We are settling into life on the road.  Our daily schedule goes something like this:  Get up about 5:30, clean up, pack up, haul our bags to the van, drink coffee, eat breakfast, load our bikes, and hit the road by shortly after 7.  The daily route is usually presented to us for our mad scribbling the evening before the ride although sometimes we get it just before breakfast.  We carefully listen to hints from Gergo, our intrepid leader, trying to avoid the many wrong turns of last year.  Happily, we are better (so far) at staying on the route.  We have developed a Pavlovian ability to watch for streamers of orange, eco-friendly flagging tape on trees, sign posts, bushes or even under rocks at the turns in the road.  We also packed along clear plastic covers to mount on the front of our bikes with the day’s instructions inside that we assiduously check for the next turn (or to see just how much farther we have to go until lunch!)

The psychology of the group is interesting to observe.  There are the amazingly strong riders who seemingly effortlessly cruise ahead of everyone each day, arriving in camp in record time.  Then there is the group we fondly refer to as “the peloton”.  They are fast riders who form a paceline everyday and also hightail it to camp, primarily watching each others rear wheels as they draft the day away.

There are those of us who are quite a bit slower riders.  Either the pace is slower, and/or the approach is different:  more coffee and pastry stops, more photos, more sightseeing.  That is not to say that everyone isn’t riding hard but the goals and abilities are different.  In some cases it is a reflection of age (ahem, Jim and I are the oldest male and female riders I think) although it is not a group of spring chickens by any means.  And I think it is safe to say that the whole group has a bit of a competitive streak…lots of former competitive athletes in the bunch.  I find that we sometimes have to remind ourselves that we really don’t need to prove anything and we want to see and experience as much as possible.

So, back to the daily schedule.  We ride away until we are finding ourselves with little gumption left and realize that we need some blood sugar.  Always alert for possible pastry shops (regrettably sometimes few and far between) we either stop for coffee and pastries or we dig into the treasures we have squirreled into our bike pack for these occasions (fruit?  cookies?  pb & j?).  Lunch is set up by the roadside around 50-70km into the ride and the riders attack the offerings whenever they get there.  Back on the road, we finish the day’s ride, arrive at camp or the hotel, get bags, set up, clean up, go to riders meeting (maybe with beer or wine in hand), eat dinner, check  out the local wifi, crash and get ready to do it all over again.  Whew!

 

This last few days of riding took us into Lithuania.  We have had a partial reprieve on the headwinds and a change in the terrain to rolling hills that meander in and out of forests and farm lands.  We often see the remains of the old collective farms from the Soviet era, falling apart with sagging roofs and broken windows.  In general, I have been surprised that there are not many remnants of the years under the thumb of the USSR.

Today we are in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.  As is always the case on rest days, we are stretching our legs, washing our clothes, eating great food, and seeing the sights.

Tomorrow we head off for our last day in Lithuania and then start our way south through Poland.  We have 5 pretty tough riding days ahead and start getting into the mountains as we draw nearer to Warsaw.  Wish me luck with my lungs as we start to climb.  I fear I will be working hard to keep up but I will do my best!

Thanks again for riding along!