In the summer of 2018, my friend Michael and I rode our bikes across the Tian Shan mountain range in Kyrgyzstan. We cycled past ancient ruins at Tash Rabat close to the border with China before heading north to the capital Bishkek. Inspired by the bikepacking.com article, we spent a month traveling on the silk road, cooking over alcohol stoves, drinking fermented mare’s milk, and mixing homemade tire sealant.

Somehow, over nearly 1000 kilometers of mountain passes, glacial floodplains, and countless rivers, we never got wet from the rain. Even after outrunning storms — twice.