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I set off this day well rested, over-fed and generally feeling the need for some exercise and motion. I took my leave of Wroclaw, one of my new favorite places, and headed into the beginning of a 4 day ride that would take me into Krakow.
The terrain was completely flat the entire day. I don't think I did 10 meters of ascent total out of 6 hours of riding. The surroundings were mostly rural. Lots of farmland and stands of working forest.
Mostly my challenges came in my learning how to read the various Polish road maps. Up until this point in the trip, I had used bike maps, which are specifically for pointing out bicycle routes and tourist features. Now, all I had were road atlases, which are a different beast entirely. Basically there are red roads, which are too busy to use (but can be used in a pinch). Big yellow roads, which are best avoided but can also be used. Small yellow roads, which are generally the fastest but can be busy near city centers, and then non-colored roads, which are the best for cycling, but usually aren't very direct.
And then there's the single lines. I figured that if a road is on a map meant for cars, then it must be paved, right? Wrong: these are mostly dirt roads which are passable on farm equipment. On a bike, things become iffy. I took a couple of these roads and got bogged down in 3 mile stretches of sand. I'd be walking my bike in the middle of nowhere, with folks on their tractors staring at the cursing, fluorescent foreigner in the middle of their wheat field. Here's a picture of the road just before it turns into a sandbox:
Despite these minor problems, it was a wonderful day. Cool, cloudy weather, perfect for cycling. Relaxed and gorgeous riding. Fully rested legs and a healthy head. Towards the end of the day I actually just said out loud "What a great day".
It ended in Kluczbork, a small, charming place with a good Italian restaurant in the middle of it's town square.
I fell into conversation with a German guy named Marty. He worked for a window manufacturer and they had sent him to Poland for 3 days to check out the nearby factory. After spending a couple of hours arguing politics with him (I wouldn't call him "America-hating". More like "America-not-liking") we said goodbye on good terms. I think both of us were happy for some conversation.
I spent the rest of the evening trying to fix a problem that cropped up again with skipping gears. Here's the Chump Steamroller, assuming the "Emergency Hotel Repair" position.
I solved the problem by slightly tightening the rear derailleur cable just a couple of millimeters. Hooray for my nascent bicycle repair skills!
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