September 10th
The most feared day came, and we were all careful about it. Last night, most of the talks circled around the fact that today would be the longest stretch in the whole ride, and the record was already set pretty high. Since we had a new rider for the day, Sari, we could count on a local guide to help us. We met at UEF, said goodbye to our friends and began riding...
The roads were nice and peaceful, but the rain struck us with no mercy. We rolled all day through the forest, stopped for lunch in the middle of nowhere, kept going, eventually realized we'd never make it before night. With one last break to enjoy the sunset, we switched to night riding mode and eventually came to Savonlinna. 156 km!
Waiting for us at the gym in Savonlinna were Tiago and Eeva, plus our local team who had been kind enough to prepare dinner for us. We also met exchange students and were repeatedly challenged to go out clubbing. We'd all like that, wouldn't we? But after beating the distance record, under these conditions, we could move no more. Sari went back home and we hit the hay, knowing that the hardest part was over. Russia is not far, now...
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