Day Seventeen - Wiżajny to Jurbarkas
20 miles in Europe can be a very long way. Today that was vividly clear as I passed into Lithuania. The morning started with a stop at the grocery store on the Polish side of the border. There was a line of men buying vodka at 9am on a Monday morning. There would not be any dependable food stops all day, so I had to pack lunch and nutrition. I’d spend most of the day right on the border between Russian Kaliningrad and Lithuania. Crossing into Lithuania felt great! A new country that have been eager to experience!
Immediately I noticed the roads were very nicely paved. Smooth and predictable. Very nice. This changed just a bit after I passed the national park area, but were still really good.
Most of the first 25 miles was on farmlands and a highway. I was pushing along at a decent pace around mile 25 when I saw a rider ahead. It was a 70 year old man wearing a cycling jersey and riding a 1990’s era hybrid bike. I politely passed him and kept riding. Two minutes later I heard something over my left should and it was him sprinting past me! I could hear him breathing hard. He was looking straight ahead, the only acknowledgement he was giving me was that he was passing my ass! Ha!
Look at how ripped his legs are. He was digging deep. I could hear him softly grunting and pushing as hard as he could. He was maintaining a blistering pace. I stuck behind him and he started slowing. Then I lit up the hurt candle and passed him, really feeling the effort myself. He sped back up and passed me again! We went back and forth for about 10 minutes, no words spoken, he didn’t even look at me; just straight forward with a game face. At this point I was laughing my ass off and giving him a thumbs up. I hope I’m riding like that when I’m 70!
Damn! Lithuanians have grit! This encounter made my day and left me with a huge smile on my face. Eventually I got to the first town and navigating a strange situation with this border town. I had to walk over this set of train tracks on a pedestrian bridge. Some kids said something to me. The didn’t speak English, but asked me if I spoke Russian.
On the other side of town I found a park for a lunch stop and made lunch. Bread roll, cheese, salami, and mustard.
Two more older men came riding up on bikes, one with a screaming motor. He kept doing loops in the street adjacent to the park.
He eventually came into the park to talk with his friend, gesturing at his loud bike. His bike looked like a treasure that I just had to see, so I walked over to him and introduced myself. He didn’t speak English, didn’t understand Polish, and asked me if I spoke Russian. We still had a good exchange and he let me take his photo with the bike.
He was showing me how he used caulk to dampen vibrations on his bike to keep the noise down. I have never seen this trick before. Notice the caulk behind the fork crown to quiet the fender. I love how his hand adds to the story in this photo. He was a very nice man.
We were standing right next to this statue in the park.
On the way out of town there were several more statues that were very unique to the Lithuania countryside.
The fields were absolutely beautiful today.
Much of the day I spent within 1km of the border with Russia. It was surprisingly quiet and uneventful. There were a few Lithuania border guards sitting in specific places, but it was otherwise lacking any human presence. I keep thinking to myself how things changed between Poland and Lithuania, and how just a few hundred meters to my left there was a country committing war crimes in Europe.
The last 15 miles of the day was brutal. The paved roads in this part of Lithuania are outstanding. The gravel roads are some of the worst gravel hell I have ever ridden. On the firm sections the washboards were deep and pounding. Unrideable. When you tried moving off the washboards you’d end up in 4” deep gravel, and when you steered out of it your front wheel would slide out. I almost fell once. I could barely ride faster than walking pace and my body was taking an absolute pounding. It sucked. Real bad.
After rattling my teeth (literally) for two hours of this punishing gravel, I finally made it to camp. There was a nice German guy setting up camp next to me and we ended up going into town to grab pizza. It was nice getting to know him and to talk about European cultural issues.
It’s been a big day. My body needs rest. Signing off. Oh, and I changed time zones today so I lost an hour. Off to the sea tomorrow!