Tailwinds! Flat terrain and reasonable roads made for a fast flat ride today. It was warm last night, so no need to wait for it to get warmer to arise. This area has much flat marshy terrain and hence millions of biting insects. Mosquitoes are usually tolerable and dissipate with a strong breeze. However, there are also inch long horsefly type insects that hurt when they bite. They can keep up with a cyclist (at least this one) and ride along on the panniers waiting to circle back and bite.

The terrain was initially open and tailwinds made for a quick ride. Before I knew it, I had ridden 54km to the first cafe for a breakfast stop. This was a «столовая» and hence had cafeteria style choices. After breakfast more cycling on the long open stretches past Омтутинское with the wonderful tailwind. At 95km we finally went into some woods and at 112km to an intersection with Голышманово. This corner had several cafes and even hotels to pick from. However, it was still early so we decided to ride another 22km to a village close to the road: Плотина. The village didn’t have a store, but some friendly and curious boys helped us find water. We left the village and turned onto a small side road to camp next to the next trees we found. The trees were wet and marshy, so we camped behind. The insects here were as fierce as we’ve had so far so quickly set up the tent and hid from the bugs behind protective netting.

138km today, 5762km across Eurasia [Photo: 765, 766, 767]