Verkhniy Muzkul roughly translates as “Upper Icy River”, and the name of this race is no misnomer. The starting point in the village of Sary Tash, Kyrgyzstan already lies at a decent altitude of 3170 meters, and it is mostly up from there.
The local guest houses frequently make bank on ill-prepared jobbers and practicing youngsters not accustomed to the height, at times leading to a decimated peloton before the ra...
Read moreVerkhniy Muzkul roughly translates as “Upper Icy River”, and the name of this race is no misnomer. The starting point in the village of Sary Tash, Kyrgyzstan already lies at a decent altitude of 3170 meters, and it is mostly up from there.
The local guest houses frequently make bank on ill-prepared jobbers and practicing youngsters not accustomed to the height, at times leading to a decimated peloton before the race has even started. Whoever is not felled at the start by altitude sickness sets course south to see if they’ll still be in the saddle at the higher passes. Heading south along the famed and rugged Pamir Highway, the first hurdle to clear will be the Kyzyl-Art pass, marking the Kyrgyz-Tajik border not far from the tri-point with China.
It will take the riders 44,4 kilometers to reach this pass which lies at 4291 meters, making for a fairly gentle climb which only gets steepish near the top. Having crossed the border, the peloton reaches Tajikistan’s Gorno-Badakhshan Avtonomnaya Oblast, or the Mountainous Autonomous Badakhshan Region, which comprises nearly half of Tajikistan’s land area but merely 2% of its population.
Any adventurous rider that has broken away in the last hairpins below the Kyzyl-Art border crossing might enjoy this for some 20 kilometers, until they reach Uy Buloq pass. A climb of 11 kilometers with an altitude difference of of roughly 230 meters makes for a slightly harder test for the riders, but the long and scenic descent towards the “Karakul” or Black Lake provides an excellent opportunity for the peloton to catch up, as does the stretch of flat road alongside the lake.
Having passed the lake, the ascent toward the final climb begins. The first 40 kilometers of the climb are again fairly gently, and offers great views of the Verkhniy Muzkul range, and riders would be well advised to take in these views now. This is because the last ten kilometers to the Ak-Baital pass swap breathtaking views for breathtaking gradients, which routinely exceed 20%. It is here, at 4.655 meters and the highest point along the Pamir Highway, where riders cross the finishing line and swap their bikes for oxygen masks.
