Jim was the most experienced of our group, and also the most doubtful about the three cyclists' technical climbing capabilities. The three of us had never been on a mountaineering expedition before, so I suppose that Jim had every right to be concerned about our inexperience and how it might jeopardize the success of the expedition.

 
Still, we decided to go ahead with our plan and make the best of it. I personally felt that the success of a non-technical expedition like this one lay more with the team members' ability to communicate with each other, and with each individual's mental endurance, rather than with pure technical skills. I tried to assure Jim that our mental strength would compensate for our lack of climbing prowess, but knew that he wouldn't be convinced until we actually achieved our goal.

Five out of six team members met in Beijing, where I live and work. Luc had decided he wanted another go at the Karakorum Highway (which he had cycled two years ago), so we agreed to meet up in Kashgar, the closest large city to Mustagh Ata.

We flew to Kashgar via Urumqi (Xinjiang's capital) on July 25th, where we spent one day stocking up on food, gas and other supplies. On July 27th at 10am, we left for Subashi Village, at the foot of the mountain, arriving at a deserted piece of grassland at 4pm. About 500 meters away was the village of Subashi, but apart from that, there was nothing else in sight, including camels, and camels were supposed to take our stuff up to Base Camp in two days!

After a few minutes the local villagers came over to check out our tents and gear. They showed specific interest in the bikes and our plastic mini soccer ball, which we had bought in Kashgar; you see, we did not only want to break the world record cycling at high altitude, we also wanted to organize the highest soccer game in the world!