Towards Novgorod

19/04/2010

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Some more pictures from the ride from Staraya Russa to Veliky Novgorod. The cold and snow was still my travel companion and some nights I camped "wild" in some russian village, seemingly the people lived there only in summer so I camped right in the middle of the street, only after I wrapped myself up in the sleeping bag did I find out that I put up my tent directly below below one of only two streetlights in the whole village....  The  next morning a sibirian Husky dog visited me and watched over me while I cooked my breakfast and did my luggage. The village was a dead-end as the roads ended there - I had to push my way back through 30 cm high snowdrifts. Took me a while but at least I did not have to watch out for cars or trucks. Off I go to St Petersburg.
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Staraya Russa

03/04/2010

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Interview with a Bicycle Courier

05/03/2010

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Today I met Martin, one of two bicycle couriers in the Estonian Capital. Although there is  alot of snow and ice on the roads, he rides with normal tires. He had 5 minutes to spare, so we chatted a bit about bikes, cycling in winter,Tallinn and about his strangest delivery.

Click on the AUDIO PLAYER below to listen to the short Podcast ! 
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Cycling the Ice Road - to Saarema

04/03/2010

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18/02/2010 – Kärdla/Hiiumaa to Saarema (45km)
The day before, my Couchsurfing host  Tuuli warned me about a snowstorm incl fierce winds supposed to hit the islands during the next 24 hours, the Ice Roads are likely to be closed, so I decide skip riding around Hiiuma but instead I will cycle straight towards Saaremaa and hope to find the 15 km long passage still open.

My host kindly left me her keys and I am slow to pack my gear and leave the flat. Another reporter from the Saaremaa based newspaper Oma Saar calls me and asks for a telephone interview.
Half an hour later I leave to pay a visit to the Kärdla museum and to say good-bye to my host. As I cycle out of town the sun comes out. I notice some pain in my left knee and wonder if I pushed the pedals to hard yesterday, all the stopping and get going again to let cars pass on the Ice Road and then the race in the afternoon – think my body is not used any more after 2 months doing of literally sitting around in Tallinn.

So the going is rather slow and I reach the entrance of the Ice Road only at half past four in the afternoon. Another hour and it will be dark...

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Cycling the Ice Roads - to Vormsi and Hiiuma

04/03/2010

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Haapsalu to Vormsi Island (45 kms)

My host Peep is going late to the office, so we have a sleep-in and get up around 9 o´clock, have a huge breakfast and then see some more photos of Montenegro and Estonia. After stopping at the Old Train station to take some pictures, I leave Haapsalu around 13h and slowly cycle towards the port of Rohuküla, the starting point for two of the Ice Roads – the first, about 10 km long, leads to the tiny island of Vormsi. The second, with approx 26 km length (the longest Ice Road in Europe) ends on the island of Hiiumaa.
Today I will cycle to Vormsi, spend the night there, ride back to the mainland and to the island of Hiiumaa tomorrow.
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Interview with an Ice Road manager

03/03/2010

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Back in Tallinn from cycling the Ice Roads, I wanted to know some more details about maintenance and about how the people make sure the ice is safe to drive on. So I conducted a phone interview with Märt Järvik, head of Lääne Teed - the road maintenance company that manages the Ice Road between Rohuküla port and the island of Vormsi in the name of the Estonanian Road Administration.

Please Click on the Audio Player below to listen to the Interview. Enjoy!

You may also download the program as .WAV or .MP3 file. (7:41 min)
interview_ice_roads.mp3
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interview_ice_roads.wav
File Size: 14775 kb
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Ice Roads - Day 2 - Padise to Haapsalu

02/03/2010

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After a good nights sleep I get up at 7.30h, have coffee, eat some buckwheat I cooked the night before and change into my warm cycling gear. While I take down the tent, the thermometer shows 8 degrees below zero. I push my bike out of the monastery ruins and take a narrow secondary road that will lead me to Noarootsi peninsula where the first Ice Roads will take me to Haapsalu.
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Cycling the estonian Ice Roads - Day 1- Start from Tallinn

27/02/2010

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A couple of weeks ago I heard about the fact that in long hard winters, estonian islands in the midst of the Baltic Sea are connected with the mainland by so called Ice Roads -  winter highways traced on the thick ice, capable of taking the load of vehicles of up to 2.5 tons of weight.
Wow, I think, this sounds like a good adventure to cycle these Ice Roads and get to the islands Saaremaa, Hiiumaa and Vormsi practically overland. And the winter in Estonia this year has been a pretty tough one with record snowfall (over 70 cm) and temperatures far below zero degree Celsius since end of November. Enquiries with the Road Administration are answered vaguely at first but then I receive some detailed info about where to find the Ice Roads, how long they are and curiously - the opening hours.

 For Christmas I got some nice and spiky Schwalbe Marathon Winter Tires that promise to give good grip and traction on ice and snow - after some further days of preparation and equipment-gathering-  I leave Tallinn on the 14th of February cycling westwards towards Noarootsi peninsula in search for the Ice Roads.
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