Bandirma to Gonen (“Gurnen”) Took a 7 Lira Dulmush (which means bus filled like sardines) and slept in a hotel with an old school key (see picture). Very quaint town, everybody knows everybody, not much going on.

Gonen to Edremit (120 km ride). Spent a day looking for and trying to buy a used bike. Couldn’t find one. The best new mountain bike I could afford was about 10 cm too small for me. Bought it from a guy named Murat and asked him to install a bike rack. I packed my gear onto it and literally the moment I leave the town I hear the tube explode. Roll the bike to the nearest shop and a guy shows me that the tire is done for as well. I’m already pretty down about this trip having spent so much money. I tell him where I got the bike from and Murat shows up with a new tire and fixes it. He seemed apologetic about the whole ordeal, but I honestly wasn’t mad, just excited to get going.

It’s now about 2 pm and I’m losing light fast. I’ve got 120 km to go and no lights on my bike. I carry half the weight on my back and half on the rack this time to try and avoid another blow up. I stupidly do not buy another tube. (I didn’t have the tools to fix something like that anyways). I’ve got two possible routes at this point, western or eastern, and I pick the western one (mistake). There is a nonstop 5-10% hill climb through unpopulated forest and farmland. The dirt road is pretty unforgiving and I have to walk my bike regularly. It is pretty hot (85 degrees) and I brought literally 2L of water, which I drank within the first couple hours. At this point I’m going into pretty serious survival mode, trying to spare my energy and not exert myself too much. After about 4-5 hours of alternating walking the bike up the hill then riding it down, I start to get a massive headache, which i recognize as an early sign of dehydration.

At one point I see something that looks like a tombstone and has a little water spigot on it and drink like there’s no tomorrow, which I honestly thought there may not be. I figured I would probably get diahrrea from this water, but it is much better than the alternative at this point. I chug down as much as I can and refill my canteen. I keep climbing the mountain, the view is quite breathtaking.

I see farmhouses every few hundred feet, so I was never in any real danger, I’m sure they would be happy to help a stupid tourist with some food and water if I really needed it. This was during ramadan, so they weren’t eating or drinking either. Sun down was at 8:45 so if I’m really hungry I can always just find a mosque to eat. As it starts to get dark I stop sweating so much and start to regret not buying a light or two. The blaring headache comes back and I start to feel all the sunburns I accumulated during the day. At this point I remember being very confused about the situation and having trouble thinking straight. I cannot even remember the name of the destination clearly. This road wasn’t completely deserted, there were still trucks going past every once in a while. I run out of water once again and continue the trek. It’s amazing how quickly one gets dehydrated biking in the heat. I start collapsing again from the heat and exhaustion. My back is aching from having to carry most of the weight on my back, but I don’t want to risk another tube popping. When you’re extremely dehydrated and exhausted and lonely your mind starts to play tricks on you. I would see figures and creatures out of the corner of my eye. I would collapse and sleep for a few minutes at a time. I would get extremely frightened over things like animal movements and I started to hear imaginary cars and voices in the distance. When I was near running water it would sound impossibly loud, almost deafening. The thought of curling up into a ball and sleeping on the side of the road was tempting, but I was too afraid. At some point I see a sign for Edremit, 37km, reminding me of where I’m going. That seemed like a slap in the face at the time, but I would soon be peaking the mountain and heading downhill. It’s dark now and the moon isn’t up. Cars and trucks would pass by occasionally and due to the lack of a shoulder I would have to hop off the road and into the bushes. It’s all downhill now, but I’m hesitant of going full speed because of the lack of lights and broken up roads. I finally hit paved road and i can track where I’m going with the flourescence from the center line. I finally caught a glimpse of the city and it brought me right back up. After a few more hours of playing chicken with the random cars and running away from angry guard dogs I find a 24/7 gas station and buy some cold water and candy bars. I keep riding into the city center and pay 40Lira for a room for the night, it’s now about 2 am.

Edremit to Ayvalik (70km) Had a large breakfast then head out, flat roads, and finally I hit the Aegean, really beautiful sea. stop in ayvalik and rent a room on the beach

Ayvalik to Aliaga (100km) At some point during this ride there was an intense thunderstorm for about 1 hour.

Aliaga to Izmir (70km) Extremely stressful ride, a lot of single lane no shoulder highway. Many near misses with cars going over 60mph.

Izmir to Cesme (100km) Accidentally got on the autobahn for the first 20-30km of this ride. I was really booking it on this ride because a) it’s illegal and b) scary as hell! I just wanted to get off the damn thing, but there were tall fences with barbed wire along the edges. I took an exit and asked around at a gas station for directions to Cesme. I ended up back on the otobahn anyways and rode for about 10km before getting a flat! I had a patch kit, but no wrench at this point, and besides I did not want to change the tire on the side of the freeway I was illegally on. I carry the bike through some brambles and thorns to a point in the fence that I could feasibly climb over, where the barbed wire was a bit broken. Unfortunately I had no way of getting the bike over. Flustered I sit down and rest for a bit by the fence. I see a guy in the distance and I start calling for his help. He’s brownbagging some beer and was extremely drunk, but he helped me get the bike over. I climb over the barbs and destroy my only pair of pants. I ask him where the bike shop is and he points me back in the direction I came from. I thought to myself screw that and just walked the bike in the right direction. I walk the bike for about 4 miles before I come across a gas station and ask the guy for a wrench. We spend about 1 hour patching the holes in the tube because the patches kept coming free or there was a leak we missed.

Cesme - Beautiful beach city, lots of things to do and nice views

Cesme to Izmir (100km) Met an old guy named jacob who spoke good english, had a (ex?) wife in the states. I mention that I want to go to Pamukkale and he gets excited to take me, even goes as far as buying me a train ticket out there.

At this point I stopped recording distances for whatever reason

Izmir to Manisa (???km) Starting running low on cash so I decide to sleep out in the forest named Dil tonight at the top of a very steep hill surrounded by mountains. I scouted a spot that would be out of sight by patrolling rangers, not that I had seen one or was sure that turkey had many besides. set up my tarp and blankets (see pic) and prepared to have one of the worst nights ever. There are some ferocious little bugs that have a mean bite. At sundown the prayer calls sounded really cool resonating off the surrounding mountains behind me. I drifted off to sleep, but I was awakened by dogs barking off in the distance. I fall back asleep, but the barking gets closer and closer. I eventually hear barking at the bottom of the hill I’m on from at least 2-3 dogs. I figured they will get bored soon and go away, but they just kept at it. A big mangy dog summitted the hill I was on and starts looking at me (I can barely seem him from the moonlight), but then he starts going nuts and barking. I get up and start waving my arms violently at him and he runs off. A few moments later 2 or 3 dogs come up the hill and start barking. I start chucking rocks as hard as I can at the dogs and they run off, then start up again. I had it with the bug bites and the snarling dogs so I pack up my stuff and head to Sehir Merkezi (city center) so I can at least be around people. I pick up a few more rocks and book it down the hill in the moonlight. The dogs are going absolutely bonkers at this point, but they’re keeping their distance and not getting in bite range. I chuck more rocks and yell “Hayir” (No!) at the top of my lungs at them.

Manisa to Akhisar - After a very poor sleep I check into the nearest otel, took a shower, then slept almost all day.

Akhisar to Balikesir - It was an extremely hot day and gas stations were farther apart than usual. Ran across more than one abandoned one as well to salt the wound. My front tire got a slow leak, It had 2-3 patches in it at this point so it was inevitable. I had to keep putting air into it at every gas station. Eventually one of the patches gave way and the tire became flat. I wasn’t that worried because I was almost at Balikesir, a pretty large city. Always do your cultural research before visiting places because i had no idea there was a 3 day holiday when I reached Balikesir. Every single bike shop (and I mean every single bikeshop) was understandably closed for the holiday. Should’ve had a spare tube! Oh well, lesson learned. Balikesir to Karacabey - uneventful

Karacabey to Mudanya - uneventful

Mudanya ferry to Istanbul - Well that concludes the trip, while waiting for the ferry I came up with a pro/con list for my bike trip to sum it up. The Turks treated me extremely nicely and only one person total on this trip attempted to scam or rob me, which was quickly defused by the locals in Karacabey. I felt extremely safe in towns and villages and there seemed to be next to no crime or theft. With the exception of some pushy vendors I never felt too out of place. People left their bikes out unlocked in most towns and seemed quite trusting of each other. They are very conservative and have strong family and religious values. Those that had some English were happy to have a short conversation with an outsider and smiled plenty. That being said, this bike trip was incredibly challenging partially because of the lack of any bike culture. People really only rode bikes in towns to get from A to B, there wasn’t much riding for the sake of riding. I found myself in real danger on the highways, so I can’t recommend this type of trip to new riders.