Tashkent Modernist Architecture. Modernity and The Chatkal State Biosphere Nature Reserve
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
337 km
Riding-time estimate
7 h 12
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
337 km from Salor to Salor, about 7 h 12 of riding. On the way it passes Big Solar Furnace, The Chatkal State Biosphere Nature Reserve and back through Big Solar Furnace. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,950 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Tashkent Modernist Architecture. Modernity
At 5.22 in the morning on 26 April 1966, an earthquake struck the old city of Tashkent and flattened much of it. Within days, architects and engineers from across the Soviet Union arrived to rebuild, and the capital of Uzbekistan became a showcase for Soviet modernism, with wide avenues, big squares, concrete and glass blocks, and a new kind of public art. The older mud-brick lanes were largely lost, but the new architecture has a boldness of its own, now loved by a younger generation of photographers and architects.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tashkent Modernist Architecture. Modernity is where the day begins. Next is Big Solar Furnace.
2. Big Solar Furnace
In the foothills of the Tian Shan, about an hour north-east of Tashkent, there is a building that looks as if it belongs in a science fiction film: a huge curved mirror, made of thousands of smaller mirrors, facing a field of tracking mirrors that follow the sun and focus its light onto a single point. This is the Big Solar Furnace near Parkent, built in the Soviet era in the 1980s, and still used for research into materials that can withstand extremely high temperatures.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Big Solar Furnace comes up 38 km in. Next is The Chatkal State Biosphere Nature Reserve.
3. The Chatkal State Biosphere Nature Reserve
East of Tashkent, the land rises steeply into the western ranges of the Tian Shan, and the Chatkal range forms the border with Kyrgyzstan. The Chatkal State Biosphere Reserve, established in the Soviet era, protects a stretch of these mountains, with juniper forests, walnut and wild fruit trees, alpine meadows and rocky peaks.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Tashkent Modernist Architecture. Modernity. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Tashkent Modernist Architecture. Modernity to Big Solar Furnace
Tashkent Modernist Architecture. Modernity → Big Solar Furnace is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Big Solar Furnace to The Chatkal State Biosphere Nature Reserve
Big Solar Furnace → The Chatkal State Biosphere Nature Reserve is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Chatkal State Biosphere Nature Reserve to back through Big Solar Furnace
The Chatkal State Biosphere Nature Reserve → back through Big Solar Furnace is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Big Solar Furnace to Tashkent Modernist Architecture. Modernity
back through Big Solar Furnace → Tashkent Modernist Architecture. Modernity is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.