Day 35, to Gorno Altaysk  94km , 2821km to date,  410m up, 340m end

We are now in Gorno Altysak, Siberia, Russia. We have a rest day tomorrow, after 7 riding days in a row.  Sounds hard but was really fairly easy going, all the roads in Russia have been excellent.  

This corner of Russia is a vacation retreat centre, camping in the mountains, river rafting, Yoga retreats.  Very few, if any fancy hotels, but lots of areas to just pitch a tent.  The common “rental” is a small cabin with fire pit outside and a Banya (sauna) near a cool river.

Five of the riders are leaving at Gorno, so we had a party in camp last night.  Until now things had been too serious, the focus had been on surviving the riding.   Now that we are back on pavement the days are reasonable, so we had a good spread of food, beer, vodka and music.  There seemed to be some pent up energy - some of the wildest dancing ever!  Although the party did end by 8:00, which is late for us.

Major crisis solved..  I brought only one white shirt for riding - it is now worn out - several rips due to the falls and I guess wearing it for 4,300km in China, 7,300km across Canada and most of 3,000km this trip has done it in.  So I now have a new bright white Russian replacement.

The last couple of days we have been riding along the Ob, which I believe is one of the world’s great rivers, 7th longest in fact.  It drains into the arctic .  In many ways reminds me of the Fraser.

We have gone through many small towns and villages.  It is obvious that most Russians have a strong affection for the land, very common to see yards fully planted - I feel like I am visiting my grandparents.

Some pics:

Note the size of the Satellite dish:

A constructions mistake??

And we think the airport crop circles are a challenge...

Into Gorno: