Day 5: Don't take the shortcut

I started out this morning before 8, with the skies cloudy, but thankfully no more rain. Just in case, I had on amber-lens glasses and a cycling cap under my helmet.

When I did my review of the route the night before, I noticed that one of the cues said "take the fire road." Google Street View did not have any more info, so I also checked the paved route detour, and I would make a judgement call.

The first couple kilometers were a well packed dirt road. There were some puddles, but nothing terrible. Isn't this beautiful?

I saw another deer run in front of me. This was more American-sized, instead of the very small German deer.

You will notice that it is now sunny. Thank goodness for that, because the next half hour or so became an extreme comedy of errors. The road soon became a deep sand pit that I needed to push the bike through. I noticed that the GPS told me I had 6 kilometers to go, so I decided to get to a "real" road as soon as possible. For reference, my rear tire sunk down about 2" when I attempted to get riding again. I don't know how cars didn't get stuck there.

My bike (and sometimes me) went down a couple times. But I was fine, other than being very dirty. At one point I noticed that my brakes/shifters had been knocked askew. (If you have a road bike and it has hit the side, you've probably had this happen before.) Normally, this requires peeling back the bar tape (that I just fixed!) to adjust the clamp.

However, this bike has a different system, so all I had to do was peel back the rubber and tighten the bolt (on the right side) with my allen wrench.

Whomever invented this at Shimano, I owe you a beer. 

Finally, (finally!) I made it back to a paved road and onwards. 

My lunch was just before the city of Konin. I pulled into this garage/gas station and bought water, a Coke, a Snickers, and a chocolate filled croissant. As I shoved the food in my mouth, I also cleaned and relubed my chain, plus put on more sunscreen, all to the amusement of the mechanics standing around in their coveralls.

Navigating the city of Konin was very confusing. I went around one roundabout twice since I was not quite sure which exit I wanted. 

Once I was out of there, it was on to Licheń Stary, where there is a giant basilica. (Read more about it here. There are also interior photos.) 

I didn't go in, since I was so far behind schedule.

The bells were ringing at 1:30pm, when I arrived, which was very pleasant.

They have a nice park there with lots of monuments too.

After that, the rest of the afternoon is kind of a blur. I did hit two more sections of sand/loose dirt roads, but I was able to ride those at a slow speed. 

I made it to my guest hotel, so I have my own little apartment. The best part is that I have my own balcony, which means that I can hang up my laundry and maybe it will actually dry out!

I made a run to Kaufland, the local hypermarket (like a Walmart). I bought some insoles, because the part of my body that hurts the most is my feet. I would have guess my butt or my legs, but those are doing OK. 

Today's ride was 200.12km/120mi and 10 hours (ugh), bringing my totals to 746.5km/477.9mi and 35.5 hours.

Tomorrow is supposed to be shorter, thank goodness!