June 18, 2010 - Bolkow to Jary

Estimated Mileage: 65 miles
Trip Route Link
Photo Album Link

I woke up realizing that I was all kinds of worked-up about being in Poland.  Discombobulated and a bit wary, I went down to breakfast, and was treated to an enormous feast, including some very tasty homemade jam.  The previous day had shaken me up: the stares and the general feeling of foreign-ness.  Here's a quote from my journal that morning: "Feel very foreign and out-of-place.  Surely it's mostly internal.  Projecting my own fears and anxiety on people I see".  Absolutely true.

Two new friends joined me for breakfast just after I sat down.  Robert is a guy that I met via an online bicycle tourist mailing list.  I've been peppering him with nonsense questions for the last 4 months or so ("Are they nice in Poland?  What's security like?") and he's been very kind and answered them all.  In addition he's a historian, a serious cyclist and a generally cool guy.  He came along with his neighbor, Richard, who was also particularly nice and friendly.

The two of them took me on a gorgeous ride through to northwest of Wroclaw.  The roads were 70% wonderful, 30% horrendous (potholes and/or cobblestones).  They are a couple of tough dudes (Robert is a life-long serious cyclist and Richard is a swim coach and all-around strong man).  Even if I wasn't fully-loaded with gear I'd have a hard time keeping up with them.  They were kind to me, and kept a relatively slow pace (right around 12 miles an hour).

I amused myself by chuckling at them arguing in Polish about which way to go.  I found out later they were so vehement because they had a bet about who would be right more.  Winner pays for beer.  For the record, Robert won, 2-1.

We stopped at an enormous religious compound at around mile 30 for beer and soup.  I was told that Michael Jackson had actually considered buying this place around the time of his legal woes.  Apparently, Poland welcomed him with open arms, despite the rumors, so he contemplated staying for good.

The day ended with me being introduced to Robert's family and being treated to a fantastic pile of pierogi and scrambled eggs.  What a treat.  I haven't slept that good in ages...