Is This The End??

The story starts 2 days ago near some neighbouring mountains in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Laura and myself were riding down an extremely iced over road into a local village to pick up some food before carrying on a petit cycle tour around Almaty. Spirits were high and plans looked ok considering they were contingency ones. While riding I notice that Laura's pannier rack (the part fitted on the the bike to hold all the bags) was loose on one side. On closer inspection what I had feared the most. The bolt holding the rack had sheared in the frame. We took the bike to the local shop where we tried to drill the broken piece out with no luck, I think even if we had we would have struggled to re fit the rack. With the danger of the aluminium frame getting damaged due to how thin it was in that area. We have to make a decision not just on the bike but on continuing the trip. The influences... When we were in china not being able to buy fuel was a huge impact on the trip that we could never have foreseen. We had to go into contingency funds that we had budgeted but we blew that due to large unavoidable expenses. Now we're in Kazakhstan earlier then expected and due to both Russian visa entry dates and Kazakhstan visa lengths we have to deal with more issues.  Basically we have to leave Kazakhstan, go to Kyrgyzstan and then come back again... All with money and time that technically we don't have...  On top of this we're further south then we were ever meant to be, we would have to get a train/bus north with money and potentially time that technically yet again we don't have.  All the above results in cutting our trip down even more then we already had to. This is not taking into account any hidden costs involved from the trip into Russia and the rest of our trip.  Pheewweyy this is complex.  The final decision...  When we planned this trip we wanted to do it together, we wanted to cycle tour and camp in amazing places. We also wanted to push ourselves both mentally and physically and learn about our own limitations. However because of the reasons above we are no longer able to achieve what we set out to, and so we have decided to no longer carry on with the tour. Of course I am gutted and disappointed but I have enjoyed every moment, and I truly hope that every one who has ever watched a video, shared a comment or read a blog post has enjoyed the trip too.  The future... Well "The past is history, tomorrow is a mystery and today is a gift. That's why we all it the present." Let's wait and see. I'm not on my way home just yet.....