Smolenskiy Shlyuz - Yaroslavl Region - August 5, 2015

This posting is slightly out of order because the internet in Russia has become a problem - very slow, so picture uploads are taking forever.  We hope to catch up soon, filling in St. Petersburg (our visit to Peterhof & the ride from St. Petersburg to Smolenskiy Shlyuz.

We started later than usual today because the resort does not usually serve breakfast before 9am.

We gathered on the patio at 8am to work out some GPS issues.  It seems every single Garmin has a different way of routing.  Trying to get all of them to work consistently has been an issue.  This wouldn't be  problem in group riding, but some of us like to ride independent, or stop more times along the way, so all of us need the ability to navigate independently.  We do generally have a "sweeper" rider who would assist anyone with a breakdown, or call the lead guide, John Jesson, if there is a problem, such as interaction with police.  We have already had one situation where two of our riders were stopped by police and accused of drinking and driving.  This was in the morning, and an absurd accusation, but the police put them in their car, intentionally put alcohol in the blow tube, explaining that they had to "blow past" the alcohol in the tube to prove they had not been drinking.  It was all a shakedown, and a quick "payment" solved the problem and they were on their way.

Breakfast was worth waiting for.  We sat down to a plated of eggs and bacon.  Then they brought some bilinis and lingonberry sauce.  Delicious.

Off we went on a long day of riding.  We need to cover 341 miles to our next destination.  This would not normally be a lot of miles when riding in the states, where we often do more than twice that much.  However, this is Russia.

We gassed up before heading out to the road.  The morning ride was on good pavement.  We had sunny skies and were moving along at a good clip.  

After about two hours of riding we pulled off for a break -  chance to get off the bikes and stretch out.  Soon we were back in the saddle and headed for our next gas up.

Uh Oh.  Those signs, in any language, mean “No Gas”.  The bikes with the smaller tanks were on fumes.  Not a good situation.  Fortunately, the van carries a little extra fuel, so we gave them about a gallon each and made it to the next stop.

Svetlana had scouted out this part of the trip in advance, and had selected a great lunch stop for the day.  The group had various salad, pasta and pizza dishes.

Our group had a procedural hiccup today.  Somehow a piece of baggage got left at the last hotel about 200 miles back.  That meant that Janis had to return to the hotel in the support van for the missing luggage, and then repeat the morning’s journey, over 200 miles each way.  It also meant that our luggage would not arrive at tonight’s hotel until late in the evening.  We grabbed what we thought we needed until the van could make it back.

When we came out of the café, a local camera crew was checking out our bikes.  If you get the local Russian TV channels on your satellite dish, check it out 8-).  We were interviewed and filmed while waiting for everyone to get what they needed from the van.

Nobody seemed to notice when the bride and groom arrived at the cafe - our motorcycles stole the day.

It was a long afternoon ride, so I had to do something to while away the time.  Shadow pictures?

The road got rougher as we traveled. There were some pretty bad parts after lunch and as we pulled into our next gas stop, someone noticed that Alex and Ida’s bike had a low front tire.  Alex and Ida are from Singapore and are riding a lightweight BMW F700GS.  The rough road took its first toll - with a bent rim.

Sure enough, Alex had hit a particularly bad pothole and pinched the tube in his tire. 

Not to worry though, the guys know how to change a tire.  First they had to find some way to jack up the front of the bike.  This is a "low" frame bike, so unlike most of our other bikes, has no center stand to hold it up for maintenance work.  They found a spot, but the gas station manager was adamant about us not working on the bikes near the gas storage tanks.  We proceeded anyway, until He threatened to call the police. 

So we moved across the road and the work resumed.  Rather than hold up the whole group, the rest of us headed off to find the hotel ourselves.

We did see another pretty Orthodox Church.

We finally arrived at tonight’s destination, a hotel resort on the Rybinsk Sea. The sea is one of the largest manmade reservoirs in the world – 140km long and 40km wide.  663 villages were submerged after the dam was built.

We had a great BBQ dinner on the beach.  Another great pick by Svetlana.

 It was dark, so not a great picture, but you get the beach view anyway.

Our new friends Mary Jane & Steve Sheldon looking great in front of a cruise ship on the lake.  Tomorrow we head to Moscow - heavy traffic and an exciting end to the first leg of the adventure.