European Russia
“By the way, have you seen the cyclists with beards?” He
made a gesture indicating bear-like beards. “They told us
they were from Holland.”
I had met Gerald the day before, but he certainly hadn’t had
a beard then. He might have shaved it off, of course. As the
driver had warned, the gradient suddenly became very steep
indeed. It must have been about 6%. Up and downhill sections
of about 7 kilometres followed one after the other. The terrain
was a succession of big ridges, as one might expect in the Urals.
Two cyclists appeared at about the 100 kilometre point, coming
the other way. It was them, the ‘bear-beards’. Stickers saying
NL (Holland) were fixed to their loads. One of them, a young
man called Ralph, had cycled the world, including the
Karakorum. He was then on a round-the-world trip from
Holland? Lithuania? Estonia? St Petersburg? Siberia? Magadan
(Russian Far East)? Alaska? North and South America? Tierra
del Fuego? Cape Town? Africa? Europe. He was planning to do
it over two years, with returns home between the legs. Here was
a world-class cyclist. He had sponsors who had provided his
bike and panniers, and suppliers who had provided other
fixtures and fittings. In exchange, he had to send regular
reports to a Dutch newspaper. (When I told them about my sponsorship deals, they were amazed that all I had to do was to
call in to a radio programme. On reflection I realise what a
good deal I had.) An Internet site recorded their progress. The
other bear-beard, Herbert, had neither sufficient time nor
money, so was planning to circle Baikal, go to Ulan Ude, then
get a plane home.
“We’ve had a following wind just about the whole way. It
must have been tough for you.”
The proud, bearded Dutchmen were right. It would have
been much more enjoyable if I had started from the west. I could
have zoomed along with the prevailing westerly winds behind
me. But my goal was Ireland, and that was why I had cycled that
way. There was no point in daydreaming about other options.
(from "Against the Wind" - Poolbeg Press)
