Good ride today with a few hilly bits. Cold again starting out. I could see my breath. Most of the trucks weren’t on the road when I departed so better than yesterdays finish. Only 8km to Воткинск where I turned to the south and had tailwinds. There were some more hills to climb but after 15km, it stayed mostly flat. Road conditions were variable. After Кварса at 20km. the road went into and through the woods. At 37km was Новый and a café.

Just after this, the road crossed a wide dam and into the Перм oblast and town of Чайковский with another hour of time change (if you aren’t keeping track, I’m now 2 hours east of Moscow). I tried the post office for internet but the only terminal was occupied by a teenager who looked like he was going to stay a while.

Just as I came to intersection out of town, I paused to make sure I would take the proper road. A man in a dark SUV drove up. He came to me and asked if he could photograph the bicycle. He was quite excited to see the Trek 520 bike. He had a Schwinn and asked if this was a good brand. I said yes. Unlike others, he was mostly interested in the bike and not other parts of the trip.

As I was cycling a little further, I came across a second person. He said he designed bicycles and again was interested in the bike. I asked him about road conditions. The SUV guy came up again after this. He had an orange reflective vest he wanted me to put on. I told him this wasn’t necessary though it was a good reminder to get out my orange windbreaker (I still had on my heavy blue coat). He also showed me a gun and asked if I needed one. I told him no, I wouldn’t need a gun.

The road ahead was variable with steadily increasing hills. There was some truck traffic, but overall traffic was light enough that it worked. The morning cold and clouds were gone. I stopped once at 78km for lunch and then slowly cycled the last kilometers to the end of the day.

108km today, 4723km across Eurasia. [Photo: 697, 698, 701, 702]