Date: October 2nd, 2016
Distance: 124 kilometers
Song of the Day: We Sing in Time - The Lonely Forest

I was very excited to get back on the road today. If all goes well it is just four good days left until I get to Yakutsk. The mood changed rather quickly as I hit the edge of town, though. The highway out of the city dropped steeply into the next valley and the road was glittering with black ice. It didn't help that there was a big commotion because of a car in the ditch halfway down. I was able to ride along the gravel shoulder of the road and that worked pretty well. The uncompressed snow there over the gravel gave me a decent bit of traction, but it wasn't the fastest way. I didn't crash, which made me quite happy, but I was worried that if the whole day was like that I wasn't going to get anywhere.

At the bottom of the hill things improved, luckily. For most of the morning I was riding along fairly flat roads. Things got more hilly toward the afternoon, but the road was generally paved, clear, and dry. It made the riding fairly easy.

About midday I passed through Tommot and over the Aldan river. It seems crazy to me how many massive rivers there are out here. Even more when you consider how far this is from any ocean. It's pretty incredible, really. The Aldan isn't a narrow stream, it's a couple hundred meters wide. What is even crazier is that in a few weeks and a couple thousand kilometers I will need to cross back over the Aldan. For the second crossing I, sadly, won't have the luxury of a bridge.

I pressed on as long as I could. As the sun began setting the pavement ended again, and I began riding over some giant hills. In hot weather I like to camp at the tops of hills. That gives me a nice downhill to start off the day while I am digesting breakfast. In cold weather, though, it is better to start in a valley. The climb out will get the blood pumping and heat you up. So I found an okay spot at the bottom of a hill to pitch my tent.



-Dravis

Date: October 1st, 2016
Distance: 80 kilometers
Song of the Day: Thrift Shop - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

Well, it turns out I was wrong. I hadn't passed the small town, it was only 4 kilometers further down the road. Urgh. It did have a warm cafe, which was good because by the time I got there I was freezing. I tried using some dish-washing gloves over my normal gloves to keep the wind off of my hands and they were worse than useless. The rubber gloves seemed to just suck heat away from my fingers. By the time I had my hands warmed up enough to use I looked down and noticed that my shins looked like they had shin-guards on. It was all the ice and snow kicked up from the road that had frozen to me. It is a scary revelation to realize that I am not prepared for this weather at all.

I asked one of the local guys at the cafe if there was a shop in town where I could get some pants. Of course there wasn't, but the guy did say he would look for me. He came back five minutes later with a pair of jeans for me. He had gone home and grabbed an old pair of pants for me to wear. I don't know if jeans still have the same cache they did during the Soviet years, but either way it was a very generous gesture. The funny part was when I started explaining my trip to him, a guy from the next table over was listening. When I said I was going to Magadan the other guy turned around and gave me his hat. Like right off his head. He said I would need it more than he did.

Getting back on the road the jeans helped a lot. My feet were still cold, but at least all my heat wasn't being sucked out through my shins. My hands were also cold, but ditching the dish gloves helped a lot. I didn't think they could have such a negative affect. My regular gloves were not perfect, but using them alone was way better.

The road kept switching back and forth between dirt and paved. I also came over a large pass, and now I can understand why things have been cold. It isn't just the weather, there must be some kind of altitude here. It was amazing to see how quickly things got better as I headed down the mountain. Of course, heading down an icy road in Russia is a bit nerve-wracking. It's all about guessing how fast you can go and how much you can still brake without sliding out on the ice. I was happy when I finally left the higher elevation and found a clear and dry bit of paved road.

I was excited to arrive in Aldan. The conditions coming into town were awful, though. The traffic had turned the road into an ice rink. I managed to get through it for the most part, but just as I hit the city a limits a dog jumped out at me from across the road. I tried to turn to confront the dog and immediately fell over. One small maneuver and I flopped sideways onto the ground. At least that scared the dog off, so I guess it was effective?

I stopped at the far edge of town. I was trying to ask some of the truck drivers how far the next town was and if they had a place to stay. I hadn't covered that much distance and still had quite a few miles before I arrived in Yakutsk. While I was asking around I found a little hardware store, so I stepped inside to see if they had any larger gloves. The owner was really great, very excited about my trip. I guess he had also met a number of other travelers who had passed through the area. Various people on bikes, motorcycles, or even just walking, who had passed through. While I was there I started talking with some truck drivers. They said the next town was 17 kilometers away, but it didn't have a place to stay. Oh well, I guess I can stay here tonight. One of the drivers also took pity on me and gave me some gloves to keep my hands warm. Well, not gloves really. They were like two oven mits. Still, it should do the trick. I have no complaints about it.

I found a place in Aldan to stay for the night. I also got supplies for the next few days. I figure I can break it up into 4 days, and 3 nights. It is still about 500 kilometers to Yakutsk. I hope I can make 125 kilometers a day for the next few days.



-Dravis

Date: September 30th, 2016
Distance: 133 kilometers
Song of the Day: Evenflow - Pearl Jam

Holy crap it is winter now. That week of fall was great, but it's over. The day was cloudy and never got above freezing. I knew I was losing time and temperature as I headed north, I was just hoping autumn would last for a week longer. Looks like I will be doing the rest of this journey in the snow. Most of the puddles of water are frozen, and even small ponds are getting a thick crust of ice.

My plan to stay inside, out of the cold, as often as I can continues to fail. I was trying to get to the town of Bolshoye Nimnur, but it started snowing. Then the sun set on me. I kept pushing on into the dark trying to find this little town indicated on the map. Even if they didn't have a place to stay a small cafe to warm myself in would be amazing. I went 10 kilometers past where the town was supposed to be. Eventually I figured I must have passed it in the dark. I didn't want to continue on in the cold and the dark through the whole night so I put up my tent in the snow, made a little dinner, and went to bed.

-Dravis

Date: September 29th, 2016
Distance: 121 kilometers
Song of the Day: Meteor Swarm - Andrew Bird

I guess I'm not quite done with paved roads after all. After 30 kilometers I picked up asphalt again for the rest of the day. That made things a lot better. Still didn't get quite as far as I wanted, but I am making good progress in getting out to Yakusk.

Things are oddly becoming green again. As I move north it seems there are more and more evergreens. The other trees have lost their leaves and so the green really sticks out.



-Dravis

Date: September 28th, 2016
Distance: 152 kilometers
Song of the Day: You Shook Me All Night Long - ACDC

The first half of the day was good. The second half sucked. I think I have run out of paved roads and instead I am left with rough dirt roads again. Yeah, I know I have been through worse roads in Mongolia, but these roads have something else. The weather is so much colder here. It just makes everything seem to take so much longer. It wouldn't be so bad if I had all my winter gear, but I am still racing up to Yakutsk to pick it up.

In the evening, under my plan of trying to stay inside, I rode all the way into Zolotinka. It wasn't easy. The sun set when I still had 30 kilometers to go. On these roads that meant I had another two hours of riding. I had my lights on so I wasn't too worried about getting hit, but it was still a freezing night. That didn't make things pleasant. When I finally got into town it turns out the place is just a tiny spot on the map. No hotel to stay at. Sigh. Instead, I went just outside of the city limits and camped in the woods. I was too cold and tired to even cook hot foot.



-Dravis

Date: September 27th, 2016
Distance: 91 kilometers
Song of the Day: Positive Negative - Modest Mouse

I managed to sleep pretty well last night despite the cold. When I woke up I had nothing left to drink, though. Everything I had was frozen solid. I think I may try and spend as many of the last few nights up to Yakutsk inside as I can. I would like to be able to have some liquid water when I get up in the morning.

I spent the day switching between paved and not paved roads. The paved sections really are amazing for someone on a bicycle, smooth tarmac with wide shoulders. No grade is more than 6%. For steep hills there is usually a long ramp of earth, and often this is more than 40 feet above the surrounding area. The top of the hill is also gouged out so the road can pass at a lower elevation. There are even some small valleys where the construction crews created a causeway so I don't have to drop down into it and climb out the other side. Of course, they didn't do this for my happiness. It took about the third section of good road for me to realize that it was all done for the ease of big trucks in the winter. Keeping them from sliding out on ice must be pretty important. I can't complain about how easy it has made my life, though. I wish the whole road was finished as nicely.

I only made it as far as Tinda today. I wanted to do more, but I found my back tire going flat as I got into town. I could have fixed it and made another 20 kilometers, but I might as well take the opportunity to stay somewhere warm when I can get it. Hopefully I can wake up early tomorrow and pack on the extra miles.



-Dravis

Date: September 26th, 2016
Distance: 102 kilometers
Song of the Day: Never Ending Math Equation - Modest Mouse

Spent the morning getting the last of my gear arranged. I think I am all ready for the winter portion of the trip. Yay. I also got a chance to speak with my family. The internet is a wonderful thing.

After leaving Never the road splits. One way heads to Vladivosok, the other leads north to Yakutsk. You can guess which road I took. The first bit was actually better than I thought it would be, really nice and freshly paved. The next bit was not so good. Back to dirt roads. Now and again I could see that the road had been paved at one time. This just made it more annoying, though. If it is worth paving once, why not keep it up? Ah well.

A storm blew in while I was riding and brought with it the first snow of the season. It was like a little mini blizzard. The wind picked up, the temperature dropped, and the snow just kept falling. It was coming in from all directions too. The visibility was down to less than 30 meters. I can really understand what they mean by white out. The whole thing didn't last more than half an hour and soon things went back to normal. The sun came back out and the snow melted away. Within an hour it was like the storm had never come through. It didn't end up being that bad, but it did serve as a sort of warning of what the weather is capable of out here.

I thought finding a place to camp would be easier than it was. Usually I am limited by proximity to people. Here the land is empty and there is nothing to worry about. The forest and undergrowth was not very convenient, however. The area is almost completely carpeted in small bushes and shrubs. Underneath that is a layer of soft, uneven moss. It would be like trying to camp on barbed wire on pillows on bowling balls. Not really what I wanted. Eventually I found an abandoned road that had a tiny spot of even ground, enough to lay my tent out on. By the time I got my tent up and started to make my dinner I found out the water in my bottles was starting to freeze. I thought it was getting cold, but I didn't realize it was that cold.



-Dravis

Date: September 25th, 2016
Distance: 116 kilometers
Song of the Day: Curse - Imagine Dragons

I was surprised to see the sun when I woke up. The day was actually clear. As I went to get the food from my bear cache I noticed all the dew on the fallen leaves and figured I was going to have wet shoes all day. My shoes weren't getting wet, though. All the dew droplets had frozen solid. Apparently the morning was kinda cold.

The rest of the day was long and uneventful, still lots of little rolling hills in a thickly forested country. The trees here are still mostly birch or aspen. Straight white trucks with a plume of yellow leaves. It is very pretty, but I will say it gets a bit old after a while.

I got into a town called "Never". Yep, that is the name. Who else do you know who can say they spent a night in Never once?



-Dravis

Date: September 24th, 2016
Distance: 140 kilometers
Song of the Day: Far Behind - Candlebox

This was the first really cold day I have had since Tajikistan. Thick overcast clouds blocked the sun all day. I didn't even get the crazy misty sun on the horizon, just a lighter spot of white in the otherwise grey clouds. The riding was at least pretty good. Still lots of rolling hills but nothing too big. Still travelling along the train lines.

I'm still enjoying the fall colors. Oddly, the needles on most of the conifers are changing as well. I don't know if this is a kind of blight, or maybe these just aren't evergreens?

I found a decent place to camp for the night. This is certainly bear country, so no food in my tent tonight. That isn't so bad, but I have to brave the cold before I can eat my breakfast tomorrow.



-Dravis

Date: September 23rd, 2016
Distance: 104 kilometers
Song of the Day: Time - Pink Floyd

I got up early to finish ordering the stuff needed for getting around here in the winter. Every time I thought I was finished, though, there was one more thing to do. I did learn a bunch of stuff about maps. Yay.

I didn't hit the road until well after noon but I made good time on the day. It wasn't foggy, exactly, but there was thin mist over everything. It made the light from the sun cold and turned the world into a Polaroid photograph that is still developing.



-Dravis