As expected I slept well in the relative cool, but my tent was pretty wet this morning, and the biting bugs were all about again so breakfast and getting on the road was all done pretty smartly.
Stage 34 rider notes
Today we’re heading more-or-less west however there’s no road going directly where we need to so there’s something of a zig-zag route to follow, with a few hills along the way to keep things interesting.
Stage 34 elevation profile
As is usually the way I set off on my own, and soon passed Erwin, Paul, Jackie and Ivan. Grant was quite a way ahead as his general dislike for bugs meant that he skipped breakfast again this morning in favour of not being eaten.
As the km ticked by and the day progressed the wind began to build and I could tell it was going to be a head wind for the due-south leg of the zig-zag so made a concerted effort to catch Grant so that we could ride together – head winds are always easier to tackle when you have someone to share the leading!
Part way through the morning there was a lake we could have detoured to which has on its beach a collection of fossilised seed pods. We had intended to head down there, however it was a 2.5km each way detour and as we passed the entrance it was cool, windy and looked like it was going to rain so declined the opportunity – in the end only Pär made the trip down there.
We took a break at the 69km coke stop which turned out to be an incredibly well stocked shop which sold pretty much everything! It seems this is a busy wee town because there’s a new observatory being built on the hillside, and that there’s already a laser station intended for tracking and control of orbital vehicles above the town.
Lunch was at the 79.5km turn, and by the tine we got there we’d been working into a strengthening head wind for over 20km so it was very welcome when we spotted the red van on the hill before us.
Immediately after lunch we turned almost 180º to the direction we’d arrived in on which put the wind behind us for a while, and through the afternoon it was generally somewhere behind us, which coupled with the ‘generally down’ terrain meant that we had a pretty good ride, and were able to maintain some good speeds through the afternoon.
As we were getting close to camp we stopped at a service station for sprite and ice-cream and Grant noticed that the restaurant which was there was (unlike it looked) actually open, so we were able to get a beer each to take into camp too.
Tonight’s camp is once again on a river bank, and once again a pretty buggy affair. We’re also just over the bridge from the town of Rubtsovsk, which is handy because it means we can easily wander into town (Ivan and Charlie are reported to be at the Subway – about the only Western chain we’ve seen in this part of Russia – as it has WiFi, air-conditioning and no bugs) but not so great as it seems to be a popular spot for the local men to come and hang out with bottles of vodka and sing drunkenly!
Michael and I took a walk to the supermarket to use up the last of our Rubbles (though I still have 3000 RUB I plan to change at the border I got rid of all the small stuff) and give us a chance to see something of the town.
We’ve got a super early start tomorrow morning to allow some extra time for the border crossing, so people are drifting off to bed even earlier than usual.
Riding data
View from my tent
Bikes on the river bank through the mozzy screen
The Russian men drinking vodka and sing drunkenly at Subway sounds quite entertaining!