too expensive for locals at 12 US but one can drive up to the top of the mudslide dam without too much trouble. Cars don't worry about running over pedestrians or bikes so getting up took some maneuvering, but luckily the way down was some gorgeous but muddy single track and double track through the suburbs. If only there weren't cars on some of the suburban roads you could ride from 3500 meters to town on awesome, not too technical track.
Learned that road crews, like in Georgia, consist of lots of men sitting around doing what 1 or 2 do in the states. They also don't care about warning us of their work, but luckily bikes can make it places cars can't. Coming down from the pass we were nearly strangled as a road crew was removing downed timber and rock from a gulley with cables all across the road.
Still waiting to see what tomorrow brings, because the weather looks like rain and low snow.
Here's a little taste of the ride.