I had a very good nights sleep and an excellent breakfast at my fancy hotel. I finished up my unfinished CZ and PL tour pages using an open wifi access point that I'm sure was not associated with the hotel. My connection would drop occassionaly, but would always come right back. A lot of the work I did last night and this morning was the result of problems caused by having much flakier connections. Tonight, I don't have any connection, but that is OK since I'm now caught up on web pages and ride reports.
I checked the weather forecast for L'viv and the football schedule. The weather, which has been too hot, is supposed to break tomorrow, with rain likely. The highs for the following week are forecast to be much cooler - 60s instead of 80s and 90s - and look good for bicycling. The wind today was good for bicycling to L'viv, but that wasn't the reason I routed there instead of Dobromyl.
I left my hotel about 9:15, using my GPS to help me get through Przemsyl. Traffic was bad in town, so I waited till a shopping center at the eastern edge to stop for supplies. I should have realized stopping at that store was futile when I locked my bike up to the almost empty place where shopping carts were stored. I went inside and, having trouble even moving without a cart, in the store, immediately turned around and went back out. I figured, correctly, that I'd be able to do my shopping much more easily at the border.
The road to the border
Cars and trucks waiting at border
The ride to the border was uneventful except for one fellow who put his fist in the air and cheered when he saw my loaded bike heading for Ukraine. The road had been improved quite a bit since I last rode it and even had good shoulders when it got near the border. There were lots of porta potties distributed along the road and signs relating to Euro2012, but, with no more games in L'viv, I doubt if much of the, light traffic was Euro2012 related.
When I got to the border, except for the improved road, things seemed pretty much unchanged. Long lines of cars, and a few trucks, were waiting in a manner that showed they expected to be there for hours. After doing my food shopping, I went back to the place where buses were turning off and followed them to the start of pedestrian path through the border. The path was just as long as the last time, but not nearly as busy. The border stations we had to go through were new and much nicer than the old ones. The border people were also much friendlier than last time and the whole process took half an hour instead of several hours. They did ask me where I was going - I said L'viv - and I think, how long was I planning to stay. Communication broke down on that last question, but the lady who asked it just smiled and sent me on my way.
As I left the last station, I head something hitting my bicycle's front wheel spokes. When I stopped to examine it, I discovered that my right side front rack had broken in what I though was the way my left side front rack had broken last summer. This was not a good thing to have happen in Ukraine, but I decided to improvise a temporary patch and to try to make it to L'viv. I figured, correctly, that there would be new smooth road all the way to L'viv, and I know going to Dobromyl would involve a lot of riding on bad roads. There was no way my patch was going to withstand bad roads!
I did my patch using a package of tissues and a bungy cord and rode on down the road, stopping only to change some money to UA. Then I found a good place to repack my front bags to put 80% of the weight on the unbroken side. That caused a minor steering pull, but my body quickly adjusted to it and I forgot about it for the rest of the day.
Heading east in Ukraine
Another church in the middle of the road
Improvised support for broken rack
The road where I would head south if I were going to Dobromyl
My next stop was for a light lunch in the town 20 km from the border where the road I took last time, heads south. I stopped at the same place I had lunch last time and had the same vegetarian pizza - except this time I had small rather than medium - and beer I'd had there last time. The heat made me not want to eat too much. It cost about $4. Then I rode on towards L'viv. It was not a very exciting ride, but the road was smooth and the wind, when it wasn't blocked by the trees, was a side/tail wind. That was important since it was quite hot and wind not only helped me get on down the road, but it also helped me keep cool.
There were lots of long hills to climb - hot! - and descend - nice! The hills seemed to get steeper, and the countryside prettier, during the day, but it was nothing like riding the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was more like riding in a hilly part of the US plains.
View from lunch site
When the country side got open, the wind was nice, but there was no place to stop in shade. About 25 km after lunch, trees reappear so I stopped to snack. It was nice sitting in the shade with a bit of a breeze to cool me down and peaclful with only light traffic.
About 25 miles from L'viv, I stopped again at a fancy service station for a second light lunch. This time I had a good hot sandwich and a .5l pepsi for about $3. There were communication issues, but the young woman who took my order and made my sandwich spoke some English and everyone at that station was very friendly.
When I left the station, I noticed that my patch had allowed the broken rack to rotate forward. I had had to cross some very rough railroad tracks a few km before the station, and that is probably when it happened. I took the bag off, which I hadn't done at the border, and saw that the break was different than what I had experience last year. I was able to improvise a better, smooth road only, fix and continued toward L'viv. I knew that, if I entered L'viv, I was going run into rough roads, so I decided to stop before I got there to try to come up with a repair that might survive rough roads.
The last 25 km of road into L'viv from the west is not as smooth and has a lot more traffic than the earlier section. It is still not bad riding and it is pretty flat. I think the last km to L'viv marker I saw said 8. My repair had held up well, but I knew the first real bump would do it in. That bump happened when I crossed the road to enter a 'Motel'.
Getting hillier
More normal Ukrainian road surface
Road sign with both Cyrillic and Latin names
These are not common off of main roads
Border marker for legislative district
Loading hay on wagon
Orthodox church
Shrine along road, there are many of these
Pretty countryside
Men working on van at roadside 'car workstand'
I first saw these in Romainia
The place has a pretty garden and the room, other than a sticking door, is nice and a relative bargain at 250 UA which are 8.66 to the dollar. A first on this trip, it has two windows with actual window screens so I can turn on the lights without bringing bugs into the room. On the other hand, the woman running the place uses language confusion and just general rip off tactics that are designed to exploit folks who are coming here as tourists. It is more annoying than serious, involving a few dollars when I've been 'nickled and dimed' for much much more at places in the US and other western countries. At the fancy hotel we stayed at in Nuremburg, we could have eaten the breakfast buffet for only 18 E per person! Here the breakfast options are 1,2, and 3 E ;-}, but I expect to get overcharged for coffee. What I won't be doing is leaving any tips, so it will probably come out about even.
The first thing I did after checking in and getting a place for my bike - that was much harder than it should have been and they charged for it - was to buy a - rip off special - beer. Then I showered and got to work figuring out make my broken rack work again. I'll try, but probably fail, to find a replacement for it in L'viv. I have a lot of rough roads to ride here and in the other south eastern European countries I intend to ride through this year, so it would best just to have better racks. However, I think my simple improvisation which used a piece of brake cable and a small band clamp, will make it possible to continue without a new rack.
This year's break was different, and more ameanable to a simple fix than last years break. We'll see how my fix stands up to the cobblestone roads in L'viv tomorrow.
The place has a pretty garden and the room, other than a sticking door, is nice and a relative bargain at 250 UA which are 8.66 to the dollar. A first on this trip, it has two windows with actual window screens so I can turn on the lights without bringing bugs into the room. On the other hand, the woman running the place uses language confusion and just general rip off tactics that are designed to exploit folks who are coming here as tourists. It is more annoying than serious, involving a few dollars when I've been 'nickled and dimed' for much much more at places in the US and other western countries. At the fancy hotel we stayed at in Nuremburg, we could have eaten the breakfast buffet for only 18 E per person! Here the breakfast options are 1,2, and 3 E ;-}, but I expect to get overcharged for coffee. What I won't be doing is leaving any tips, so it will probably come out about even.The first thing I did after checking in and getting a place for my bike - that was much harder than it should have been and they charged for it - was to buy a - rip off special - beer. Then I showered and got to work figuring out make my broken rack work again. I'll try, but probably fail, to find a replacement for it in L'viv. I have a lot of rough roads to ride here and in the other south eastern European countries I intend to ride through this year, so it would best just to have better racks. However, I think my simple improvisation which used a piece of brake cable and a small band clamp, will make it possible to continue without a new rack.
This year's break was different, and more ameanable to a simple fix than last years break. We'll see how my fix stands up to the cobblestone roads in L'viv tomorrow.
Repaired rack