After Kemerovo, the landscape changes. Instead of birch forests, there are now coniferous forests, which become denser and the first feeling of wilderness emerges. It is colder again and it is snowing.
I celebrate my birthday in a hotel in Marlinsk with cake from the supermarket.
After Marlinsk it gets really good. I have a strong tailwind pushing me over the hills and I manage 270 kilometres on this day. The next town is Atschinsk. The Soviet Union still seems to be alive here. Monuments and posters of former Soviet leaders can be seen everywhere in the city.
In the morning there is thick snow and I drive into a wonderful winter landscape.
Krasnoyarsk is the last big city before Vladivostok. Four years ago, during my Eurasia world record, I came to a small restaurant just before Krasnoyarsk, completely soaked and frozen through. The owner had invited me to spend the night in his shed, where there was a bed and a stove. Now, when I pass this restaurant again, the nice owner is still standing behind his counter. He doesn’t recognise me at first, but when I show him the photo I took back then, which is still saved on Instagram, he was pleased and invited me to eat with him.
After Krasnoyarsk, it gets wilder and hillier again. There are bears and wolves here. 200 kilometres further on, in the coal mining town of Kansk, I cross the river Kan.
It is -9 degrees at night and around 0 degrees during the day. The rivers begin to thaw and I see thick ice floes floating along.
