Posted by: Ivo
Re: Cycling in Ukraine - 05/18/04 02:08 PM
Kharkov-Astrakhan by bike, an early season ride.
Preface
The cycling seasonis starting early this year. During the first weekend of april I headed east again, to Kiev. After travelling alone through Germany, I met up with my clubmate Alex in Berlin. We took
the direct train from Berlin to Kiev. Our bikes we transported in special bikebags, which were easily accomodated in the train. Border procedures were rather easy. No deklaratsia this time, only
the well known insurance. This time the person selling them insisted that I buy them for the full time of my visa. The borderguards were satisfied with the simple message that there were bikes in these enormously big bikes. Probably they reckoned that we are too crazy to be a menace to public security.
From Kiev we took the fast daytrain to Kharkov. There was a bit of hassle with the bikes, since we allready mounted them together. But for the rest, this is a good connection. In Kharkov nothing has changed since my previous visit. Still the same town.
Both in Kiev and Kharkov we stayed at the houses of local esperantists. In Kiev there was a ususal press-conference organised by local esperantists. In Kharkov there was a big meeting of local
esperantists (about 30).
First days on the road, Kharkov-Slavjansk
After a few days of train traveling, we're finally on our bikes again. Yesterday we headed out of Kharkov in the morning. We were still missing our doyen Zef. He was still in Kiev waiting for his luggage. But we did meet Aleksej from Nizhnij Novgorod the previous evening . He arrived by train via Moscow.
The group rapidly found itself. We directly could manage a decent speed. In Chugujev we had our first stop. A children's playground proved to be the ideal spot. Although Voldoja's stove was not cooperating, we managed to brew some tea and have a good lunch.
The terrain was gently rolling. Quite a lot of inundations though. In the early evening Volodja phones home and hears from his wife that Zef finally received his luggage. He would be taking the evening train and meet us in Slavjansk. So no need to hurry to our place of recognition (a village railway station). Still we reached it by the evening. The woods before the village were still covered in snow, so no chance of finding a decent place to camp. But a bit further on was an old house, with an old garden, obviously not used for quite some time. It wasn't good, but still an acceptable place to camp. It lasted an hour before Aleksej and Aleks managed to light the fire. In the meantime Volodja and I cooked our dinner and boiled the tea on the stoves. The campfire was badly needed since temperature fell rapidly. During the night I had to use two sleeping bags, and I still froze. In the morning the others were allready awake, while I had some troubles waking up. Temperatures were still low, but the sun was there. Rapidly we reached Izjum, a good place to resupply. Due to the low distance, only one stop was needed, a long one. Now Volodja was sleeping, and Aleksej playing with his phone.
Shortly afterwards we finally could leave the main road. First Voldoja asked about the state of a very small road along a river. Unpassable was the unanimous opinion of the villagers. So we decided for a later road. This was the real one. In the village we resuplied with water, and admired the local turkeys. We entered Slavjansk through a string of small lakes, used as a fish farm. The road leading past them was ulitsa Mira. And that was the road mentioned by Pasja as leading to his house. So we started asking around. Finally, after half an hour, we remarked another ulitsa Mira, the right one this time. So now it was easy to find Pasja's house, and have a nice evening with a warm place to sleep.
The group reunited, Slavjansk-Lugansk
The evening in Slavjansk was rather quiet. We stayed at Pasja's house. Also his mother is an esperantist. Only his grandmother couldn't communicate with us. In the morning we had to rise early. Pasja had aranged a meeting with local journalists at 8.30. Only two journalists turned up. One of them also spoke
French, so she could interview Zef directly in French. East of Slavjansk we left the main roads behind us and could finally use some provincial roads. A few kilomters further on we did see our first coalmine.
This part of Ukraine has lot's of coalmining, and also all the related problems. And not only coalmines, as we could see east of Seversk. Out of the blue we spotted a huge flame. After we scaled a small rise, the origin of the flame appeared, a large chemical complex. This although the map only showed some villages and a large white area. Near the chemical complex there was another mine. Cycling along the complex was not very pleasant, but we did know that we had the time to leave it behind us before night fell. Water we only asked in the next valley, where it came from another source. As usual in Ukraine we had to rely on natural wells where the locals draw their water from. Most villages don't have public watersupplies. A bit further on we decided to pitch camp on the top of a small rise. It was a bit windy, but the wind was coming from the right corner, so we couldn't smell the complex. As allready usual, we cooked our dinner on a woodfire, and after it we melted some snow to wash up. The night was rather mild, it stayed allnight above zero. And these temperatures stayed. In the morning we set out in shorts. A bit late though, but that was not a problem, Lugansk was not that far ahead. The day was quite uneventful. In a few villages where we bought our supplies we were directly in the centre of all attention. Not much happens here on a Sunday, so every distraciton is welcome. For the last 50k, an old biplane was the only distraction we had.
In Lugansk it was not that difficult to find the house of Aleksandr Grisxenko, our host for this night. He even arranged a seperate appartment for all of us. Tomorrow the Ukrainian part of our trip ends. We'll be entering Russia. I hope that all border formalities will run smoothly. On Thursday we hope to arrive in Volgograd. Between here and Volgograd there are only a few 'non-towns'. In one of them, Morozovsk, the 6th member of our group, Roman will await us.
Into Russia, Lugansk-Morozovsk
Now, where to start with the things which happened between Lugansk Morozovsk? Well, first of all, we arrived in Morozovsk a day later as planned. Even before Lugansk there was a steady eastern wind. Since we didn't plan a long daydistance to Lugansk, that didn't bother us too much. But after Lugansk it
was more as a nuisance. Untill the border it was still doable, sometimes we had it against, sometimes a bit in the back. Just before the border we paused in Krasnodon in the park next to the warmonument. When we nearly finished our lunch, a man approached us. He proved to be the vice-major. We had a nice chat, ended by some newest jokes about the Ukrainian president Kuchma.
Then we headed on to the border. The previous day Alex told us that he was running out of his visa. So we had shoved some dollars to him, he also only had dollars as travellers cheques. The first border soldier didn't even check the visa's, so he didn't remark Alex's problem. Then the customs came. Both Alex and I hadn't been issued with deklaratsia's upon entry. After some discussion, the Ukrianian border guards concluded that we had far too little money with us to be of concern, so we were sent to the next check. Here the visa was really controlled. Aleksej was asked to come with the border guards and all the
passports to the office. After a while Aleksej came back, and told Alex that he needed 10 Dollars, for that price the border guard would 'correct' the problem.
And indeed, no further problems. Later Aleksej told us that, as usual, the borderguard first wanted to send Alex back to Donetsk, to recitifie the problem there. So out of Ukraine we went to the Russian checkpoint. Here we soon remarked that we knew the rules a lot better as the borderguards. So it was our turn to constantly ask for documentations and various paperwork. On the net there has been much talk about 'borderinterviews'. Either the borderguards didn't know about this new rule, or didn't care. Anyway, nothing resembling a interview was remarkable. All in all, procedures did cost us 2 1/2 hour. So no chanche to catch up on the schedule. But all was not yet over. A few km's after the border there was a GAI-checkpoint. For the first time ever I was checked. Even Zef was never stopped at a GAI-checkpoint while cycling to Vladivostok. At the end of the day we even had to camp just before Kamenetsk, the planned finishing point for today.
The next two days things turned worse. The wind had picked up, and was right in our face. Progress was very slow. 120km to Morozovsk was planned + the abt. 20k we missed the previous day. We managed to get lost in Kamenetsk, thus adding even more distance to our plan for this day. But after a hard day of work, we only stopped in Belaja Kalitva, under these conditions a dayride short of Morozovsk. Luckily Roman had messaged us in Lugansk that he wasn't coming, otherwise he would have been waiting in vain for us.
In the evening we camped in a small wood just outside Belaja Kalitva. While Alex and Aleksej were lighting the fire, and the others errecting the tents, a car approached on the unpaved road. It proved to be a police squad. The police-officers got out of the car and asked what we were doing. Volodja and Aleksej explained, and they went away, probably thinking that we are completely mad. At night the wind kept howling around the tents, despite camping in the small woods. On the road we remarked that the wind turned a little bit south. So now it was a very strong southern wind. Several times I was blown over to the other side of the road. So after abt. 15k we decided to call it a day. It was impossible to make any serious progress. While standing it was even difficult to keep the bikes upright. But Zef had started before us, since he is slower.
We decided to split up in groups of two and hitch. Aleksej and I were the first to find a ride. With a local shopkeeper we rode on to Morozovsk. After some 15minutes riding we discovered Zef. The driver stopped briefly, and I informed Zef about the rest of the procedure. He asked me some roubles so he could pay for a ride if need arose. Relieved of all my roubles (Aleksej still had enough) we continued to Morozovsk. At the city square we got out, and first got something to eat. After a good lunch and some riding around we discovered the others. Another lunch, and then on to the railwaystation to find out about options. We decided to take tomorrowmorning's train at 10.40. But the good news at last, Aleksej just checked the weather forcasts for next week, from monday on a northern wind which will blow us from Volgograd to Astrakhan.
Towards Volgograd
After leaving the internetcafe in Morozovsk, we left for the railwaystation. Our original plan was to take the 10.4 train to Volgograd. But in the railwaystation Volodja learned that this train would take ages to reach Volgograd. It takes an entire day to cover the 275km. The 2.30 nighttrain was a better option. We headed out of town to eat and wait. Soon it got quite cold. Zef decided to camp for the whole night, and try to hitch a ride to Volgograd the next day. The rest of us slept for a few hours and got up in the middle of the night. In the cold we rapidly poked up the fire to brew some tea. Soon afterwards we cycled to the centre. Luckily a kiosk was still open, and serving hot tea. Just before an inquisitive policeofficer could become too interested, the train arrived. After some haggling we were allowed aboard. Aleksej had printed out osme of the Russian Railwayrules regarding biketransport. That piece of paper was a convincing argument, the providnitsa's yielded. The carriage itself was platzkartstyle. No problem to accomodate a load of cyclists and their kit. We quickly rolled out our sleepingbags on the upper benches and slept the whole way to Volgograd. After some SMS-ing with Aleskej, Roman found us.
Arriving a day earlier in Volgograd as planned we tried to do some bureaucratic work right away. BUt alas, the volgograd OVIR doesn't work on thursdays. In the meantime another Aleskej arrived, also a cyclist. We talked a lot about cycling and next saturday's 200k brevet. In the afternoon we set out for some sightseeing. The main site in Volggorad is the war memorial. On a small hill a huge statue, sowrd raised, points to an enemy afar. Below the statue is an impressing memorial to those who fell during the long battle for Stalingrad, as VOlgograd was called at that time. A silent guard of honour, and an eternal flame, complete the memorial. A reminder of the many common soldiers who died during WW II. After visiting the memorial it was time to head back. Zerf could arrive at any moment. And indeed he arrived. He had taken the 10.4 train. Roman's grandmother was delighted. She missed Zef's previous visit, as she was out on holidays in Piatigorsk. She really enjoyed all the people in her house, silently observing the buzz, with only an occasional comment. On friday ROman went out early to OVIR. He returned with a big wad of papers to complete. Surprisingly, the bigest amount of papers was for Volodja. Volodja, being an Ukrainian, can enter Russia with only his internal pasport, but the registration process is very elaborate. Roman had to sign various papers and Volodja's stay at OVIR was quite long. In contrast, we
only had 2 papers to complete. Aided by Aleksej this was rapidly done. At OVIR Roman and I were outside again within 10 minutes.
The first part done, it was time for some other tasks. Valery Komotchkov, the main Russian BRM organiser, wanted to see us. Aleksej, Zef and I would be riding his brevet tomorrow. At 1500 we met at the Panorama. Soon afterwards Valery arrived, accompanied by Ivan Karpov from Astrakhan. Valery
filled us in on all the details of the brevet. This time it was our task to translate, as Valery spoke French with us. It would be an easy affair at the brevt. Just head out to the village of Loznoje, get the cards stamped at the loccal post office, return to Volgograd and add a short circuit around town. Then we turned our attention to the trip to Astrakhan. IVan had some suggestions which we would follow in an altered form. We would take the train for a while, and resume cycling there where the wind would be
favourable again. After a while we packed and headed to the railwaystation. Both Alex and I needed some traintickets. The first ones from Astrakhan to Moscow were easy to acquire, except that Alex was running low on rubles. Then we went up to the international desk. The ticket from Moscow to Berlin
proved to be cheaper when bought in Germany, as when bought in Russia. Alex now completely ran out of rubles, we even had to borrow him some valute. His reserves were in travellers cheques, quite a nuisance here. The others were a bit nervous now, as it took that long. All tickets bought we wenre back on our bikes. Roman wanted to show us tomorrow's start location, and the route towards it. It was rather
straightforward. Even without consulting a m ap, I could directly remember it. So we all went back to Roman's place for pre-ride preparations and some early sleep.
Riding lightly, the Volgograd 200k BRM
It’s 6 o’clock, Volgorad awakens. From various corners of the town a motley collection of cyclists heads to a motorwaybridge over the Tsaritsa river. Here’s is the start of the Volgograd 200km BRM. 49 Riders collect, and are sent of at 7h sharp. Their kit is cvery diverse. There are a few western racing
bikes, lot’s of old and battered Ukrainian made ‘turist’ bikes, and quite a number of mountainbikes. My tourer fits perfectly in this field. The age is very different. The oldest participant is 71 years old, the youngest 12 years. There’s a whole bunch of schoolkids, allready experienced enough to do the
basic pre-ride maintainance themselves.
Within a few kilometers, 5 riders decide that their wife will be waiting with the lunch at 14h, and dash off. The rest takes it easy, unill aonther dozen riders starts to pick up speed. I can’t withstand the urge to join them. For some 20k I stay with them for some 20km. Then I have to shed off some layers of
clothes and tend a call of nature. I rejoint the bunch with the main peloton, riding a calm 21km/h. That’s a bit too calm for me, so I left the group. Then I met my Russian clubmate Aleksej. He was riding steadily, but also too slow. A few minutes further on my French clubmate Zef. With him I rode for a while. At a certain moment we arrived at a T-junction. Here we had to go left, but at the return this would be an awkward point. So I carefully watched the surroundings. Then I also let Zef, and rode ahead. For quite some time nobody appeared. The road was undulating with a steady headwind reducing the speed. For nearly an hour I rode solo. Then I met a small group of riders. One of them, Anton,
joined me. He even spoke decent English. Together we rode on to the village of Dubovka. A few kilometres further on we turned left to Loznoje, the turnaround village. Soon after urning we spotted the group I had left quite some hours ago. They weren’t pushing it. Together with them we rode on. After a while Anton had some problems with his rearrackfixation and dropped out. Still he stayed fairly close to the group.
It was just a few kilometres to the village when the first group came back. I was surprised that we were not that far back. In Loznoje the control was at the postoffice. I didn’t have to wait long here. Several riders turned back immediately after stamping their cards. I first headed for the village shop. Unluckily there was a grandmother being helped before me. That really lasted some time. When I came out of the shop hardly a rider was visible of my group. The last few riders got out of sight when I stopped to take a picture of the decayed church. So I headed out, alone against the wind. For the next 35km it was hard work. Wind was still fairly strong, and in my face. For the first dozen of kilometers I had the distraction of seeing many riders still riding towards Loznoje. Zef and Aleksej were among them. Several riders were on a schedule which brought them to Loznoje quite close to the cut-off. Not a good idea with 35km of stiff headwind ahead. But also this ordeal came to an end. I turned right, back to Dubovka and
Volgograd. For some 50k I now had a nice tailwind. The kilometres flew underneath my wheels. Halfway towards Volgograd I had a nice view over the Volga hydorelectri lake. Most of the lake is still covered with ice. The point where I had to turn right I luckily recognised rather easy. A while further on
I had to turn right again. Here a small detour was scheduled, Loznoje is only 97km away from the start, so that detour was needed. Finally I saw the right sideroad. Still I asked at the adjoining servicestation. Yes, it was the right one. Directly after exiting the servicestation There was an arrow painted on the road, and immediately behind the corner a secret control, an obvious spot for a secret control.. Then I headed on to Gorodiche. In Gorodiche the road was quite complicated. I had to ask a few times untill I found the Moscow-Volgograd motorway. I had no idea where the motorway entered Volgograd. So after it changed into a city mainroad, I asked a passer-by to indicate on my townmap where I was. From that moment on everything was easy, and I rapidly reached the finish.
After my card was collected, I descended towards the Tsaritsa river. Here a few tents were standing, and the campfire allready ignited. Most of the finished riders were still there, just as several organisers. There really was a good atmosphere. I lingered there for hours. Zef and Aleksej arrived well within time. When the organiser Valery Komotchkov had finished, it was time for the finish ceremonies. The fastest rider was honoured, as the youngest, and the few foreign pariticipants. Just before the cut-off the oldest rider came in. Now only 6 riders were unaccounted for. When we walked up to the motorway, finally
the tandem arrived. They had gone straight on where they should have gone right. In a city stretching along the river for 70km, this can account for quite a detour.
The ride was a good experience. Not too difficult, and good streets for Russian standards. The after-finish events were even better as the ride itself.
The final leg
Language festivals are very popular among esperanto youth groups in Russia. The Language Festival in Cheboskary is the oldest and largest, last time having over 600 participants and 40 languages presented. In comparison, the one in Volgograd is really in it's infant stage. Still some 20 languages were presented and 200 people participated. Being foreign esperantists, we were regarded as guests of honour. Still I preferred to contribute and offered to give a few lectures on the political-historical aspects of the
linguistical situation in borderlands. A local espernatist translated my lecture to RUssian for the non-esperantists in the hall. In between my lectures I could visit some other presentations.
As ought to be in Russia, the festival was concluded with an itnernational concert. The organisers invited us for a dinner celebratign this fiestival, so we retired to a cafe. It was quite a long dinner with lot's of beer and champagne. While the rest of us went home to get a few horus of sleep before
heading out again, Aleksej and a hardy few of the organisers went for a longer celebration in an apartment. In the morning Roman phoned to Aleksej, enquiring wether he desired to continue our bikeride. He did, and promised to come back soon. There are only 2 daily trains fro m Volgograd to Achtubinsk, one starting at night, the other at noon. We also informed our new groupmember Anatolij (Tolik), who arrived soon afterwards, carrying a huge backpack on his racer. Roman borrowed him a rack, wherupon I had to interrupt packing to assist Tolik mounting the rack.The rack mounted, I quickly collected all my stuff and out we went. While loading his bike, Zef discovered that his rack had broken. A tentpag and some hoseclamps did the job. Of we went to the railwaystation. Valery would meet us at the station, just as another local esperantist, Vika. Being a bit late, Aleksej and Volodja ran to the hall to buy our tickets, while Zef conferrred with Valery. I dashed to a shop for some food and drinks. Valery and Vika assisted us in transporting everything to the right platform. The train was allready there, but no sign of Volodja and Aleksej, nor any tickets. Luckily Russian trains wait for quite some time at railwaystations. After Volodja and Aleksej came back, there was no debate this time about our bikes, in contrast an extra door was opened so we could easily arrange our bikes.
We had some nice company on the train. A bunch of conscripts returning home from military service with a tank company in Birobidzhan. Coming from Dagestan they were really posted as far away from home as possible. For them, we were a nice distraction during their week long voyage. Even more military evidence was visible, a troop train was heading north, probably after serving in Chechenia. The day before, ALex and Volodja encountered some other signs of military rules. Wen tye were cycling over the Volga-lake dam they were niether permitted to stop, nor to take pictures at the dam. But now the train slowly passed the dam and I could make some blast map. But I searched in vain, it was still in Roman's apartment. Also my tentpole was mising. An SMS to Roman later we learned that more items were still at Roman's place, my slides, ALeksej's sweater, and Alex's notebook. No big problem thoug,
I'll be returning to Russia this summer, so I can pick up my things.
When Volodja read that the train would also stop at some famous saltlakes, he tried to secure permission to leave the train one stop later. But the providnitsa's wanted 60 rubles (2 Euro) per person, quite an inflated price. So we left the train in Achtubinsk, as scheduled. Helped by the soldiers we
got everything and everyone out within a few minutes. As it was allready late in the afternoon, we first shopped. Food was easily found, the post office also proved no big problem, but a decent map was
nowhere found. So we had to do with Zef's all-Russia atlas. It was nearly time to camp when we left Achtubinsk. Some 12km further on, we pitched our tent in a small recess in the terrain, out of view for the general public.
Riding along next day was a far cry from our first days in Russia. East of the Volga the vast steppe dominates, after all we're skirting the Kazach border.No black earth with large wheat and potato fields here. In stead lot's of grass and shrubbery. Sometimes a herdsman would cross our path, with his herd of sheep, cows or horses. Horses are anyway the prefered mode of local transport when venturing away from the main road. The various herds and some surprisingly pitoresque villages gave plenty of opportunity to reduce my stock of film. Also the people were different. In the villages, Russians are a minority, Kazachs are probably the majority, supplemented by Tatars and various other groups like Chechens and Armenians. Further to the west is the Kalmukian Republic, a budhist people of Mongolian origins. Although we were aided from time to time by a decent tailwind, we didn't
reach teh 100km mark this day. First Alex had some tyreproblems. He and Volodja were a bit behind at that moment. Not being expert mechanics, they lost lot's of time before the rest of us were there to assist. Finally, my foldable spare tyre had to help out. In the afternoon Volodja desperately wanted to buy 3 litres of milk. Only 2 litre were available at fist sight. Some 40 minutes were wasted while he searched the entire village for more milk. Volodja really has his food preferences; milk, eggs and above all, lard. After all, he's a real Ukrainian. That evening we camped at the best camping spot of our entire trip. Just after Michailovka we discovered a nice meadow next to the Achtuba river. WHile we were eating around our campfire, we were joined by a few fishermen returning home from the river. This was
also the first night we could have a decent wash, at least for those of us who could stand glacier-like water. Except for lot's of wildlife and half-wild animals, the next day was uneventful. AIded by a good tailwind we made our longest day. At the end, the clock stopped at 120km. In the evening I had to repair Volodja's bike. 3 spokes had broken, driveside. His Polish made MTB still ahs a screw-9on freewheel. No chance for a hypercracker here. Still I managed to limit the damge by bodging a few emergency spokes from my stock. By now it had become clear that Aleksej wanted to wage a chance at PBP. A good addition to our PBP squad, allready consisting of 3 Dutch and 2 French members engaged in qualifying.
The last morning of a trip is allwayys a sad one, especially when one of the gang is departing earlier as the rest. Alex would take the evening train, departing Astrakhan at 23.55. In Astrakhan Ivan was our man. He had given us several ways to meet. First was a phonenumber in Ashkunchak. From the
railwaystation Aleksej tried in vain to contact him. Over to option II. At the militsia barracks we asked for colonel Baranov. He wasn't in, but we were instructed to go to the G AI-post a few km down the road, exactly matching option III. The GAI post was quite an elaborate one. Only an APC was missing. It was at the foot of a bridge. Still the situation was relaxed, so relaxed taht I evend ared to take some pictures of a passing herd of horses. After leaving a message, and some smalltalk, we continued to Astrakhan. A few km later on it was time to respupply. While I visted a shop with Aleksej and Tolik, Volodja and Zef struck up a conversation with some people on the forecourt. They were a retired army officer and his driver. The colonel, from Ukrainian descent, was very pleased to meet an Ukrainian, and the bottle was rapidly emptied. Just after the village we passed one of the many road-painting crews, and found a quiet place for lunch.
After lunch we tried to reach Astrakhan as soon as posible. It was only 20k to the city limits, but another 15k to the centre. Astrakhan is a rather logically laid out city, and the centre with it's Kremlin was easily found. But tehre was only 1 hour of daylight remainign for Alex to catch a glimpse of the city. A quiet walk around the Kremlin and a short stay in te adjacent park had to do for him. In the park we were the centre of attention. Many drunk river sailor students around, as they had just had their last day of school; not the best place to linger around, thoug. So we headed back from where we came. Near the entrance fo the city was the adress indicated by Ivan. Aleksej tried in vain to phone. Despite the drakness we found the apartment without much searcing. It proved to be is daughter's apartment. Anja is also a cyclist, having participated in the world's near my town and in last years 200k brevet in Volgograd. While Aleksej and Anja witdrew to the kitchen, Alex took a cold sower, the rest of use made ourselves comfortable. Anja and her husband only jsut moved into this place. It lookd a bit like a
buildingsite. But nothing to alarm a bunch of savage cyclists. We all had a nice dinner with champagne. A relative of Ivan drove Alex, Ivan and Volodja to the railwaystation while we drank some more tea.
Surprisingly early everybody awoke. Now it was my time to leave. My train departed at 13.8. Stil some time left over for a fast tour of town, by bike of course. Ivan showed us around. We ended the tour at the fish market. Lot's of fish to be seen here, even some sorts unknown to me. And of course loads of salesmen descending upon us to sell all sorts of fish, and illegal caviar.
At the railwaystation again the usual debate. This time one of the providnitsa's wnated to actually read the printed rules. We asserted them that my luggage was below the 38kg limit (well, if you disregard my bike, it really is). In fact, the providnitsa's were more concerned to have a cumbersome foreigner on their train, someone unable to communicate with them. Now, while writing these lines, the atmosphere in this train is quite relaxed. Yesterday we passed the station of Achtubinsk, 4 days after being there first. THen it was a quiet station. Now, with two major trains stopping, the place is bustling with life. Everywhere people are selling various foods and drinks to passengers. Today the same at another station. But here I had a small brush up with a police officer. Allready back on the train he scolded me for taking pictures outside. I played the stupid foreigner, the providnitsa's talked along the same line with him. During the identity check I remarked that his knowledgelevel was low. He was satisfied
with scholding and left. Just another theme to be discussed with my fellow pasengers, although my limiteid Russian makes it very difficult. Nearing Moscow some patches of snow are again visible, and the frist snowflakes just fell.
Ivo Miesen
Preface
The cycling seasonis starting early this year. During the first weekend of april I headed east again, to Kiev. After travelling alone through Germany, I met up with my clubmate Alex in Berlin. We took
the direct train from Berlin to Kiev. Our bikes we transported in special bikebags, which were easily accomodated in the train. Border procedures were rather easy. No deklaratsia this time, only
the well known insurance. This time the person selling them insisted that I buy them for the full time of my visa. The borderguards were satisfied with the simple message that there were bikes in these enormously big bikes. Probably they reckoned that we are too crazy to be a menace to public security.
From Kiev we took the fast daytrain to Kharkov. There was a bit of hassle with the bikes, since we allready mounted them together. But for the rest, this is a good connection. In Kharkov nothing has changed since my previous visit. Still the same town.
Both in Kiev and Kharkov we stayed at the houses of local esperantists. In Kiev there was a ususal press-conference organised by local esperantists. In Kharkov there was a big meeting of local
esperantists (about 30).
First days on the road, Kharkov-Slavjansk
After a few days of train traveling, we're finally on our bikes again. Yesterday we headed out of Kharkov in the morning. We were still missing our doyen Zef. He was still in Kiev waiting for his luggage. But we did meet Aleksej from Nizhnij Novgorod the previous evening . He arrived by train via Moscow.
The group rapidly found itself. We directly could manage a decent speed. In Chugujev we had our first stop. A children's playground proved to be the ideal spot. Although Voldoja's stove was not cooperating, we managed to brew some tea and have a good lunch.
The terrain was gently rolling. Quite a lot of inundations though. In the early evening Volodja phones home and hears from his wife that Zef finally received his luggage. He would be taking the evening train and meet us in Slavjansk. So no need to hurry to our place of recognition (a village railway station). Still we reached it by the evening. The woods before the village were still covered in snow, so no chance of finding a decent place to camp. But a bit further on was an old house, with an old garden, obviously not used for quite some time. It wasn't good, but still an acceptable place to camp. It lasted an hour before Aleksej and Aleks managed to light the fire. In the meantime Volodja and I cooked our dinner and boiled the tea on the stoves. The campfire was badly needed since temperature fell rapidly. During the night I had to use two sleeping bags, and I still froze. In the morning the others were allready awake, while I had some troubles waking up. Temperatures were still low, but the sun was there. Rapidly we reached Izjum, a good place to resupply. Due to the low distance, only one stop was needed, a long one. Now Volodja was sleeping, and Aleksej playing with his phone.
Shortly afterwards we finally could leave the main road. First Voldoja asked about the state of a very small road along a river. Unpassable was the unanimous opinion of the villagers. So we decided for a later road. This was the real one. In the village we resuplied with water, and admired the local turkeys. We entered Slavjansk through a string of small lakes, used as a fish farm. The road leading past them was ulitsa Mira. And that was the road mentioned by Pasja as leading to his house. So we started asking around. Finally, after half an hour, we remarked another ulitsa Mira, the right one this time. So now it was easy to find Pasja's house, and have a nice evening with a warm place to sleep.
The group reunited, Slavjansk-Lugansk
The evening in Slavjansk was rather quiet. We stayed at Pasja's house. Also his mother is an esperantist. Only his grandmother couldn't communicate with us. In the morning we had to rise early. Pasja had aranged a meeting with local journalists at 8.30. Only two journalists turned up. One of them also spoke
French, so she could interview Zef directly in French. East of Slavjansk we left the main roads behind us and could finally use some provincial roads. A few kilomters further on we did see our first coalmine.
This part of Ukraine has lot's of coalmining, and also all the related problems. And not only coalmines, as we could see east of Seversk. Out of the blue we spotted a huge flame. After we scaled a small rise, the origin of the flame appeared, a large chemical complex. This although the map only showed some villages and a large white area. Near the chemical complex there was another mine. Cycling along the complex was not very pleasant, but we did know that we had the time to leave it behind us before night fell. Water we only asked in the next valley, where it came from another source. As usual in Ukraine we had to rely on natural wells where the locals draw their water from. Most villages don't have public watersupplies. A bit further on we decided to pitch camp on the top of a small rise. It was a bit windy, but the wind was coming from the right corner, so we couldn't smell the complex. As allready usual, we cooked our dinner on a woodfire, and after it we melted some snow to wash up. The night was rather mild, it stayed allnight above zero. And these temperatures stayed. In the morning we set out in shorts. A bit late though, but that was not a problem, Lugansk was not that far ahead. The day was quite uneventful. In a few villages where we bought our supplies we were directly in the centre of all attention. Not much happens here on a Sunday, so every distraciton is welcome. For the last 50k, an old biplane was the only distraction we had.
In Lugansk it was not that difficult to find the house of Aleksandr Grisxenko, our host for this night. He even arranged a seperate appartment for all of us. Tomorrow the Ukrainian part of our trip ends. We'll be entering Russia. I hope that all border formalities will run smoothly. On Thursday we hope to arrive in Volgograd. Between here and Volgograd there are only a few 'non-towns'. In one of them, Morozovsk, the 6th member of our group, Roman will await us.
Into Russia, Lugansk-Morozovsk
Now, where to start with the things which happened between Lugansk Morozovsk? Well, first of all, we arrived in Morozovsk a day later as planned. Even before Lugansk there was a steady eastern wind. Since we didn't plan a long daydistance to Lugansk, that didn't bother us too much. But after Lugansk it
was more as a nuisance. Untill the border it was still doable, sometimes we had it against, sometimes a bit in the back. Just before the border we paused in Krasnodon in the park next to the warmonument. When we nearly finished our lunch, a man approached us. He proved to be the vice-major. We had a nice chat, ended by some newest jokes about the Ukrainian president Kuchma.
Then we headed on to the border. The previous day Alex told us that he was running out of his visa. So we had shoved some dollars to him, he also only had dollars as travellers cheques. The first border soldier didn't even check the visa's, so he didn't remark Alex's problem. Then the customs came. Both Alex and I hadn't been issued with deklaratsia's upon entry. After some discussion, the Ukrianian border guards concluded that we had far too little money with us to be of concern, so we were sent to the next check. Here the visa was really controlled. Aleksej was asked to come with the border guards and all the
passports to the office. After a while Aleksej came back, and told Alex that he needed 10 Dollars, for that price the border guard would 'correct' the problem.
And indeed, no further problems. Later Aleksej told us that, as usual, the borderguard first wanted to send Alex back to Donetsk, to recitifie the problem there. So out of Ukraine we went to the Russian checkpoint. Here we soon remarked that we knew the rules a lot better as the borderguards. So it was our turn to constantly ask for documentations and various paperwork. On the net there has been much talk about 'borderinterviews'. Either the borderguards didn't know about this new rule, or didn't care. Anyway, nothing resembling a interview was remarkable. All in all, procedures did cost us 2 1/2 hour. So no chanche to catch up on the schedule. But all was not yet over. A few km's after the border there was a GAI-checkpoint. For the first time ever I was checked. Even Zef was never stopped at a GAI-checkpoint while cycling to Vladivostok. At the end of the day we even had to camp just before Kamenetsk, the planned finishing point for today.
The next two days things turned worse. The wind had picked up, and was right in our face. Progress was very slow. 120km to Morozovsk was planned + the abt. 20k we missed the previous day. We managed to get lost in Kamenetsk, thus adding even more distance to our plan for this day. But after a hard day of work, we only stopped in Belaja Kalitva, under these conditions a dayride short of Morozovsk. Luckily Roman had messaged us in Lugansk that he wasn't coming, otherwise he would have been waiting in vain for us.
In the evening we camped in a small wood just outside Belaja Kalitva. While Alex and Aleksej were lighting the fire, and the others errecting the tents, a car approached on the unpaved road. It proved to be a police squad. The police-officers got out of the car and asked what we were doing. Volodja and Aleksej explained, and they went away, probably thinking that we are completely mad. At night the wind kept howling around the tents, despite camping in the small woods. On the road we remarked that the wind turned a little bit south. So now it was a very strong southern wind. Several times I was blown over to the other side of the road. So after abt. 15k we decided to call it a day. It was impossible to make any serious progress. While standing it was even difficult to keep the bikes upright. But Zef had started before us, since he is slower.
We decided to split up in groups of two and hitch. Aleksej and I were the first to find a ride. With a local shopkeeper we rode on to Morozovsk. After some 15minutes riding we discovered Zef. The driver stopped briefly, and I informed Zef about the rest of the procedure. He asked me some roubles so he could pay for a ride if need arose. Relieved of all my roubles (Aleksej still had enough) we continued to Morozovsk. At the city square we got out, and first got something to eat. After a good lunch and some riding around we discovered the others. Another lunch, and then on to the railwaystation to find out about options. We decided to take tomorrowmorning's train at 10.40. But the good news at last, Aleksej just checked the weather forcasts for next week, from monday on a northern wind which will blow us from Volgograd to Astrakhan.
Towards Volgograd
After leaving the internetcafe in Morozovsk, we left for the railwaystation. Our original plan was to take the 10.4 train to Volgograd. But in the railwaystation Volodja learned that this train would take ages to reach Volgograd. It takes an entire day to cover the 275km. The 2.30 nighttrain was a better option. We headed out of town to eat and wait. Soon it got quite cold. Zef decided to camp for the whole night, and try to hitch a ride to Volgograd the next day. The rest of us slept for a few hours and got up in the middle of the night. In the cold we rapidly poked up the fire to brew some tea. Soon afterwards we cycled to the centre. Luckily a kiosk was still open, and serving hot tea. Just before an inquisitive policeofficer could become too interested, the train arrived. After some haggling we were allowed aboard. Aleksej had printed out osme of the Russian Railwayrules regarding biketransport. That piece of paper was a convincing argument, the providnitsa's yielded. The carriage itself was platzkartstyle. No problem to accomodate a load of cyclists and their kit. We quickly rolled out our sleepingbags on the upper benches and slept the whole way to Volgograd. After some SMS-ing with Aleskej, Roman found us.
Arriving a day earlier in Volgograd as planned we tried to do some bureaucratic work right away. BUt alas, the volgograd OVIR doesn't work on thursdays. In the meantime another Aleskej arrived, also a cyclist. We talked a lot about cycling and next saturday's 200k brevet. In the afternoon we set out for some sightseeing. The main site in Volggorad is the war memorial. On a small hill a huge statue, sowrd raised, points to an enemy afar. Below the statue is an impressing memorial to those who fell during the long battle for Stalingrad, as VOlgograd was called at that time. A silent guard of honour, and an eternal flame, complete the memorial. A reminder of the many common soldiers who died during WW II. After visiting the memorial it was time to head back. Zerf could arrive at any moment. And indeed he arrived. He had taken the 10.4 train. Roman's grandmother was delighted. She missed Zef's previous visit, as she was out on holidays in Piatigorsk. She really enjoyed all the people in her house, silently observing the buzz, with only an occasional comment. On friday ROman went out early to OVIR. He returned with a big wad of papers to complete. Surprisingly, the bigest amount of papers was for Volodja. Volodja, being an Ukrainian, can enter Russia with only his internal pasport, but the registration process is very elaborate. Roman had to sign various papers and Volodja's stay at OVIR was quite long. In contrast, we
only had 2 papers to complete. Aided by Aleksej this was rapidly done. At OVIR Roman and I were outside again within 10 minutes.
The first part done, it was time for some other tasks. Valery Komotchkov, the main Russian BRM organiser, wanted to see us. Aleksej, Zef and I would be riding his brevet tomorrow. At 1500 we met at the Panorama. Soon afterwards Valery arrived, accompanied by Ivan Karpov from Astrakhan. Valery
filled us in on all the details of the brevet. This time it was our task to translate, as Valery spoke French with us. It would be an easy affair at the brevt. Just head out to the village of Loznoje, get the cards stamped at the loccal post office, return to Volgograd and add a short circuit around town. Then we turned our attention to the trip to Astrakhan. IVan had some suggestions which we would follow in an altered form. We would take the train for a while, and resume cycling there where the wind would be
favourable again. After a while we packed and headed to the railwaystation. Both Alex and I needed some traintickets. The first ones from Astrakhan to Moscow were easy to acquire, except that Alex was running low on rubles. Then we went up to the international desk. The ticket from Moscow to Berlin
proved to be cheaper when bought in Germany, as when bought in Russia. Alex now completely ran out of rubles, we even had to borrow him some valute. His reserves were in travellers cheques, quite a nuisance here. The others were a bit nervous now, as it took that long. All tickets bought we wenre back on our bikes. Roman wanted to show us tomorrow's start location, and the route towards it. It was rather
straightforward. Even without consulting a m ap, I could directly remember it. So we all went back to Roman's place for pre-ride preparations and some early sleep.
Riding lightly, the Volgograd 200k BRM
It’s 6 o’clock, Volgorad awakens. From various corners of the town a motley collection of cyclists heads to a motorwaybridge over the Tsaritsa river. Here’s is the start of the Volgograd 200km BRM. 49 Riders collect, and are sent of at 7h sharp. Their kit is cvery diverse. There are a few western racing
bikes, lot’s of old and battered Ukrainian made ‘turist’ bikes, and quite a number of mountainbikes. My tourer fits perfectly in this field. The age is very different. The oldest participant is 71 years old, the youngest 12 years. There’s a whole bunch of schoolkids, allready experienced enough to do the
basic pre-ride maintainance themselves.
Within a few kilometers, 5 riders decide that their wife will be waiting with the lunch at 14h, and dash off. The rest takes it easy, unill aonther dozen riders starts to pick up speed. I can’t withstand the urge to join them. For some 20k I stay with them for some 20km. Then I have to shed off some layers of
clothes and tend a call of nature. I rejoint the bunch with the main peloton, riding a calm 21km/h. That’s a bit too calm for me, so I left the group. Then I met my Russian clubmate Aleksej. He was riding steadily, but also too slow. A few minutes further on my French clubmate Zef. With him I rode for a while. At a certain moment we arrived at a T-junction. Here we had to go left, but at the return this would be an awkward point. So I carefully watched the surroundings. Then I also let Zef, and rode ahead. For quite some time nobody appeared. The road was undulating with a steady headwind reducing the speed. For nearly an hour I rode solo. Then I met a small group of riders. One of them, Anton,
joined me. He even spoke decent English. Together we rode on to the village of Dubovka. A few kilometres further on we turned left to Loznoje, the turnaround village. Soon after urning we spotted the group I had left quite some hours ago. They weren’t pushing it. Together with them we rode on. After a while Anton had some problems with his rearrackfixation and dropped out. Still he stayed fairly close to the group.
It was just a few kilometres to the village when the first group came back. I was surprised that we were not that far back. In Loznoje the control was at the postoffice. I didn’t have to wait long here. Several riders turned back immediately after stamping their cards. I first headed for the village shop. Unluckily there was a grandmother being helped before me. That really lasted some time. When I came out of the shop hardly a rider was visible of my group. The last few riders got out of sight when I stopped to take a picture of the decayed church. So I headed out, alone against the wind. For the next 35km it was hard work. Wind was still fairly strong, and in my face. For the first dozen of kilometers I had the distraction of seeing many riders still riding towards Loznoje. Zef and Aleksej were among them. Several riders were on a schedule which brought them to Loznoje quite close to the cut-off. Not a good idea with 35km of stiff headwind ahead. But also this ordeal came to an end. I turned right, back to Dubovka and
Volgograd. For some 50k I now had a nice tailwind. The kilometres flew underneath my wheels. Halfway towards Volgograd I had a nice view over the Volga hydorelectri lake. Most of the lake is still covered with ice. The point where I had to turn right I luckily recognised rather easy. A while further on
I had to turn right again. Here a small detour was scheduled, Loznoje is only 97km away from the start, so that detour was needed. Finally I saw the right sideroad. Still I asked at the adjoining servicestation. Yes, it was the right one. Directly after exiting the servicestation There was an arrow painted on the road, and immediately behind the corner a secret control, an obvious spot for a secret control.. Then I headed on to Gorodiche. In Gorodiche the road was quite complicated. I had to ask a few times untill I found the Moscow-Volgograd motorway. I had no idea where the motorway entered Volgograd. So after it changed into a city mainroad, I asked a passer-by to indicate on my townmap where I was. From that moment on everything was easy, and I rapidly reached the finish.
After my card was collected, I descended towards the Tsaritsa river. Here a few tents were standing, and the campfire allready ignited. Most of the finished riders were still there, just as several organisers. There really was a good atmosphere. I lingered there for hours. Zef and Aleksej arrived well within time. When the organiser Valery Komotchkov had finished, it was time for the finish ceremonies. The fastest rider was honoured, as the youngest, and the few foreign pariticipants. Just before the cut-off the oldest rider came in. Now only 6 riders were unaccounted for. When we walked up to the motorway, finally
the tandem arrived. They had gone straight on where they should have gone right. In a city stretching along the river for 70km, this can account for quite a detour.
The ride was a good experience. Not too difficult, and good streets for Russian standards. The after-finish events were even better as the ride itself.
The final leg
Language festivals are very popular among esperanto youth groups in Russia. The Language Festival in Cheboskary is the oldest and largest, last time having over 600 participants and 40 languages presented. In comparison, the one in Volgograd is really in it's infant stage. Still some 20 languages were presented and 200 people participated. Being foreign esperantists, we were regarded as guests of honour. Still I preferred to contribute and offered to give a few lectures on the political-historical aspects of the
linguistical situation in borderlands. A local espernatist translated my lecture to RUssian for the non-esperantists in the hall. In between my lectures I could visit some other presentations.
As ought to be in Russia, the festival was concluded with an itnernational concert. The organisers invited us for a dinner celebratign this fiestival, so we retired to a cafe. It was quite a long dinner with lot's of beer and champagne. While the rest of us went home to get a few horus of sleep before
heading out again, Aleksej and a hardy few of the organisers went for a longer celebration in an apartment. In the morning Roman phoned to Aleksej, enquiring wether he desired to continue our bikeride. He did, and promised to come back soon. There are only 2 daily trains fro m Volgograd to Achtubinsk, one starting at night, the other at noon. We also informed our new groupmember Anatolij (Tolik), who arrived soon afterwards, carrying a huge backpack on his racer. Roman borrowed him a rack, wherupon I had to interrupt packing to assist Tolik mounting the rack.The rack mounted, I quickly collected all my stuff and out we went. While loading his bike, Zef discovered that his rack had broken. A tentpag and some hoseclamps did the job. Of we went to the railwaystation. Valery would meet us at the station, just as another local esperantist, Vika. Being a bit late, Aleksej and Volodja ran to the hall to buy our tickets, while Zef conferrred with Valery. I dashed to a shop for some food and drinks. Valery and Vika assisted us in transporting everything to the right platform. The train was allready there, but no sign of Volodja and Aleksej, nor any tickets. Luckily Russian trains wait for quite some time at railwaystations. After Volodja and Aleksej came back, there was no debate this time about our bikes, in contrast an extra door was opened so we could easily arrange our bikes.
We had some nice company on the train. A bunch of conscripts returning home from military service with a tank company in Birobidzhan. Coming from Dagestan they were really posted as far away from home as possible. For them, we were a nice distraction during their week long voyage. Even more military evidence was visible, a troop train was heading north, probably after serving in Chechenia. The day before, ALex and Volodja encountered some other signs of military rules. Wen tye were cycling over the Volga-lake dam they were niether permitted to stop, nor to take pictures at the dam. But now the train slowly passed the dam and I could make some blast map. But I searched in vain, it was still in Roman's apartment. Also my tentpole was mising. An SMS to Roman later we learned that more items were still at Roman's place, my slides, ALeksej's sweater, and Alex's notebook. No big problem thoug,
I'll be returning to Russia this summer, so I can pick up my things.
When Volodja read that the train would also stop at some famous saltlakes, he tried to secure permission to leave the train one stop later. But the providnitsa's wanted 60 rubles (2 Euro) per person, quite an inflated price. So we left the train in Achtubinsk, as scheduled. Helped by the soldiers we
got everything and everyone out within a few minutes. As it was allready late in the afternoon, we first shopped. Food was easily found, the post office also proved no big problem, but a decent map was
nowhere found. So we had to do with Zef's all-Russia atlas. It was nearly time to camp when we left Achtubinsk. Some 12km further on, we pitched our tent in a small recess in the terrain, out of view for the general public.
Riding along next day was a far cry from our first days in Russia. East of the Volga the vast steppe dominates, after all we're skirting the Kazach border.No black earth with large wheat and potato fields here. In stead lot's of grass and shrubbery. Sometimes a herdsman would cross our path, with his herd of sheep, cows or horses. Horses are anyway the prefered mode of local transport when venturing away from the main road. The various herds and some surprisingly pitoresque villages gave plenty of opportunity to reduce my stock of film. Also the people were different. In the villages, Russians are a minority, Kazachs are probably the majority, supplemented by Tatars and various other groups like Chechens and Armenians. Further to the west is the Kalmukian Republic, a budhist people of Mongolian origins. Although we were aided from time to time by a decent tailwind, we didn't
reach teh 100km mark this day. First Alex had some tyreproblems. He and Volodja were a bit behind at that moment. Not being expert mechanics, they lost lot's of time before the rest of us were there to assist. Finally, my foldable spare tyre had to help out. In the afternoon Volodja desperately wanted to buy 3 litres of milk. Only 2 litre were available at fist sight. Some 40 minutes were wasted while he searched the entire village for more milk. Volodja really has his food preferences; milk, eggs and above all, lard. After all, he's a real Ukrainian. That evening we camped at the best camping spot of our entire trip. Just after Michailovka we discovered a nice meadow next to the Achtuba river. WHile we were eating around our campfire, we were joined by a few fishermen returning home from the river. This was
also the first night we could have a decent wash, at least for those of us who could stand glacier-like water. Except for lot's of wildlife and half-wild animals, the next day was uneventful. AIded by a good tailwind we made our longest day. At the end, the clock stopped at 120km. In the evening I had to repair Volodja's bike. 3 spokes had broken, driveside. His Polish made MTB still ahs a screw-9on freewheel. No chance for a hypercracker here. Still I managed to limit the damge by bodging a few emergency spokes from my stock. By now it had become clear that Aleksej wanted to wage a chance at PBP. A good addition to our PBP squad, allready consisting of 3 Dutch and 2 French members engaged in qualifying.
The last morning of a trip is allwayys a sad one, especially when one of the gang is departing earlier as the rest. Alex would take the evening train, departing Astrakhan at 23.55. In Astrakhan Ivan was our man. He had given us several ways to meet. First was a phonenumber in Ashkunchak. From the
railwaystation Aleksej tried in vain to contact him. Over to option II. At the militsia barracks we asked for colonel Baranov. He wasn't in, but we were instructed to go to the G AI-post a few km down the road, exactly matching option III. The GAI post was quite an elaborate one. Only an APC was missing. It was at the foot of a bridge. Still the situation was relaxed, so relaxed taht I evend ared to take some pictures of a passing herd of horses. After leaving a message, and some smalltalk, we continued to Astrakhan. A few km later on it was time to respupply. While I visted a shop with Aleksej and Tolik, Volodja and Zef struck up a conversation with some people on the forecourt. They were a retired army officer and his driver. The colonel, from Ukrainian descent, was very pleased to meet an Ukrainian, and the bottle was rapidly emptied. Just after the village we passed one of the many road-painting crews, and found a quiet place for lunch.
After lunch we tried to reach Astrakhan as soon as posible. It was only 20k to the city limits, but another 15k to the centre. Astrakhan is a rather logically laid out city, and the centre with it's Kremlin was easily found. But tehre was only 1 hour of daylight remainign for Alex to catch a glimpse of the city. A quiet walk around the Kremlin and a short stay in te adjacent park had to do for him. In the park we were the centre of attention. Many drunk river sailor students around, as they had just had their last day of school; not the best place to linger around, thoug. So we headed back from where we came. Near the entrance fo the city was the adress indicated by Ivan. Aleksej tried in vain to phone. Despite the drakness we found the apartment without much searcing. It proved to be is daughter's apartment. Anja is also a cyclist, having participated in the world's near my town and in last years 200k brevet in Volgograd. While Aleksej and Anja witdrew to the kitchen, Alex took a cold sower, the rest of use made ourselves comfortable. Anja and her husband only jsut moved into this place. It lookd a bit like a
buildingsite. But nothing to alarm a bunch of savage cyclists. We all had a nice dinner with champagne. A relative of Ivan drove Alex, Ivan and Volodja to the railwaystation while we drank some more tea.
Surprisingly early everybody awoke. Now it was my time to leave. My train departed at 13.8. Stil some time left over for a fast tour of town, by bike of course. Ivan showed us around. We ended the tour at the fish market. Lot's of fish to be seen here, even some sorts unknown to me. And of course loads of salesmen descending upon us to sell all sorts of fish, and illegal caviar.
At the railwaystation again the usual debate. This time one of the providnitsa's wnated to actually read the printed rules. We asserted them that my luggage was below the 38kg limit (well, if you disregard my bike, it really is). In fact, the providnitsa's were more concerned to have a cumbersome foreigner on their train, someone unable to communicate with them. Now, while writing these lines, the atmosphere in this train is quite relaxed. Yesterday we passed the station of Achtubinsk, 4 days after being there first. THen it was a quiet station. Now, with two major trains stopping, the place is bustling with life. Everywhere people are selling various foods and drinks to passengers. Today the same at another station. But here I had a small brush up with a police officer. Allready back on the train he scolded me for taking pictures outside. I played the stupid foreigner, the providnitsa's talked along the same line with him. During the identity check I remarked that his knowledgelevel was low. He was satisfied
with scholding and left. Just another theme to be discussed with my fellow pasengers, although my limiteid Russian makes it very difficult. Nearing Moscow some patches of snow are again visible, and the frist snowflakes just fell.
Ivo Miesen