Day 28, May 25 - Pugachev - Chapaevsk

135km - 1987km, M Rainy and cool 14C, A Warm sunny, 40km/h side/tailwind, 0 shots, 0 sauna, 0 Lenin, Hotel, Broken spoke, 2 flat tires (Time zone change G+4)

Woke up in the morning to the sounds of rain on the corregated iron roof. Had a breakfast to stall the inevitable bike riding, but at around 1000h decided to get my stuff together and head out on the road. Rode the first 8km in the pouring rain with a bit of a headwind with a flaky bike computer turning on and off. Eventuallly crossed the railroad tracks and headed in a more northerly direction with the wind slowly bending around to become a tailwind. Stopped for coffee at a village cafe and was immediately surrounded by townsfolk wanted to know what I was doing. Chatted for while in German with one of the local belles, while sipping my double Nescafe coffee. The music started shortly thereafter, and i was invited to a dance circle (I performed fairly well!) and then escaped out onto the open road.

Headed another 40km or so until I found a cafe for lunch. After eating, the sky had cleared and the air warmed by a nice bit. Rode the last 15km until I saw the Samaraskaya oblast sign, at which I promptly cheered in celebration and then blew out my back tire. Replaced the tube pretty quickly, but naively forgot to check the sidewalls of the tire, thus causing another blowout 500m up the road. Pulled over and got out of the wind, and then changed my tire, tube and fixed a broken spoke all at once. At 1730h I got back onto the highway and with a 40km/h tail wind stared pounding out the kms at roughly 30-35km/h (Anger riding!) Found a motel at 94km, but decided that it was foolish to waste such a good tail wind, so I kept on riding at a fantastic clip until reaching another motel at sundown. Had dinner and chatted with the Azeris and Uzbekis that were running the place, adn then turned in around 100h (time zone change!) for eight hours of sleep..

Day 27, May 24 - Balakovo - Pugachev

95km - 1852km, Sunny and warm, 24C, 40km/h side/headwind, 0 shots, 0 sauna, 0 Lenin,

Had a bit of a sleep in and then met up with Anastasi and Yevgeny and went to the Balakovo museum, which had a pretty good display of local history artifacts and personalities, as well as the WWII room. Headed back to the hotel, got my bicycle stuff together, and then headed up the road to Pugachev. The first 40km went pretty well with a side/head wind that pushed me along pretty well. Sadly, I had taken the northern road, which then turned SE into the wind, which slowed me down to about 12km/h. Finished the 8km into the headwind, and then turned 90 degrees onto a good road protected on both sides by arboreal walls. The last 10km into Pugachev turned out to be a little difficult as the road turned windward and the trees disappeared. Reached town an hour later and grabbed food for the evening's camping. Headed out of town and then found a cheap motel to throw my stuff into! Sadly, the sky had clouded over and rain was in the forecast for the morrow. Nichevo.

Day 26, May 23 - Orlovskoe - Balakovo

95km - 1757km, Sunny and warm, 20C, 15km/h headwind, 0 shots, 0 sauna, 1 Lenin, Hotel

Woke up early to get an early start on the way to Balakovo. Had a quick breakfast of fried eggs and mashed potatoes before packing up and heading off. The first 25km were pretty easy with a nice open road somewhat shielded by the rows of trees on either side of the road. Stopped for a Snickers and coffee break (sugar/caffeine injection) and then rode on. At 50km, I grabbed my first Russian hotdog, which was a microwaved concoction involving a rubbery weiner, ketchup, cheese, onion, dill and corriander served in a moist bunlet (All that for 60 cents!). Rode the last 24km into Balakovo and rode around for 30 minutes trying to find my hotel. Eventually, I came across a couple who offered to drive in front of me to the hotel! Got my hotel room and then had a much needed shower. (The accomodation was a nice two roomer, and had the side benefit that it looked like someone casually drop kicked it from the 1930s to the present.)

Met up with Anastasi, Yevegeny, and Ivan (my new Hospitality Club friends) and we drove around the old and new parts of Balakovo. Highlights for me were the panorama on the far side of the river (huge hydroelectric and nuclear plants!), the ski hill (consisting of one run where the beginners section is uphill of the expert section!?! Better not screw up newbee!) and the digital time/date/temperature/raditation display on the theatre. We took a short break and then headed out to play some billards. We started with American-style pool with a two-shot penalty for scratches, and then moved on to Russian Billards.

Russian billiards is somehow emblematic of the simplistic complexity of Russia itself. The game is played with 16 balls. Any ball can be pocketed by (or caromed of) any other ball. The person who pockets the most balls wins the game. Simple right? Sadly, no. The corner pockets are quite tiny - just wide enought to fit the ball - while the center ones are a tad bit wider. Thus, one has to find ball combinations that give the best angle! It's a super hard game to play well, that involves lots of strategy on the pocketing order and where to leave the balls. So simple, but yet so complex. After playing five games, I headed back to the hotel to get a good night's sleep.

Day 25, May 22 - Saratov - Orlovskoe

75km - 1653km, overcast with sunny periods, 15C, slight headwind, 0 shots, 0 sauna, 0 Lenin,
Hotel

Had a hearty breakfast, packed up, and said goodbye to the family (Thank-you so much Family Aleeva!). Headed across the bridge to Engels, and then turned north into a moderate headwind and followed the left bank of the Volga up the coast. Pretty flat and low-key riding on good road with wide shoulder so my mind wandered fairly freely! Stopped at 30 and 60km to have coffee and warm up.

After leaving town, I noticed that something funny was going on in my rear panniers. So I stopped to see what was going on, and came upon a bicycle repair situation that I didn't plan on. Somehow, the head of a screw holding my rear carrying rack sheared off leaving the body of the screw deeply implanted in the hole. The rack was thus lying lopsided and often rubbing against the wheel. I pulled out my little zip ties to hold it temporarly and then 4km later found a car repair shop. Fortunately, there was a someone who could speak German, and I was able to explain the issue using my rusty Deutsch! They broke out a small drillbit and were able to drill out the screw body without ruining the threads (maybe i should carry a drill with various bits and a backup tap-and-dye set as well?) I had brought along a number of metric screws and was able secure my backrack!

After the fix, I was pretty hungry and decided to stop at the next cafe 17km up the road. Had a large feast and was pretty stuffed and tired. Noticed that there was a transient hotel just up the road, and decided to try to get a good 10 hour sleep that night. Paid the 300 roubles for the 12'x6' cubicle, had a shower, and then bought a couple of beers and finished off my book. I couldn't take my eyes off of the two paintings in the room - a U.S.S Virgina portrait and a mixture of unicorns, castles, fair maidens. Individually, they were random enough, but together were quite a stunning combination! Fell asleep at 2230h to the sweet noises of tractor trailor air-brakes...ahh...relaxing.

Day 24, May 21 - Rest day in Saratov

0km - 1653km, Cool and rainy, 14C, wind, 3 shots, 0 sauna, 1 Lenin, HC

After talking with the family, I decided to stay one more day and take a boat ride on the Volga. Walked down to the waterfront with Elya's mom on her way to work. Sadly, the weather had closed in and the rain had started so very few tourists were out and ready for a cruise by 1000h! Walked around the city center for a couple of hours waiting for the next cruise time.

Sadly, no trips were happening at noon, so I went back to the Irish Pub I had just passed and pulled out my book (The Death of a Hero by Richard Alderage - an absolutely fantastic read if you like Edwardian books horrible cynical about the Victorian age!). After a few beers, a delicious chicken Caesar salad, and a many hours of reading, I headed back to the water and found a boat that was just about to go out on the water for an hour ($3.50!). Sat back in the now-sunny later afternoon hour and watched the Volga flow by, noting the beautiful sandy islets and occasional human-delivered floatsam and jetsam go by. Luckily, the sunny weather held whist on river, but I had to hurry back up the hill because of the approaching massive thunderstorm! Split a bottle of champagne and OJ with Elya and her mom, had some dinner, and then prepared my luggage to be ready to head out early the next morning.

Day 23, May 20 - Rest day in Saratov (with side trip to countryside Dacha!)

0km - 1653km, warm and sunny, 20C, 5 shots, 0 sauna, 0 Lenin, HC

The family all assembled at the breakfast table by 800h and we were out the door by 915h. Stopped for supplies (including a bunch of large pork cuts for BBQing) and headed south down the Volga to Elya's mother's family dacha. Arrived around 1130ish and had a quick tour around the grounds. It's a fantastic, old two story wooded home, with a large multi-level garden planted with lots of delicious vegetables and herbs, and fruit trees abound. Cut up the pork and had a marinade of salt, pepper, onion, herbs and yogurt (the yogurt was new to me!). The fire was started in the shashlik grill, while the rest of us chatted about academic pensions (Elya's grandfather was a civil engineer prof/administrator as well as a Stalingrad vet!) and various differences between Russian and North America.

Ate dinner accompanied by beer and vodka toasts (loved the delicious pork marinade!) and then went for a slow amble along the roads and stone-skipping waterside. Back at the Dacha, we all rested in the warm sun, until the time to depart. We headed back to the city in time for me to have my Skype conference call to the SEP meeting in southern California. Lazed around in the evening watching Paul McCartney in concert and then went to bed contentedly happy.

Day 22, May 19 - Rest day in Saratov

0km - 1578km, warm and sunny, 16C, headwind?, 3 shots, 0 sauna, 1 Lenin, HC

Woke up and had breakfast with the family. Elya had a couple of exams to take in the afternoon, so I spent the late morning and afternoon with her father and his friend (who spoke some English). Went up to the WWII Memorial Park and Museum on the right bank of the Volga and had a fantastic view of Saratov, Engels and the channel islands. The park was filled with Soviet military memorability, including a strategic nuclear bomber and the landing pod of Yuri Gurgaran (first person in space). In one park corner stood a 'model village' composed of houses native to ~15 different peoples of the FSU, exhibiting pretty distinct design variations. We stopped at the Uzbeki house and had green tea and something that looked exactly like empanadas ... hmm.

The three of us jumped back in the car and headed towards the market to find me a 9-speed bicycle chain (mine had been stretched somewhat by this point and I didn't want to destroy the entire drive chain!) Sadly, the market contained only single and 6-speed chains, which are of little use to me. We headed across town to another location where my guides knew 3 or 4 sports shops that sold bicycles. Sadly, they had nothing in the way of components and even less in the way of helpful information. Headed across town again - now on a collective mission - to locate a more specialized bicycle shop. We walked upstairs into a large warehouse filled of bicycles and accessories. I could find pink cycling tights, but, regrettably, did not find a chain because there were only two (2!!!!) in the entire store. On the owner's advice, we headed to a spoots store chain (pun haha!) where we picked up the object. We headed home, and had a few vodkas with dinner to celebrate. Headed to bed a little bit early so that we could all get ready for our dacha trip the next day.

Day 21, May 18 - Kalininsk near river - Saratov

110km - 1578km, cool and overcast, 12C, light headwind, 5 shots, 0 sauna, 1 Lenin, HC

Had a breakfast of fried eggs, mashed potatoes with bread - essential for travelling. Was a little bit worried in the first 10km about my speed ... but then I remembered the beers and shots from the night before, and it all made sense. sigh. My body started to warm up around 10-15km and I finally got up to a good pace. Lots of moderate hills to climb followed by short fast downhills. MOre open spaces again, and you can tell that spring comes a little bit later to the Volga!

Stopped in a roadside cafe for more shashlik, borscht and salad. Finished the last climb to the banks of the Volga (and would have taken a photo, but for the 6 dogs chasing me!) Had a fantastic 2km descent into Saratov where I was passing buses and matroshkas! Had to ride about 10km through industrial suburbs before reaching the city. Promptly got lost trying to find my M-Video rendez-vous with Elya, my Hospitality Club host, but found Lenin Square! Met up with Elya and went to her family's house (fantastic!) and had a shower followed by a delicious dinner replete with vodka and beer. Happily went to sleep on the fold-out couch in the spacious living room.

Day 20, May 17 - Kazachka - Kalininsk near river

45km - 1468km, warm and sunny, 17C, light tailwind, 7 shots, 0 saunas, 0 Lenin, Camping

Woke up from camping and made a nice grueltastic breakfast. Packed up and headed east over fairly flat, but often broken concrete roads (I predict that I will see a lot worse over the next few months though!). Made it to Kalininsk and headed into town to try to find a Russian SIM card for my mobile. Befriended an older gentlemen who made it his personal mission of the day to get me a card. Sadly, only people presenting Russian passports can legally get Russian SIM cards; however, the older gent walked 15 minutes home and back again to get his passport so that he could buy one for me.

With phone in hand, I headed out on to the highway and stopped to get some quick eats. The first place had little pastries that resembled many found in South America (Laura?). I grabbed a couple and then rode 8km down the road until I hit up a roadside cafe located right next to the river. Stopped and had a delicious (but expensive) shashlik lunch. I was quickly befriended by a couple of lit-up guys, one of whom was a copy (maybe still on duty) and then other wanted to find me a bolshoy baba for the night. The latter was so insistent on his pursuit that they had to kick him out of the cafe and lock the doors until his copper friend took him home.

At this point, I decided that the milage of the previous few days allowed me to take a 1/2 day off. I chatted with the cafe staff, who said that I could pitch my tent by the river for free if I wanted. No sooner then my tent was up, I jumped into the river to wash the past few days of road slime off my body. Had a few beers and then chatted with the owner's son in English! (well, fairly basic English since he was only 10 years old...) The female waitstaff invited me into the kitchen after supper hour was over and we had a good time speaking Rusglish and having a few toasts.

Day 19, May 16 - Borisoblebsk - Kazachka

160km - 1423km, cool and sunny with intermittant rain, 8C - 16C, 25km/h tailwind, 0 shots, 0 saunas, 0 Lenin, Camping

Had a delicious breakfast of hamburger, mashed potatoes, and cole slaw before heading out on my bike. Had a pretty awesome tail wind from the very start, so managed to average 30km/h for the first 45 minutes! Passed through Borisoglebsk, a quiet provincial town, and then headed due east. Geography has changed a little bit with flatter topography and more wide open fields - sometimes for 5km at a time! Had some really nice pavement for stretches of 10-15km or so, and with the tailwind was able to cruise along at 35km/h sustained! When the pavement became old and crappy, though, my speed was in the low 20s. Had a delicious lunch in a roadside cafe - chicken, salad and rice with borscht.

Reached Balashov around 14.30h and decided to keep on going to take advantage of the wind. Stopped for a chocolate bar or two, and found out that my cell phone service had stopped working (still trying to figure that out!). Reached Kazachka around 18.30h, and bought dinner supplies - pasta and sauce, tea and 2 beers. Worked my way out of town, when I was stopped by a man in his 50s and a bunch of middle-aged women who had all been drinking German wine in the car for a while. They all wanted to have photos with me, and gave me wine and a banana in return! Found a nice spot to pull off the highway, right at the end of a farmer's field overlooking a meandering river with soft breezes rustling the infant wheat. The sunset was pretty spectacular!

Day 18, May 15 - 80km from Borisoglebsk - Borisoglebsk

75km - 1273km, cool rainy with sunny breaks, 14C, 20km/h tailwind, 4 shots, 0 saunas, 0 lenin, Hotel

Set my alarm for 8.00h but lazed around in bed for another hour and a half. Got up and made a grueltastic breakfast (seasoned with candies from Ivan's mother). Headed out on the road and racked up 25km before stopping for a quick lunch break. Sadly, the wind started to turn southward, which cut down my average velocity by about 5km/h. Entered a wide river valley, with 15km of fantastic pine and beech tree forests that would have made a great camping location. Blazed down into, and climbed out of, a number of river valleys.

Around 15.00h, the rain started to fall and I sought refuge amoungst the pines. After 30mins or so, I decided to man up and go with the wet weather gear. Put on the rain coat and the hydroprotectors on the four bags and contined east in often soaking weather. Around 18.00h made it to another shashlik place and decided to stop for dinner. Had a delicious meal and then inquired about the cost of the upstairs hotel room. Given that it was only $13 for the evening (and they had hot showers!), I decided to stop for the day. Had a REALLY hot shower and then headed downstairs to the cafe to do some route planning and have a bit more to eat.

By that time the rumours had spread around that I was Canadian, and that set off a cavalcade of people wanting to have pictures and vodka shots with me. Eventually, a couple of superdrunk guys sat down with me (and a 26er of vodka) and started chatting in German (yay UBC classes!). After a few shots and a short multilingual interrogation , I was talking to one guy's daughter. Shortly thereafter it became obvious that the was trying to set up his 'over-the-hill' 25-year-old daughter with me. After a few vodka shots, the waitress decided to kick them out, and I headed upstairs for a fitful slumber enmeshed in soft blankety comfort. Before they left, though, they tried to get me to come and go for what I translated as prostitutes. Gently declining, I grabbed some needed shuteye (only to be woken up in a few hours by the drunks return + what I translated to be a prostitute....)

Day 17, May 14 - Voronezh - 80km from Borisoglebsk

160km - 1198km, warm and sunny w/ periods of rain, 40km/h tailwind!!!, 16C, 0 shots, 0 saunas, 1 lenin, Camping

Set my alarm for 7.30h and woke up to an overcast and windy day. After about 15 minutes, I realized that it was strong 40km/h west wind - and that I would be heading due east for much of the day! Packed up with glee and took off about 9.30h. Headed perpendicular to the wind and hit up a cafe after 12km for eggs and rice with tuna salad. Made it the 24km more down to the Saratov turn off, where I rounded the bend and had the 40km/h wind to my back. Immediately picked up the pace and started averaging about 28km/h! Rode for the good part of three hours barely getting off my bicycle, and made it to Anna (100km!) by 15.00h. Had some shashlik, coffee, and a disgusting Russian energy drink. Rode along another 20km until it started to rain. Pulled off for ice cream and shelter, and eventually got back on and rode the final 40km of the day. Found a nice wooded area, pulled in and had my delicious mushroom and bean stew (bought at the gas station) for dinner.

Day 16, May 13 - Voronezh Rest Day 2

0km - 1038km, cool and rainy, 14C, windy, 0 shots, 0 saunas, 1 lenin, HC

Woke up late again, and had breakfast and tea with the gang. Finished up the Tom Robbins book that I had been reading (one of my fav authors) and got ready to go out into the countryside on an errand with Elena. Spent the next few hours splashing around in the rain out in the boonies, shocking various shopkeepers with my fanterrible Russian language abilities.

Headed back into the city for more tea, and then went to the supermarket to pick up things to make chili. Fortunately, the market had a spice that was approaching chili powder, as well as Tabasco sauce! Make up some semi-firey chili for the 6 of us eating, and then spent the evening chatting away over delicious Argentine Malbec and more unfiltered Ruskie pivo.

Day 15, May 12 - Voronezh Rest Day 1

0km - 1038km, warm and sunny 18C, little wind, 0 shots, 0 saunas 1 lenin, HC




Woke up at 10.00h and had breakfast and tea with my host siblings. Played around on the internet for a little while, before walking around the city center to check out the sights. On Elena's suggestion, I went to a really cool museum of the musical instruments of Russia and near neighbours, all of which had been restored by the curator. Met up with Elena, who took me on a walking tour and told me the history of Voronezh. One key story was that Voronezh was the location where Tsar Peter the Great built the fleet that broke (surprisingly!) the Turkish power in the Black Sea. The side story of this is that P the G brought in master shipbuilders from all over Europe - and then had to bring the most attractive women in Russia to keep them there! (Basically, an imperial escort service!) This is why, as the rumour goes, the women from Voronezh are the most beautiful women in Russia..

Had dinner back at the flat with some of my host's friends and had some delicious unfiltered beer (which they just started making in the region one year ago). Another hitch-hiker was crashing there that night, so the three of us fit snuggly into Elena's room..

Day 14, May 11 - Forest just inside Voronezh oblast border - Voronezh

90km - 1038km, warm and sunny 18C, little wind, 0 shots, 0 saunas, 1 lenin, HC




We set our alarms for 8ish, and cooked breakfast and broke camp by 9.30h. We pulled out on the highway and rolled along past rich agricultural lands, broken by deeply incised river valleys (oh yay 10% grade!). We stopped at a cafe to fill our water bottles and eat some eggs and mashed potatoes with gravy (necessary calories!). Getting on the bikes again, we rode about 10km until I hit the 1000km mark, which required a few quick photos. Riding on again, we got into a pretty good groove of about 22km/h with each of us varying in the lead rider position. I had forgotten how much fun/efficient it is to be able to draft off of someone! Stopped a couple of times for ice cream and some light groceries, during which time I phoned Elena, my hospitality host in Voronezh to let her know that I would be there in few hours.

Eventually made it into Voronezh, a really nice city perched between the Don river and a dam-controlled lake. Headed into the center and had a bit of fast food (Russian style - where a hamburger really means a ham burger!) Received a message from Elena telling me where I could meet her, so bade fare-the-well to the other cyclists after promising to meet up somewhere later down the road (literally). Met up with Elena, who graciously offered me her shower to clean the 3 days of camping/cycling funk off my person. We had a quick dinner at Elena (and brother Sergey's) flat, chatting all the while. Headed to be a little bit early, but glad to have a firm floor to crash on!

Day 13, May 10 - 22km S of Gubkin - Forest just inside Voronezh oblast border

98km - 948km, warm and sunny 18C, little wind, 0 shots, 0 saunas, 0 lenin, Camping, 5th flat tire

Woke up and packed up camp. Decided not to push my bicycle through the heavy underbrush, but rather take the route alongside the farmer's ploughed field. Walked in the mud for 500m and emerged completely caked with nice rich soil. Spent 20 minutes cleaning out shoes, tires, and drive train. sigh. Rode about 6km until found a cafe, where I ate a big breakfast of schnitzel, potatoes, borscht and bread. With the tank filled up, I headed toward Gubkin, which turned out to be the center of a very large iron ore mine. Its importance was immediately obvious because the roads in the area were much newer, flatter and noise reflection boards were placed roadside though the towns. Headed north on a great 4 lane highway with a wide shoulder. Eventually made it into my second political division of Russia - Kurskaya Oblast. Another 20km took me up to the road took me onto the major east-west highway that I will be following 600km all the way to Saratov.

The road conditions took a major turn for the worse, with more truck traffic, narrower roads and a frequently disappearing shoulder. Rode for a couple hours not really enjoying the conditions until I reached Voronezh Oblast. Stopped just inside the border to have some delicious shashlik dinner and a beer. I was eating dinner when I saw a late 20ish woman riding a bicycle filled with gear. After a minute later, a late 20ish male came riding up the hill. I ran over and started chatting with them. Interestingly, this Scot-Dutch couple (Chris and Astrid) are riding from Amsterdam to Hong Kong along much of the same route that I am! We sat at the roadside table chatting for about one hour comparing notes on our routes. The sun was beginning to go down, so we decided to head up the road about 10km and we found a really nice campspot in a clearing about 100m off the highway. Had a bit more dinner and chatted for an hour before turning in for the night.