The next day we grabbed our feet in our hands, or rather our bikes in our teeth, and rolled off wherever the GPS was looking, namely somewhere in the area of the Belbek river and the villages of Maloye Sadovoye, Bolshoye Sadovoye, and Tankovoye. We were hoping to find a cave city there, but for some reason we found a monastery in the rocks. But first things first.
In the morning we were greeted by a dog begging for grub, albeit politely
I hope you aren't too sick of the magical views of the reservoir yet
Along the way we found another (after the walnuts) curious tree with fruits shaped like brains. See for yourself.
Naturally, we didn't miss the chance to taste it. Fortunately, it was gross. Fortunately, because this fruit is inedible, as we were told later, although it's fit for medical use.
Brains, close-up
We rode on asphalt for a bit, too
As soon as the opportunity arose, we turned onto a dirt road
Hooray — we came across a ford!
We bravely overcame the ford without getting off our bikes
There are large rocks on the bottom, and the bike jerks back and forth like an epileptic, but if it had been fine sand, it would have been a hundred times worse, because it would have gotten stuck like a spoon in a bowl of hospital porridge.
Olya hadn't stored up enough energy to pedal through the water obstacle.
Apparently, you gotta eat a heartier breakfast, carbs and proteins in the amount of 110% of the daily norm.
Nina, on the other hand, is pedaling so hard that water is flying out from under her wheels
But even after the ford, obstacles awaited us
Though what kind of obstacles are they for such conquering heroes, nonsense and not obstacles at all. Just calmly push your bike uphill, and that's it.
Sometimes you can even ride
It's my blog — gotta show a photo of myself sometimes too
Colleagues with clipless pedals valiantly pedal up any hills
They do this because their feet are glued dead to the pedals (if anyone doesn't know how "clipless" works) and you can only unglue them by dousing them in solvent. It's tough being a fancy bicycle athlete!
But when there's no choice, even they give up
For lunch we fed on forage, because if you remember, the price only included breakfast and dinner.
On the bright side, we admired the red-yellow-green trees against the backdrop of gray-brown rocks. And so it was for all 7 days, hahaha.
Fortunately, the wonders of modern photoshoppization allow me to diversify the color palette for you.
All in all — we were looking for a cave city, but for some reason found only rocks
Along the way Vova and I managed to wipe out a little. Vova somehow did it completely out of the blue on level ground, while I clipped the road with my pedal. I have long cranks (the thing the pedal attaches to) and if rocks protrude above the surface, it's a death trap for me. As a result, I neatly flew over the handlebars, and the bike crashed down on top of me. Nina observed this mind-blowing picture with stoic calmness, especially when I got up and jumped up and down in place for two minutes from the pain, simultaneously checking if I had broken any bones or ligaments, like last time on skis.
I smeared myself with green antiseptic once we stopped for a break.
In places the micro-relief was such that the bike was more of a hindrance. Plus it doesn't fit through bushes, very inconvenient.
The locals, the relief doesn't bother them, there's no rush
As you can understand, elevation gains of hundreds of meters over a few kilometers do not contribute to an airy and light smile.
Rocks everywhere
Life everywhere
All in all, I liked hiking in the mountains with a bike. The company, despite its size, once again proved to be friendly and united. Not everyone moved at the same pace, but that didn't particularly bother anyone.
The best moment was when we rolled down a narrow and slippery mountain trail clearly intended for pedestrians, not bikers; it was a little scary and thrilling.