When I woke up, everything seemed normal – but then I had a strange feeling….and two seconds later, I rushed to the bathroom. I made it in time. Only just. What was that??? Had I eaten something bad? I follow strictly the “Cook it, peel it or leave it” motto. And I take daily my Saccharomyces capsules to fortify my guts against any attack. So what went wrong? Hard to say. I went in counterattack mode and swallowed another capsule plus one Imodium pill, just to be on the safe side. I packed my stuff, got the XBR out of the parking and went for breakfast. This time, I was incorrectly  on the ground floor while breakfast was served on the 11th floor…I listened to my guts….everything seemed to be under control…let’s go! At a quarter to eight I left the place. My GPS guided me to the right  road, the Amur highway. The road was very good again, leading through green hills and valleys. It was a scenic ride today, lots of forest. There were some occasional road works, but I made good progress. I filled up every 225 km, 100 km and 170 km. Petrol stations were rare, but available. I noticed today, that east of Krasnoyarsk, people seem to be more grumpy (with exceptions). It was hot and I tried to drink plenty of water. After 400 km, the good road seemed to have more and more ‘dips’, deepenings in the surface. In contrast to low speed bumps, these were dangerous at high speeds – the bike’s shocks are compressed to the max. One technique is to ride slower…..or to stand up and dampen the hit with your own body like a cross rider. This was tedious at times, but often these dips were marked by truck skidmarks before them.

High speed bumps: the degression is 20 cm lower than the normal road surface

14:45, Mogotcha junction: too early!

At a quarter to there, I was already in Mogotcha. Much too early! I reserved a room in Skovorodino, some 320 km down the road. The bike rode fine again, I made good progress, the weather was fine and I could go further tomorrow, During the last 10 km, the sat nav sent me on a shortcut, which meant 5 km on a very bumpy piste. Thank you, Garmin! I filled up and arrived at the hotel. It had the worst ranking I ever have booked, but at least I had a room. As I didn’t want to have a shared bathroom, I had booked a suite. I paid half price as I need it only for 12 hours, not 24 h (?). It’s quite shabby, but reasonably clean and I have enough space. In the restaurant, I managed to order a Gösser beer from Austria (!), Borshtch and Shashlik. It’s quite hot in room, the airco doesn’t work and choosing between heat or mosquitos, I chose heat. I realised that going 200 km further tomorrow than planned doesn’t make much sense, as I can’t find a better accommodation than the already booked one. This means I will have a short day (450 km) tomorrow. Then there will be two full riding days to Khabarowsk and….Vladivostok!

Lunch impressions

I could inspect my bike…

Siberian wildlife…

Siberian wildlife (Vol. 2)

Thank you for this shortcut, Mr Garmin!

Skovorodino