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Before travelling out to the event I had a certain amount of trepidation about going to Pakistan and most people I spoke to thought I was a bit crazy. The country doesn’t get a whole lot of good press back in the UK, but I knew they wouldn’t hold a race here unless it was safe to do so.

The journey from the UK to Islamabad was pain free and although we were warned about the airline we didn’t have any problems. The fun really started when we arrived at Islamabad, experiencing the roads and the way people drive / ride was quite amusing. I’ve seen more chaos in other cities like Nairobi and Cairo, but this was still pretty crazy.

After a few hours spent at our hosts house we made our way to the Kaghan Valley where the race was being held. It was 8 hours in a mini-bus and it was a journey I will never forget. We passed through the town of Abbottobad, which is where Bin Laden was supposedly found and killed, although no one over here believes it in the slightest. The final part of the journey was up an unpaved jeep track with near vertical drops to the side. It was pitch black which probably helped as we couldn’t see the extent of the drops. Finally reaching the hotel in Shogran at midnight, 2500m above sea level this would be our base for 3 nights. The Kaghan Valley was an area decimated during an earthquake in 2005 and it is still trying to rebuild and the devastation was clear to see on the drive up.

Because we arrived at night we didn’t get to see what the surroundings were like, so awaking the next morning to see the amazing mountains and scenery all around us was magic. After getting breakfast which consisted of chilli omelette, bread and what seemed like fired chipattis we headed out for our first ride, so scout out what would be half of stage 3 of the race. It was an unrelenting 7km rough jeep track climb from 2500m up to 3100m. The gradient was mostly OK, but there were a few really steep sections, making me really glad I had gone with the smaller 38/26 chainrings. We stopped at a few places to grab some photos and also at the top where the view was amazing. While the Alps are amazing, if you get to 3000m you will be on top of any mountain you can ride to but out here, even in the lower Himalayas the mountains go up to 5000m+, which is amazing to see.

In the afternoon we headed off for a gentle ride and managed to get caught in a thunderstorm, but it didn’t bother me much, being from Wales I am used to the rain but most people here are not and there were several people who suffered. After all the travelling to get here I hadn’t slept much and it all started to kick in, although even worse later that evening I started to get bad stomach problems and spent another sleepless night mostly sat upon the toilet. I was warned that I would get ill, so I guess it is better to get it out of the way now than during the race which starts on Friday.

The second day here everyone went down to visit the local school that the event is in aid of. I managed to make it down, but felt really rough all day and wasn’t able to participate in all the activities laid on which was a real shame as the whole point of the event was to meet the school children and see the fantastic work being done at the school. You can forget any preconceptions that you might have about Pakistan, perhaps from what you have read/heard in the media, the people here are extremely friendly and welcoming.

We have one more practice day before the race starts on Friday, with a 60km stage that goes up to 4500m altitude, easily the highest I will have ridden to, it will be interesting to see how I cope. Hopefully I will be feeling OK by then and able to give it everything.