July 6, 2010 - Biala Podlaska to Siedlce

Estimated Mileage: 45 miles
Trip Route Link

After realizing I had allowed my trip to become boring, big Expedition changes were in order.  Consulting my road atlas, I looked up the closest town that had a railway station that connected to Warsaw.  "Siedlce" said the map.  So that was the day's destination.

I did a gut-check, looking at what was going on these last few days, and why I felt at such loose ends.  I'd biked for a month and a half from from May through June and felt really good about the daily grind.  I'd stopped enjoying it, and I'm not sure why.  So, there didn't seem a good reason to continue doing something that wasn't very enjoyable if I didn't have to.

That was when I brought together the best minds of everyone that with me on this trip (that's the Large Handlebar Bag, the Tent Poles and, oddly enough, a bag of peanuts I picked up last week) and we hatched a devious plan, so cunning, so daring that if it was any more cunning or daring it would become sentient and create Terminators.

We were all going to the beach.  The Baltic Coast, to be more specific.  Krynica Morska, to be even more specific.  The plan was: bike to Siedlce and stay the night.  Catch a train the next morning to Gdansk.  Stay in Gdansk for a night, then bike the 80 km to Krynica Morska.  Then, find a reliable patch of sand in viewing distance to the water and do not move unless it's to apply various sun-shielding unguents and salves.

Since the Plan (called The Gdansk Gambit) doesn't involves a ton of exercise, I immediately made the heart-rending decision to eat less.  Check out the remnants of my first salad of the entire trip:

The whole day was spent on highway 2, making a bee-line for Siedlce.  The riding was amazingly fun, just an enormous, flat, perfectly paved shoulder of the road for 50 miles.  I made great time, with my legs and lungs screaming for oxygen most of the day.  Another day of great weather, and the change in plans did wonders for my morale.

This little kitty kept me company during lunch, and lazed around the deserted gas station/restaurant where I ate:

So!  Lots of changes, better moods and healthier meals.  Excelsior!