Woke up and had a good breakfast of an omelet and pork ribs! Got on the road by about 9.00h and rode 3km to Ohktursk where I had planned to stay. Turned east toward Kharkiv and rode about 20km/h along a fairly good stretch of pavement. Eventually, the pavement started to tu
rn pretty sucky, but only until I got to a fairly large town. Towns can be good in some ways (refreshments!) and they suck in others. I got my 2nd flat tire due to a used staple in an urban setting (not too many in the country!). Stopped at a store, where the two nice shopkeepers saw what I was doing and brought me a free large coffee! Finished changing my tire and grabbed a few bananas and pastry for lunch.Started riding again towards Kharkiv and passed the 70km mark. The shoulder then promptly disappeared and was soon followed by some rough side lane. I mean broken and cracked, which constantly jarred my bicycle (and me too!). Slowly made it towards the outer ring
road, where my Hospitality Club friend Ivan said that he would meet me on his bicycle. I arrived (at the 112km mark) and we chatted for about 15 minutes until Oleg, Ivan's friend, showed up after patching his bike tire. We then rode into, and out again of, the center of town. (Kharkiv has 1.7 million people so it tacked on another 16km!)After arriving at Ivan's family's flat, I was generously offered a shower that helped enormously. We had a delicious borsht and stew/kasha dinner and finished it off with delicious tea. We chatted away for a few hours, before I drifted off lazily to sleep.
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