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117km is too far for one day...


Taken near the end of the day right before we came into Kaunas. ^ Yesterday we had the longest day on the trip so far. We rode for almost six hours and covered just over 117km. The original plan wasn't to ride that far, but through some miscalculations of distance we ended up with a pretty long day. The plan was that we were going to ride from Panevėžys, where we thought we were, to Kaunas. On the main road it would've been about 105km. What we didn't add into the calculations was that we were about 10km away from Panevėžys, and that the side roads were going to take a bit longer than the main road. We had already reserved a place in Kaunas and we knew that there was going to be no refund. So, we decided that we'd give it a go and see how the day went. The first two and a half hours were great as I led and had a solid pace of about 25km/h. (Our normal average is about 17.5km/h). Although it was a bit wet and rainy, it was still good to get 50km done before lunch. After a little sunny lunch (one of the few times we saw the sun for the day), we headed off done the road again. According to the map, the road we were on went straight through a town and continued on, but what I didn't take into consideration was that a straight line on a map doesn't always mean a straight road in real life. Instead of taking a few slight turns off the road to follow the road we were supposed to be on, I led us straight. It wasn't the worst decision as it was a nice quiet road that paralleled the one we were supposed to be on... until we hit the dirt part of the road. I like to call them minefields as avoiding the potholes in the road is often quite difficult. When hitting potholes, it is extremely bumpy and it's possible that a pannier might bounce off. After a little bit I was able to find a trail through the minefields and we continued down the dirt road. However, after about 5km on the dirt road the dirt turned into wet, soft, slippery mud. Although it only lasted 0.5km, it would've changed our plans of getting to Kaunas if it was any longer. Anyways, after that it was all perfect and everything went fine... not really. We knew that we would have to go along an interstate for about 8km but due to me missing the road earlier, we had to bike 16km on it. There was not really any other road to Kaunas and it was pretty much our only option. I've got to say that was one of the scariest moments of my life. It was rush hour and trucks were whizzing by at 100km/h and a few times they were within a foot or two of us. There were times where there was a median in the road and the trucks had no option to give us any space, leaving us with barely enough room to stay on the road. One time, a tour bus decided to pass a truck as they were coming towards us. Imagine that, a huge bus coming at you without three feet of space between you and a bus going 110+km/h right at you. Well, let's just say that won't be a repeat. The day came to a nice end as we had a wonderful bike path right through Kaunas and to our flat we had rented for the night. We are now at the flat and taking a rest day to rest our bodies, and minds. The apartment reminded us of Elvis Presley's house, Graceland, which we visited a few Christmas' ago. In our flat here there is a recording studio and plenty of pop art in the place and there's some pretty funky lighting in the room where my brothers and I are sleeping. I've got a bit of school to do today and I think we might go exploring as we are located right in the centre of the old part of town. For those wondering, yes, we are all fine from yesterdays long day, but we will avoid biking for 5 and a half hours and going on busy roads.


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