Help with route planning through Kazakhstan please!

The reason that many people head through Iran – or take the Caspian sea ferry – is because 1) Iran and the Caucasus are quite welcoming, friendly countries that have excellent cycle opportunities, and 2) Russia has something of a bad reputation for cycling touring due to aggressive/drunk drivers and many other hassles. Plus, cycling from Russia into Kazakhstan in the time allowed you on a 30-day Russian tourist visa would make you enter Kazakhstan in a very barren and remote part of its northwest, where you would then have to cycle through hundreds of km of empty steppe. Tourers who do go from Europe to Kazakhstan often take the train across Russia so that they can enter Kazakhstan around Petropavlovsk, where there is more civilization.

Get your Chinese visa before you leave home; foreigners cannot receive a Chinese visa in Central Asia. Do not tell them that you are cycling, because if a Chinese consulate suspects that you will enter China in the politically sensitive Xinjiang region, they will automatically deny the visa (or simply refuse to take your application at all). Book refundable plane tickets in and out of eastern China like tourists are supposed to. When you get your Chinese visa, you can then enter overland.