Tornes

Standing at Charles de Gaulle airport, Doug wondered “Am I really going to ride this bike to Moscow?”. That’s what he told me while telling the story of how he got his Brooks bike saddle. I also have a Brooks saddle, so I was keen to hear his saddle’s story, my saddle story isn’t interesting. Turns out he wanted to buy a Brooks saddle second hand, and when he ended up reaching the seller, he noticed a bike there with a label on it, “Paris to Moscow”; he bought that bike as well from the same seller, and went on a trip from Paris to Moscow in 2018. He met helpful soldiers joking about how scary Russsia would be at the shores of Lake Peipus. He had cold days, hot days. He also told me how to be tactful about cold situations. We had an excellent chat! He talked about the few businesses he started right at the start of the internet, met Steve Jobs (and offered to write his biography), taught e-commerce in Australia etc. Fascinating person Doug!

Rode with Michael most of the day until we parted ways. He wanted to reach Kristiansund tonight, and I wanted to take this coastal route. I meet a lot of people for a very short time and I find that almost no one has the amount of time I have; so people have plans to reach ferries, buses etc. and skip parts of the Eurovelo 1 route. This also makes me very aware of this privilege that I have of being able to be out and about for months. I almost forgot that I had this time until Michael told me that he only has two weeks to reach Tromsø somehow.

Part of me is always aware of how long this route is, and I do the time vs. distance math almost everyday. But today, Doug’s words stuck with me. Am I really going to ride this bike to Moscow?. He ended up reaching Moscow. Maybe I’ll end up in Nordkapp too.

Good night!

Tornes, Norway