Digital Wanderer

Took part in the subject.

It takes place in Sigulda, the declared goal is to unite bicycle enthusiasts in Latvia (which is clear from the name). The ride took place during Latvia's first independence, the current one is a revival of the tradition in 1995. This is the most massive cycling event in Latvia.

It was my first time participating in a cycling competition, everything was a novelty to me, so I'll write as usual, from a provincial's point of view.

We arrived in Riga back on Saturday, since the contemporary art forum Balta Nakts 2010 was taking place there. This is also a massive event, held in various places across Riga, from 12 noon Saturday to 6 AM Sunday. It coincided with the unity ride very unluckily (unluckily for us). Obviously, the audiences for these two events don't overlap much, so the organizers didn't sweat it, although both are notable events in Latvia's public life.

So, within the framework of Balta Nakts  we only managed to go to a performance by the well-known art collective "Orbita" (Russian-speaking), a photo exhibition at Dirty Deal Cafe,  and also stand gloomily outside the Anglican Church, since we couldn't fit inside — way too many people. A pity, because our beloved Forest of Sounds was providing the musicians there.

The photos were shot on a Polaroid and didn't impress me (except for one with railway tracks).

"Orbita", on the other hand, performed relatively well, the action was interspersed with  reflections in the spirit of Grishkovets (but with their own character and style) and the broadcasting of convoluted free verse from a box. From a box — literally, a guy was sitting in a box, face pressed against the glass, muttering into a microphone. All of this was projected onto a big screen, with Latvian subtitles to boot. An amusing moment. Dirty Deal Cafe itself is located near the market, in buildings called Spikeri, and is a hangout for hipsters and indie kids, as far as I can tell.

Next to the cafe there was an exhibition and sale of handmade stuff, knitting to music for young mommies, and some other performances which were packed, so we didn't get in.

We headed off to crash for the night on the last minibus at 11 PM, and at the stop I accidentally misled a bunch of people by telling them that the final bus was still coming later, on a special holiday schedule. Looked at the wrong thing on the website, my bad.

Went to bed at 1 AM, got up at 7, and at 8:20 rolled out on our bikes to Sigulda. GPS came in handy, even though the road was straightforward, there were no signs in places.

From Riga to Sigulda is almost 60 km. Why we dragged ourselves such a distance before a speed race — you'll have to ask the punk about that.

In any case, we made it there briskly, in about 2 hours and 40 minutes, maybe even faster. Along the way we overtook some kids and old folks who were heading to the same place. We also helped a dude pump up his tire, since the pump at the Statoil was out of order. They seem to be broken way too often. Good thing they exist at all, though. Although after the punk bought a badass pump, the need for Statoil has decreased.

The asphalt was fresh, the Navigon app on the iPhone didn't even know this road yet.

We arrived with time to spare, which was good, since pushing through to registration among several thousand participants is no easy task. Registration was set up sensibly: a separate line for each letter or group of letters, and girls handing out envelopes. Inside the envelope is a map, a number with an RFID chip, a couple of brochures, and a food voucher. They even gave us a little chocolate bar. They sure know how to organize competitions right!

My number turned out to be 4950, and in general the numbers for the People's Ride, which I took part in, started from 2000. So theoretically I started somewhere in the third thousand. Practically, more likely in the second.

In the next part, read about the ride itself and my impressions of it.

Here's the map, by the way