2017/08/06

Day 08: Tatarsk - Barnaul

I got up at 7 and started soon, because no breakfast in the hotel anyways. And I am glad to arrive today in Barnaul and meet my friends there.

When fueling up, I meet a Russian biker. When I point to my dirty headlights making a choke, he gets out a spray-foam can for cleaning from his panniers. Very nice. And then there is another guy coming around the gas pump, who in German asks if there are problems and he offers to translate.

It turns out that he has been living in Germany for a long time and is traveling with his family in the same direction as I do. He thinks that they are very slow this time, but in actually they have 500 km more than me and are only 7 days on the road. Usually they travel 6500 km in 5 days! Hard to believe - their car has a plate for Heidelberg and they tell me, they are from Wiesloch! (For those who do not know this is nearby Sinsheim, where I grew up.) Crazy. I meet the family again a second time this day at another gas station.

I'm not progressing as fast as I thought: about 100 km ahead of Novosibirsk (and about 300 km ahead my destination) I have a puncture! I was riding through a construction site and I thought that the swaying is caused by the bad road surface. The road surface is grinded in the longitudinal direction. Unfortunately, I realize very late that the tire has lost air and it very hot already, when I stop. A metal pin is the reason for the puncture and so I have to patch a tire for the first time on the road side. It's really easy and worked well and fast.

How nice: Dan has just returned to the hotel to see where I am, just to find out that I'm arriving any moment. He just gets out of the hotel door in the moment I arrive - Cool! Wonderful! Almost like coming home. 

I take a shower first and then there are champagne and vodka and snacks for all. We have a lot to talk about and I finally get to know Trevor and Orvar in person. Looks like we will be a good team.

Shortly after I was welcomed, Andrew, our tire contact in Barnaul is coming to the hotel. He delivers the ordered tires and some other stuff.