Monthly Archives: July 2015

Jurmala — Riga

Friday was our last day on the move, but in our heads we were already there. 25 km left. You gotta be kidding. It’s the distance we ride to a cornerstore every day.

Of course, anything could happen on the dangerous roads of Latvia. Memento mori, morons, croaked an old raven in a sacred pine forest of Jurmala. So we decided to spend this morning as if it was our last one.

It means Johan and me had hashbrowns, and Jonas went for pancakes with coca-cola. Now I know his last wish beverage.

The last breakfast. Manners and style first

We took a swim (Jonas opted out due to reasons) and enjoyed a moment of bliss.

The catwalks of Jurmala
Men’s beachwear collection summer ’09

But we had to leave. We saddled our horses one last time and put 1 cm thick layer of sunscreen: the sun was crazy hot. I was so lubricated I’ve almost lost my wedding band. It just slipped off my finger. Good thing I’m extremely observant and noticed the loss soon enough. Phew! The acute feeling of bachelordom was disturbing.

Jonas the Map Reader did his job perfectly, as he always does. He navigated us through tricky highway junctions and we swiftly entered the city outskirts. Ten km later we had to slow down to 0,5 km/h.

Damn you historical paving.

We quickly checked in to our luxurious 3-bedroom river-AND-cathedral view apartment without wifi and bed sheets for Johan and went out to the city.

Jonas’ celebration look in our Riga apartments vendor’s office

I must say, I was traveling approximately 4,2 times lighter than Johan and Jonas, and despite rigorous washing every night, I was out of clean and dry stuff. But we were in the capital city of Riga. 30 minutes later I was a happy owner of a whole new summer wardrobe. God save H&M.

A first sip of civilisation. Bitter enough!

We had a list with exactly 1 super important to-do.

Done.

Now it’s official. We made it!

I can’t believe it but I haven’t fail the team, our bikes were still with us, mostly intact, and my expensive Extreme Sports, Dangerous Activities And Whatever You Come Up With insurance plan didn’t come handy.

Ringenriga was over.

And the Friday night has begun.

Saldus — Jurmala

Thursday!

We messed up with alarm clocks and woke up pretty early. The day before seemed a bit foggy, but beer, prosciutto, black cherry and beer diet (or, as I call it tenderly, BPBCB) clearly worked as an antidote for some extra hills we’ve conquered yesterday.

I felt great. My back was fine, my thighs were 110% supercharged and my suprarenal glands started to produce espresso. One day our Beepeebeeseebee diet approach will make it to the ‘Health & Lifestyle’ bestsellers, mark my words.

We were down to take off, and Johan found his front tyre flat as a pancake.

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Relief! It had to happen one day or another, or Ringenriga wouldn’t qualify as a real bicycle trip.

Johan changed the faulty camera in like 30 seconds, blindfolded and using left hand only, and we were good.

Or… not so much. New camera run flat, too, just in 10 minutes. We had to continue in a syncopated manner, stopping and pumping Johan up every 10-15 mins.

Otherwise everything looked peachy. The road was super-smooth, it was sunny and no wind at all. Using good old one-Mississippi, two-Mississippi technique we counted seconds between 100 m poles so we knew we were doing something between 19 and 31 km/h. Accuracy!

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Something between 2 and 4 storks are here.

At a friendly gas station we decided to invest some time into solving Johan’s tyre problem for good.

It took more than one concerned doctor’s face to find out we have no idea what’s wrong with the tyre and why two cameras have both failed in one day. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

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We’ve also made a discovery in Jonas’ physiology. His sweat turned out to be pretty hungry, easily eating through the fabric.

An abstract art piece pretending to be a Jonas’ t-shirt

We had Johan’s camera patched, and tried to pump it up at a pumpateria.

Looks like your normal gas station pump unit, isn’t it?

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The side-view

Right.

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The front-view

Yep, we’ve almost filled Johan’s camera with propane-butane.

We moved on. Soon we discovered that Latvia is the country with the most road construction to be conducted simultaneously in the world. Construction workers didn’t make it to Lithuania border in time, obviously, but otherwise 50% of main roads have been already renewed.

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My guess? They started when they heard The Lion and The Griffin Bicycle Company is coming from Nida.

Luckily for us, the ready 50% went lengthwise, meaning that in almost any given moment we had at least one lane available to ride on.

Also we encountered 12 bonus levels with traffic light feature and a dynamic flow.

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Four minutes to wait, then four minutes to make it to the end of the segment. Challenge accepted!

This turn based road arcade was definitely designed by a mad bike racing coach.

We had exactly enough time to hydrate ourselves while waiting for the green — and then we had to cycle super-fast to get away from cars behind us, breaking free just a few seconds before the light would change again and we would be trapped and doomed and killed. Genius.

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Interval training. Good for you!

But we came prepared. We’ve had lunch at a road house with portions designed for giants (or truck-drivers), so we were able to generate more than enough horse powers to beat these segments.

In this flirtation with athletic success and fatal failure we realised we’ve already made 80 km from Saldus. We had to hop to the parallel road, which would bring us to Jurmala.

This 5 km long commute turned out to be the worst road in history. Short summary:

  • Kilobumps and kiloholes: ~5–7 / km2.
  • Megahorseflies: ~1000–2000 / km3.
  • Hygienic stop opportunities: 0. (At the very moment we’ve ventured into the forest seeking intimacy, we were attacked by hundreds of angry horseflies and had to flee ingloriously.)

We felt our bikes age 1 year per 1 km of this road, but The Lion and The Griffin members are known for strong stomaches, big bladders and advanced meditation skills.

Finally, we were on a highway. 60 minutes of relaxed riding, and we were in the city of Jurmala, fresh as new. Beer diet!

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It took 110 km to get to our hotel. As sir Tom “Silver Bear” Jones once said: “Yeah!”

We were told watching the sunset is kind of a thing in Jurmala.

Well, we tried it and we are not able to disagree. It is a thing. Not recommended by ophthalmologists, though.

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We slowly walked the finest Baltic sands and stood silently for a moment, facing the water, watching as the Sun touches Gulf of Riga.

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Beautiful.

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I mean three of us, of course.


Next day: we are going to impress Jurmala beach regulars with our underwear, officially finish the trip by the watchtower in Riga and enjoy Friday night with our best friends that we have never met yet.

And, SPOILER, simultaneously trim our beards at a hip craft beer cafe. 

 

Liepāja — Saldus

On the Wednesday morning after Sweden football triumph we’ve decided to have a breakfast in our hotel. We had a big decision to make: where to go.

Several scenarios were put up to the vote.

  1. Continue north up to Ventspils, then turn south-east and make it to Riga someday;
  2. Go east in Riga direction for today, then enjoy a Thursday sunset in a beautiful beach town of Jurmala 20-30 km short of Riga;
  3. Go east straight forward to Riga with only one stop on the way;
  4. More options just for the sake of discussion.

 

Aizpute, or, as Johan has been calling it, Ice Putin, was also an option to visit — because it sounds funny
I’ve talked Jonas into voting in favour of scenario B. It sounded the most reasonable: this way we would be able to get a good rest and show our speedos in Jurmala before Friday night in Riga. Johan was busy with the backgammon app on his phone, so he was considered as abstained.

So, we had 100 km to make to Saldus. The country between us and Saldus seemed to be designed mostly for drivers and wasn’t filled up with cosy small towns and lunch amusements for tired bikers.

But the majority has spoken, so we started riding with the strong feeling of “We’ll sort it out on the way somehow”.

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It was a great day. The road was so much better than we’ve expected: the asphalt was freshly baked and the traffic was not heavy at all. Sun, wind and scenery — what more to ask? Well, wind could be favourable, sun not so hot, and scenery a bit less hilly.

We enjoyed the ride for 30-40 km, and then my powers left me.

I started to fall behind on every uphill. Johan and Jonas have noticed my struggle, so we’ve stopped by a bus stop in the middle of nowhere.

My battle buddies treated me with the liquorice power bar — the last we had — and shared their last drops of water. The power bar was a lifesaver! Thanks god no one was into liquorice so it survived up to the moment.

After 15-20 minutes of thoughtful chewing at a bus stop watching these trees I was as good as new
We expected to have our supplies restocked in 30 km at some place called Skrunda. Before that we were empty. But the morale was strong — and that’s what matters.

The small city of Skrunda treated us as if we were lost sons: super-friendly lady at a road house buffet, huge portions, unnoticeable price. After 70 km without a lunch it felt like Christmas. I was so relieved I forgot to take a photo. My bad.

[It should be a Skrunda Oasis photo here. Sorry, don’t have it.]

We’ve replenished our resources, went back on the road and for a while 30 km left to Saldus seemed almost too easy. But for me it wasn’t.

The last 300 meters of a ride turned out to be the steepest uphill we’ve had so far. “Why oh why? What have I done?” — was the only thing I was able to cry; while Swedes were cycling by me as if the road was flat. Those athletes!

One way or another, finally we were in Saldus.

Of course, our room happened to be on the last floor without an elevator
I was dead. Guys were talking about some bar-hopping, city-watching, having a dinner, but all I was able to do was groaning.

Did you know swearing helps with the pain? It’s science! So, hot shower and 30 minutes of swearing did the job. I was better. Way better.

The reception girl didn’t speak neither Russian nor English, but somehow Jonas made her understand: we are looking for a bar.

5 minutes later we were in for our first beer in Saldus — out of many.

This modest building keeps many secrets. Including our “Show Must Go On” performance
Unfortunately, the Velve bar wasn’t equipped with a kitchen. Or a ventilation system. Fortunately, the local beer they served turned out to be the best beer on our way so far. 

Whoa, that felt good.

So we made our first round a quick one, promised the barkeeper we’ll be back later and went out in search of a proper restaurant.

The energy drink. On tap

There’s a birdwatching. And there’s an opposite: a jonaswatching.
We made a couple of circles around the city, passed the main square with nicer buildings and wi-fi (!) benches. No restaurants or cafeterias. One pizza place without a terrace. One burger place (no terrace). One supermarket (no terrace as well).

So, we took a Power Bikers stance and came up with a brilliant solution.

Power Bikers!
Why sit inside a boring burger joint while we could fix ourselves with top-notch snacks and beer from the supermarket — and make it a picnic on the main square?

And so we did.

Jonas is so good now he needs a pinch to get back to reality
We got 6 or 7 (or maybe 8, or 9) varieties of pretty much the same beer, several packs of prosciutto and chorizo, and plastic glasses to drink with style. 1,5 kilo of prunus avium a.k.a. sweet cherry a.k.a. chereshnya went as a healthy dessert and also a eye-hand coordination trainer.

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It went superb. We outstayed our competitors — a gang of local boys on the better wi-fi bench — and caught the last hours of sun. Boys looked cool with skateboards and beer, but Johan discovered their beer was non-alcoholic. Ha!

We talked a lot, kept an eye-contact, and barely used the public wi-fi (only to check on some facts to make our points stronger). We even discussed the nature of love. That’s what you call a proper dinner with a conversation.

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If you follow this blog you probably know: we are not the type that easily abandon people that put trust in us.

Bartender at Velve Bar should have been waiting for hours for us to return. We had a promise to keep. So, staggering a bit, but with much resolve, we headed back to the bar.

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WE ARE BACK!
We had 3 more beers there. Each. I guess…

No food or ventilation? It’s even better!
After a while we were the only customers in the bar. When the bartender started to check the big wall clock again and again, I knew we have established a sort of connection. So we asked to make the background Queen’s Bests Hits 2CD louder and sang our lungs off.

Don’t stop me no-o-ow
What a night.

Next day was supposed to be the longest ride in our journey: 110 km to Jurmala.

Or have we decided to go back to Kaliningrad in the bar? Sounds plausible!

Palanga — Liepāja

Tuesday! We left Palanga without a breakfast, aiming to eat in Šventoji, a settling about 10 km from Palanga and 5 km short of the border with Latvia. 

This time our quick start approach worked great. We got ourselves some light snacks in a tiny cafeteria — barely enough to keep the fire burning.

The only free table we managed to find. Busy time!

We finished our humble meal in yellow tones and continued on a lane 10. Unfortunately, it ended. We had to push through the worst possible pavement for our sleek racing bikes — the Sand Road. 

  

We knew it couldn’t continue too long. So we harnessed our will and kept burrowing. I fell three times. 

After a passionate prayer to a local owl god we finally got back on a proper road. 

We tried to sacrifice Jonas but the Owl God was merciful
Latvia

Lithuania was great, but unknown lands always lure the explorers. Nothing could stop us from crossing to Latvia. 
  

Immediately we experienced the cultural difference. Latvians don’t like smooth roads. They like it bumpy! 

Next 30 kilometers were a real test to our biking pants padding. The other thing that raised the pressure — nasty horseflies. Those sweat-loving creatures clearly had an ambush set for us in the woods right across the border. 

We raced from them as fast as we could, encouraging each other with regular screams and loud slaps.

Jonas is putting some warpaint on his face

After running for life for 1,5 hours we longed for coffee and sugar. So we had a double-espresso-cappuccino-fresh-juice-and-ice-cream break at a beautiful wifi-equipped diner 30 km short of Liepāja. The place specialty seemed to be desserts so we knocked ourselves out. 

   
 

Meanwhile, we booked a hotel in Liepāja. Last minute deal again! Just €40 for the three of us (breakfast is not included). 

After-lunch roads showed us its better side, so at 16:00 we’ve checked in to Liva Hotel Liepāja, fixing Jonas bag in a friendly bike repair shop along the way. “Better than the original factory solution”, Jonas said. (It broke again next day.)

We went through our usual cleaning routine and headed to the city. We were on a super tight schedule: had only 5 hours to secure a bar to watch the important football game. 

Seasoned travelers, we knew the best way to oversee any given territory. So we conquered the vantage point of Liepāja’s Cathedral. 

 
  
The view was spectacular. No flags for sports bars, though. 

The best part of the cathedral ascension experience was watching the clockwork mechanism. Dated 1906 and sitting inside a neat transparent chiffonier, it made a huge impression on us.

I wish I would tick that good in my 110!

  
It was 17:23, according to the iPhone time. We decided to do some stretching and wait for the mid-hour bell. Unfortunately the senior clock disagreed with my iPhone and went off 4 minutes earlier than expected. No video, then.      

Awed, we walked down back to the city streets. We still had to find a sports bar broadcasting Sweden vs. Portugal U-21 Euro Cup finals. What a trivial task, you may ask! 

It was, indeed. In less then an hour we have booked the best table in a nice bar close to our hotel. 

Anticipating the game, we had a lot of time to kill. We had a 10k-calories Mexican supper at a picturesque seagull-infested rock-n-roll place, tried to sneak into a beer factory (tight security) and even took a swim in Karosta Canal.  

 

Me taking a nap

 
Me taking a swim
  

 

 

Johan is reminded of his hockey days inside of the local Ice Arena
 
 
Marine tradition is strong in Liepāja
  

 

Super strong!
 
Everything is better with an extra ‘s’ in it
 

And here we are. Entering the bar that might witness the big Sweden victory. 

  

Sweden team seems a bit nervous in the beginning, looses the ball a lot, then it goes better, but still fruitless. Main time, extended time — 0:0. Guys have to have a lot of beer to calm their nerves; I am hitting on cocktails.

Finally, Piña Colada brings luck to team Sweden: in the dramatic penalties series we are definitely better. 

 

The decisive moment
  
    
    
 
Congratulations to all fans! This is big.

It was 0:31 on my iPhone clock (0:27 according to some other respected sources) so we hurried to our beds. 

We had 100 km to ride deep into Latvia next day and no idea where to stop along the road. Exciting!