Train to Vladivostok
24 January 2015
At nine in the morning the camera crew knocked on the door. They did a small interview, we made one shot outside, and that was it. The result was shown on Ussuriysk TV, I think it was a local station. The result is here:
I had told them I would not bike all the way to Vladivostok, so after the interview I went to the train station and took the train to Vladivostok. I felt a little guilty about that to be honest: being on TV with a bike story, then when the camera stops going with the train. But no more biking, Ussuriysk was the end of the biking part.
So how much of the 750 kilometers did I actually ride my bike? Not as much as I wanted: about 400 kilometers. There was one stretch that I skipped because I thought it was too risky, also I allowed myself a day off to walk to China (unsuccesfully) and finally I just ran out of time. But if I ever do this again I think I could do the full 750 km in two weeks.
Just a little more training, and different packing. Sixty percent of the stuff I had with me on my bike I never needed, such as a sleeping bag for instance. So next time I can take one overcoat instead of two, no sleeping bag, fewer trousers, fewer but better gloves, fewer caps but just the right ones, etcetera. One thing that I willl certainly change is my shoes. I bought shoes in Vladivostok that I thought were warm enough, but I must get something even better and maybe also add neoprene covers.
