We’re getting closer to Irkutsk. Traffic is increasing. The road remains bumpy but is otherwise ok. Surprisingly, we didn’t find many cafes on today’s route. We also missed each other for part of the day. As I awoke, a quick … Continue reading →
The roads today were sometimes rough (little bumps). We crossed several drainages with some long climbs (big bumps). Overall, it was a good day of cycling. We’re starting to see more Asian and Mongol faces in people we see. The … Continue reading →
Our plan was to sleep in, take it easy and make a shorter day. Last night we walked in search of the blueplanetrun.org runners but returned when we weren’t sure of their route and wouldn’t know if they passed us … Continue reading →
We stopped today at a hotel in the town of Тулун. Our maps showed this as one of the larger places before Irkutsk and hence a reasonable place for a stop. We’re on the main street above the supermarket. There … Continue reading →
Today we stopped in the city of Tylyn one of the larger cities on the way to Irkutsk. We’ve ridden a week from Krasnoyarsk and are now in the Irkutsk oblast. Some general themes from this past week of cycling: … Continue reading →
A good day of riding today as we had many hills but reasonable roads. We passed through several smaller towns and one somewhat larger: ÐижнеудинÑк. The latter resembled the dusty frontier town in Star Wars. It was cool again this … Continue reading →
Today was a day with 31km of gravel roads that were often rough. Traffic was heavy and we were covered with dust. Just as the dust would clear, another car would come past and raise more dust. Many of these … Continue reading →
We crossed into Irkutsk oblast today. This brought another hour of time change (Moscow + 5) and also some rougher roads. The road has similarity with the Alaska Highway where pavement gets interrupted with “gravel patches†and that patch might … Continue reading →
A lot of variety in today’s ride: farming areas, city and forests. Reasonable roads except for the last 30km. I’ve been adjusting my alarm a few minutes each day to avoid having a big jump at the time zone boundaries. … Continue reading →
Roads in the eastern part of the oblast are in worse condition than the west. The amount of traffic seems similar but we had some bumpy roads today. We had gentle grades to climb up and over. As the afternoon … Continue reading →