Amsterdam to Vladivostok

Today we arrived in Novosibirsk after seven days on the road from Omsk. It took some work to find a hotel and that was a little more expensive than we might like. However, still decided to take two rest days here. The past week riding across Siberia continued to be flat terrain. Roads were occasionally rough. We had both days with hot temperatures and also some rain. However, overall continues to be some good cycling across Siberia. When people ask if we’ve come from far and when we reply “Amsterdam”, they are starting to joke “and you must be going to Vladivostok”. Hence, the locals still think of this as a long ride, but Vladivostok is no longer off the imagination. From here ~750km to Krasnoyarsk and ~1850km to Irkutsk as the next likely big places. There are five cities of 1 million plus that we cross on our trip: St Petersburg, Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Omsk and Novosibirsk. Hence, this is the largest city from here to the Pacific and last over 1 million population.

We’re declaring this the halfway point, will have to see how the kilometers come out exactly. I haven’t yet figured out if I can upload my previous journals and photos but will try this over the next two rests days here.

By the way, for those of you interested in bike trip journals. Bill Weir has recently posted One Year in Asia. I met Bill and his bicycle (named “Bessie too” or perhaps I met “Bessie”) in South India in 2002. He has done some interesting bicycle touring since then including his latest travels that I mostly read when sent via email updates. I also notice that Andrew and Joanne recently completed their trek along the Ride from Prudhoe Bay to Fairbanks. It sounds like a tough adventure. I met Andrew and Joanne in Australia in 2001 interesting that we both planned our next big adventures in the same year. I expect they will be posting more as they come down the Alaska Highway.

Overnight the wind started howling through the trees. I was pleased to discover it was going to be a day with tailwinds. It was nice and cool when I left. Today started with many open areas and good roads so the tailwinds made it easy to glide along. I see fields occasionally plowed but mostly open areas. Without much trouble I was at a cafe at 35km. One of the proprietors warned me here “Bad roads ahead”. “How many kilometers are bad?” “300”. My expectations were set for the bumps ahead. The road stayed good until kilometer 59, including our crossing of the trains-Siberian tracks. After that occasional good patches but increasingly rough. The road is old concrete highway that has started to deteriorate, even when they put some loose asphalt on top.

A quick stop at 72km and then the last riding through more forested areas to 110km. Here was a large truck-stop area with a large столовая, магазин, мотель and even a place that advertised for laundry! We replenished everything here. While it was still early, I had seen enough bumps for the day that we found a place to camp. We’ve now crossed the 80th meridian of longitude and are east of both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

112km today, 6647km across Eurasia. [Photo: 828, 829, 831]

I found a town in the backwaters of Siberia without internet connections for tourists. In Чаны, I asked three normally reliable sources: the post office, the telegraph/telephone office and a teenage boy – and none could find an internet connection for me. An inviting hotel and an obnoxious cross wind made for an early end to the day. Hence, we stopped early and I went to nearby town in search of an internet connection.

The mosquitoes were out early today, and hence a quick departure. I hadn’t found a store yesterday, so was ready for the first cafe at 11km. This was a very small place with some cold soup and a hard boiled egg. A few kilometers later, two SUVs came past, both with extra tires on the roof. They stopped. The drivers were from Germany and on their way to Mongolia. We stopped some kilometers further at 28km at the second cafe for another breakfast.

From here a slow steady ride. The road was rough in a few spots, but stayed wide. The wind slowly increased. It was mostly a cross wind, but still slowed things down. It was also getting warmer. We saw signs for a cafe in 15km, but when we got there, it was missing. However, shortly thereafter was a sign for 8km more. At 72km we reached a nice cafe/motel at turnoff to Чаны. It was even air conditioned! Outside a clock thermometer said 30C (by afternoon it had risen to 34C). After a long lunch, we decided to ask about motel room prices and otherwise make it an early day. From here, I went to the town of Чаны to find my internet connection.

89km today, 6417km across Eurasia. [Photo: 817, 820, 822, 823]

Today we left the big city and started our ride to Новосибирск. It is interesting how much contrast we have between rest days in the city and days on the road. Several factors conspired to make today a slower day than normal.

Our hotel included breakfast with the room, so we waited until almost 8am when the breakfast started. As we left the hotel, the staff was excited to help us with our luggage and gave us big waves as we left (I think they were excited about the trip, not that they were happy to have us leave). We cycled back over the bridge and into the big city. We stopped briefly at the internet cafe to check on potential apartments in Новосибирск. Unfortunately, it wasn’t working. The staff said “15 minutes” in the same tone that airline staff tell you when they aren’t sure when you might leave but “check back in 15 minutes”. Not wanting to play that waiting game, we continued on. Our maps and the signs directed us in a zig-zag route out of town that eventually ended up on the northern road out of the city. Ominous clouds loomed to our west and then we saw lightening. We continued for a bit, but as sprinkles turned to rain, we took refuge under a bus shelter. We spent the next while in the shelter with a variety of people who came and went from the buses. Finally, rain turned back to sprinkles and we set off.

The light rain continued until the turnoff to Кормиловка at 36km. Just as we reached the turnoff, Mickey ran over a piece of glass and we had a flat to fix. After fixing the flat, we ate in the cafe at the turnoff.

The next 17km to Кормиловка were a bit slow. The rain had stopped, though thick globs of mud occasionally were on the road. They would stick and rub under my front fender. This area was more agricultural, though I’m still not sure what they grow here other than hay. At 54km we came through Кормиловка. We rode more eastbound here, including some kilometers directly into the wind. It was starting to get late, so we found a village right next to the train tracks to get water and end the day.

The villagers directed us to a well, which was unfortunately was dry. We used another nearby well – not sure if we should or not. We asked about the store that appeared to be locked and closed. However, as we asked, a teenager went to find the clerk and they opened the store for us. From here, we were refueled and cycled a short distance down the main road before finding a place to camp. We are close to the main train tracks and hear many trains coming down the line.

78km today, 6236km across Eurasia. [Photo: 803, 806]

Today we were just close enough to consider riding all the way into the big city. If roads or weather had been worse, the alternate plan was to split things into two days. As it was, it took a bit of searching to find a hotel so it still made for a long day.

We followed a similar routine in getting up early and trying to get up earlier than the bugs. I definitely have a better appreciation of joys of going to the restroom without having hordes of mosquitoes attacking ones privates. The road continued to be narrow, occasionally poor condition and with a moderate amount of truck traffic. I expected the latter two to worsen as we got closer to the big city, but fortunately the road widened some and traffic didn’t compensate. There was more growing in the fields here. However, it looks like it wasn’t planted until recently. My guess is mostly hay or some forms of grasses. Our first stop was at a cafe in Малиновка at 30km.

From Малиновка a mostly flat ride through more open countryside. There were definitely some bumpy parts here but otherwise a slow steady ride to reach a lunch cafe at 77km. It was 10km past this point as we passed Красны Яр that the road widened and became a rough chip seal. It was slow riding on the rough road and it became steadily busier. There was an expensive motel around 105km with one of the less friendly waitresses we’ve met. From here the road briefly became a nice smooth four lane highway but then both smooth and stripes went away as we came through industrial parts of Омск. It was a bit of navigation but we found our way across the bridge and at 134km were in the town proper.

Now came our search for a hotel. The first Lonely Planet inexpensive selection didn’t have much suitable. The second one was closed for renovation. Rather than cycle another 3km south we tried two mid-priced selections and both didn’t have room for two nights. However, the second was very helpful in calling another hotel across the river. They were able to get us two rooms. Hence, we crossed back over to the west bank of the river and settled in for a rest day tomorrow in the big city of Омск. After five days of steady riding from Тюмень it is nice to not immediately dash into the tent to escape insects, to have a shower and other little things.

141km today, 6158km across Eurasia [Photo: 782, 783, 786]