With the first day of spring, Markus Weinberg joins me, who will accompany me the last 1000 kilometres to Vladivostok. The joy of the beautiful weather lasted for one day. Then steady rain set in again. We only have a tiny tent, which we share for the night. Everything is wet and the ground is swampy.
For 2 days we ride through the Jewish Autonomous Oblast before we cross the big river Amur and roll into the city of Khabarovsk. My first trip takes me to a bike shop, because I have been riding for 1500 kilometres with a defective rear wheel bearing. The chain urgently needs changing, the sprocket is loose and the brake pads need changing. The bike community of Khadorovsk has heard about me and 3 riders come to the bike shop and accompany us on the way out of town. We cycle 210 kilometres this day, leaving 700 kilometres to Vladivostok – final spurt!
We are now around the north-east corner of China and have turned south, where Vladivostok lies on the border with North Korea. Now it’s really spring. In the afternoon the thermometer rises to 18/19 degrees.
