Deeper and deeper
N 52°07'53.5'' E 076°30'24.5''
Day: 88
Sunrise:
05:41 h
Sunset:
8:14 pm
As the crow flies:
60.33 Km
Daily kilometers:
62.99 Km
Total kilometers:
9714.85 Km
Soil condition:
Asphalt
Temperature – Day (maximum):
27 °C
Temperature – day (minimum):
15 °C
Latitude:
52°07’53.5”
Longitude:
076°30’24.5”
Maximum height:
148 m above sea level
Maximum depth:
93 m above sea level
Time of departure:
09.00 a.m.
Arrival time:
6.13 pm
Average speed:
12.16 Km/h
I open my eyes and am glad to see the canvas above me. The storm did not cause any damage and subsided during the night. We crawl outside. Heavy rain clouds hang low over the country and push from north to south. We have breakfast standing up and pack up our wet clothes, some of which are smeared with clay. Then the two of us push one bike each over the softened ground to the road. It’s impossible on your own because of the sticky mud, you don’t have enough strength. On the way there, the clay settles on the swing tire until it scratches under the mudguard and almost blocks. To be able to drive at all, we have to scrape the sticky mud off the coat and the Magura brakes with a stick. Freed from the steppe floor in this way, we swing into the saddles and take on the master again, who is still moving over us from the north. Although it feels like we’re constantly bumping over the killer asphalt with the handbrake on, today we have plans to reach Pavlador, the last big town before the Siberian border. “I don’t think I’ll be able to cycle 100 kilometers today,” says Tanja. “Let’s see how we get on. Maybe the master will turn around. It wouldn’t be the first time,” I reply.
Leaving the mountains and hills behind us, we drive through a lowland plain that is only bordered again by the Altai Mountains, 500 to 800 kilometers further east of us. After just 25 kilometers, exhausted by the master, we reach another simple roadside restaurant. We lock up our bikes and sit down in the small room right by the window to keep an eye on our precious bikes. Again and again we observe people gathering around it in groups. They point their fingers at all kinds of components and discuss them. One of them is now outside for the fourth time, explaining the technology to new arrivals. Later he asks me if the Magura brake system really works with oil pressure? “Yes,” I reply, to which he shakes his head in amazement and says that he has never seen anything like it on a bike in his life.
After I have eaten two bortsch and five pancakes and Tanja one bortsch and three pancakes, we pay. As we have seen before, there is a misunderstanding. “No, no money,” says the landlady and hands me the 1,000 euro bill again. “Isn’t it enough?” I ask in amazement. “That’s enough, but you’re my guests,” I understand. We thank her warmly, take a picture of the boss and her staff and continue our journey in the land of the wind.
Despite the turbo-charged legs, or rather pancake-charged legs, it remains exhausting. Local thunderstorms pass over us. We see them coming and try to be quicker or wait until they cross our path. Sometimes it doesn’t work out and we get caught in a cold shower. Once we are lucky and find shelter just in time in a broken, leaky bus shelter. Another time we sit under a bridge and wait until the clouds have cleared. Because of the weather, we make slower progress than we would have liked. Tanja is tired and doesn’t want to cycle as far as Pawlador today. We find a nice spot 44 kilometers from the city behind trees and bushes. The clouds are suddenly wiped away as if by magic. The evening sun warms us and we have the opportunity to dry our wet clothes.
