2.) Photos of three international sports legends from Norway, Slovenia and New Zealand in China.

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2.) Photos of three international sports legends from Norway, Slovenia and New Zealand in China.
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Rob!
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I hope you still remember me - and I hope I can use your text and photos in my blog!
You may remember that I was a bit depressed after receiving an official e-mail, from Norwegian financial police, in Hami. But now I feel much better closing in on locking the three investor fraudsters, and anyone ever helping them in fraud, up in prison.
AND the biggest prize for me now is to get the Norwegian Secretary General to NATO, jens stoltenberg, arrested...
- AND the Norwegian Attorney General will also be arrested after polluting the main office for exactly 20 years...
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I have problems with my right leg so I don't know if I ever will be able to cycle again - ultra-long-distance. But they do have some interesting electrical bikes nowadays...
I haven't Googled Marija since 2008 - and I still don't know what you are doing in Japan.
Shouldn't you be a priest by now?
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I told my cousin and her husband in 2009 about our chance meeting in the semi-desert in 2008, but I told it clumsily like if I hadn't been there at all...
"NOW we FINALLY got you!" my cousin's husband shouted. As dumb as they are, they don't think ultra-long-distance cycling is possible...
I didn't do it any easier for myself insisting that the main street in Turpan is at sea level - according to my altimeter...
China is manipulating the altitude data by letting the town borders include the deep impression south of town - and not the high mountains north of town...
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Best wishes to you Rob!
From:
Asmund Agdestein
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The suprise of the day however, was awaiting us as we began dropping from the Tian Shan mountains through a narrow rocky gorge. Lo and behold, around a corner, we meet the infamous Norwegian cyclist extraordinaire Asmund (aka Pink Gloves).
Asmund gained fame by way of his frequent and poignant comments on English cyclist
Edward Genochio's cycling blog in early 2006. I was also a regular reader and commenter on Edward’s blog, so I knew of Asmund. Among other controversial statements on Edward’s blog, Asmund predicted Edward’s certain death as Edward made his way across the Tibetan plateau.
Read this blogpost from Edward that quite nicely summarises the dialogue…
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Asmund is also a sort of purist when it comes to traveling by bicycle. While on his tours, there is no cheating. No cheating at all. No other transport other than the bicycle. He was not very approving of my taking a train to the other side of China to begin this current leg of the skateboard journey.
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I did not recognise Asmund as he came cylcing towards us on the quiet side road. All I saw was the first western cyclist I had seen since arriving in China. I was elated of course, and all three of us stopped to introduce ourselves.
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“Hi, I’m Rob,” I said, shaking the man’s hand.
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“Rob? Rob? Rob from Invercargill?” the man said. The man then turned to Marija and began talking to her.
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I was naturally taken aback at this comment from a seemingly random, unknown cyclist in the middle of nowhere in the remote Chinese province of Xinjiang.
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Asmund was still talking to Marija when I tried in vain to interrupt him. “Now, how exactly did you know where I was from?” I asked.
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The man smiled at me and ignored the question.
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It was then that I started to wonder…could this possibly be Asmund? I had only seen obscure phothos of him on Edward’s blog, so I couldn’t be sure.
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I’m not sure how it finally clicked, but I do remember uttering the words “You’re not…you’re not…um…no…you’re not Norwegian, perhaps, are you?”
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The man was, and the man was indeed Asmund. To make things more amazing, he had only three minutes before cycled down out of the desert to the north of the road to connect with the paved G312 in order to go to a store to buy beer. A matter of minutes later, and we would have missed him.
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I still can’t believe it. Asmund was equally surprised, thinking that I was still skating my way across the US. He hadn’t caught up on the fact that I was now in China.
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For postertity’s sake, I had him sign my Guinness World Record log book.
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So, Asmund, if you’re reading this, it was a pleasure to meet you. Very suitably random indeed.
Marija and I left Asmund to go to buy his beer and return to the desert, and continued to enjoy the downhill and tailwind. I had some issues with the uneven surface of the old G312 highway at speed; the trailer almost tipping. However with some fine adjustments, I had it tracking correctly again.
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Asmund had told us that the weather forecast for tomorrow was for 37 degrees in the daytime, so Marija and I decided take advantage of the howling tailwind and push on for as far as we could today, to avoid the heat tomorrow as we dropped down to Turpan (150m below sea level).
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As we left the narrow gorge, the land opened out into true desert surroundings. Great fields of gravel stretched miles into the distance before thrusting upwards into dry, arid mountains.
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Just before dark, we were forced to stop again as Marija’s front tyre once again got a puncture. The wind was still blowing at about 30 to 40km/h. All around there were no trees, nowhere to pitch a tent. We moved off the highway and sought shelter in a small natural ditch in the gravel. Out of most of the wind, we setup our sleeping pads, scoffed down noodles and oatmeal for dinner, and tried to get some sleep, me still shaking my head at the inconceivability of meeting Asmund in the middle of nowhere in China….
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Marija and I took the 9am bus back to Urumqi. Arrived Urumqi 12:30pm. Checked in to the same hotel, and as we had hoped, Asmund was also there. All together we high-tailed it to the PSB to collect my visa extension. 10th of June was the extension date. 25 days from today. This was what I expected, but still…it just doesn’t feel like much time at all.
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With visa days ticking, I guess I really should have got on the road. Hurry! But no. Spent the two days trying to make sense of life. Didn’t get very far, but had a great time with Marija and Asmund.
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Said my goodbyes to Marija and got on a bus back to Turpan. Arrived in Turpan dog tired. I went for a nap at 5:30pm and woke up at 10am the next morning.
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