bikejournal.com journal

2007/4/1
(Sun)

48.05

02:32:45

18.87

337

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Slow afternoon ride through the city, a bit of Vingio Park. Saw 304 other cyclists today and that's within two and a half hours! GPS started acting crazy. Today is the national day for self-proclaimed Uzupio Republic, enjoyed the celebration a bit.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: +12C or so, chilling northerly, but it is OK with the T-shirt. Dry and sunny.

2007/4/2
(Mon)

118.81

04:56:50

24.02

719

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Typical commute and the post office with load. Found an old lady near the post office laying on the pavement, called the ambulance and waited for 20 minutes or so. Seemed like nothing very serious. She fell down and hurt her head. Then decided to do a metric. Changed to long sleeved jacket at home as started feeling cold with only a T-shirt. Rode to the Center of Europe, did some geocaching on the way. Then did the Maisiagala-Dukstos-Suderve-Pilate loop. Lots of annoying road construction patches along the route. GPS receiver kept switching off because of undetected reason. Saw 75 other cyclists today.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: Chilling westerly. Switched to long sleeves. Felt like +10C, sunny most of the day, dry and comfortable.

2007/4/3
(Tue)

138.56

05:23:53

25.67

720

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: The work day ended early due to well done homework. Quickly delivered load to the post office. Got really hooked with the geocaching. Found a railway related Travel Bug at Vilnius Train Terminal. It had a goal of travelling by train. The weather was pretty nice so took the TB by train to Zasliai. Tomorrow is 32 years since a bad train crash near Zasliai happened on April 4, 1975 that caused lots of human casulties. To commemorate the event hid a geocache near the memorial in Zasliai and left the TB. Decided to visit Kruonis Power Plant. Giant reservoir. A guard noticed me taking pictures at the gate full of warning signs and said to leave the site ASAP. Found a cache hidden by another Lithuanian geocacher and dropped off yesterday's TB there. Had a nice tailwind on the way back, made Kruonis to Vilnius in slightly over two hours. The motor traffic wasn't bad and happened to get home by dusk. Podcast kept me a company, I found the CycleSound system to be just the right choice on the highway, no need for headphones and the voice breaks through the ambient noise fine. Very safe, althought a bit geeky. Saw 45 other cyclists today.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: A little below +10C, overcast, light westerly. Felt all right with shorts and a T-shirt.

2007/4/4
(Wed)

69.87

03:36:45

19.34

636

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Lazy ride through the city, aimless back and forth, commute, the post office and back. Some park ride, by the river. Rode home, did some computer work then decided to ride a bit before dark. Vingio Park, then Karoliniskiu park by the river. Found a geocache. Got home by dusk. Saw 51 other cyclist today.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: Warm during the day: +8C or so. Temp got down below freezing after dark. A few casual snow flakes kept floating around noon.

2007/4/5
(Thu)

111.63

05:49:58

19.14

917

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: One year since my first ride on Trek 520! Urban metric. Aimlessly rode around Pilaite, Gineitiskes, Valakampiai, Kairenai. Rode to give the GS35 to LY2LE. Punctured the front tire near Dvarcionys. That was a scenic route to work. Grabbed the load and brought to the Vytenio post office, then back and ended the day with a slow Vingio Park ride. Saw 40 other cyclists today.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: Felt like +8, was comfortable enough with shorts and longsleeve. Few drops of rain. Moderate westerly, overcast most of the day.

2007/4/6
(Fri)

111.05

05:18:42

20.91

841

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Quick commute, stopped at work, grabbed the load, brought it to the post office. Unlike forecasts the sky looked nice, so decided to ride to Paneriai for some geocaching. Took a TB at Vingio Park. Messy messy messy. Plastic cheap beer bottles and cig packs everywhere. Pretty much visible when there is little green yet. Rode to Vievis on a hwy into a moderate headwind. The traffic was rather thick this Friday afternoon. Down to Paneriai, then slow ride to Padukstai burrows by the sandy forest road. Wrong tires. 23mm's did not tolerate the sand at all. The park was renovated since my last visit there. Lots of signs, fireplaces, the bushes were cut away. Stopped at Padukstai, enjoyed the Duksta & Neris confluence and got back to the bridge the same route after dropping off the Travel Bug. Loose dog alert at N54*47.782' E24*55.355'. Happened to outrun this short legged doggie. Stopped by Pusynelis, then noticed that the road construction expanded down to the bridge over Duksta. The drivers are crazy, not a slightest clue to slow down a bit when passing. Several stones from beneath their tires hurt pretty bad. Each 20th would slow down to pass me. Trucks are bad to deal with. Took a deep breath and made it OK. The backlight broke, so hurried to get home before dark. Had a nice tailwind most of the time. Suderve to Cekoniskes rode into a heavy snowstorm with severe westerly that nearly blew me off the road. Luckilly it did not last long and the sun showed up again. Saw 33 other cyclists today.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: +7C on the average. Moderate westerly. Some rain, some snow, fine to wear shorts and longsleeve. Did not need fenders.

2007/4/7
(Sat)

62.40

02:56:23

21.23

491

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Rode to the post office and work. Four days off ahead. A little bit of Vingio Park ride, then made a small Paneriai-Lazdynai loop. Found a box with about 100 apples near the ski hill. Wonder who could leave it there among trash. Passed by LY1DS Quads, got home, fixed my HID lamp mount and rode to replace Ciurlionio geocache. Someone stole the container the second time. Saw 42 other cyclists today.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

The first picture below shows Lithuanian way to park a car. If there is much room to park, a motorist would most likely park next to a slope made for wheelchairs, strollers and bicycles. This car is parked near an orthopedic equipment store.

Weather Conditions: +4C on average. Snowed a few times during the day. Shorts and longsleeve seemed to be comfortable enough. Light westerly.

2007/4/8
(Sun)

23.32

01:16:57

18.18

188

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Nice sunny morning. Quickly rode to Vingio Park, the Cathedral and home. Celebrating Easter in many Lithuanian families mean sitting at a table full of meal and vodka. Little I could do to avoid this. Snowed several times during the day. Saw 6 other cyclists today.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: -2C in the morning, fun riding over the frost covered leaves. Some snow later, temperature kept in the range of freezing.

2007/4/9
(Mon)

20.37

01:03:08

19.36

199

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Quick ride through the city. Some snow, no big fun. Saw four other cyclists today.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: Around freezing the whole day, some snow.

2007/4/10
(Tue)

11.29

00:32:07

21.09

66

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Enjoyed the evening ride. Dry streets, peaceful drivers. Met no other cyclists tonight.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: The snow is almost gone.

2007/4/11
(Wed)

246.70

13:10:00

18.74

1,236

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Rode to Ziboliskis to find a geocache. Enjoyed the village very much and spent a little more than planned time exploring it. Rode to Ignalina after that and was late for the last train to Vilnius. Decided to ride to Moletai in hope to find a bus that would take me back. The front light battery died near Kaltanenai, had to ride slowly afterwards. Would be OK if I wasn't wearing shorts, the outside temperature was around freezing and I could not keep myself warm because I had to ride slowly. Lucky I there were white lines drawn on most of the road, I could follow them and stay on the road. No moon to shine. Found no night buses in Moletai, had to ride another 64km to Vilnius. The motor traffic was pretty thin, it got foggy by 3AM, the fog did not help much. Reached Vilnius by 6AM, I felt so much easier to ride after the sun showed up through clouds. The funniest part of overnight ride was wearing shorts at subfreezing temperature. Only met 10 other cyclists today. A cyclist per 24km or so, pretty bad ratio.

The GPS batteries died near Svencionys, the receiver started acting weird almost to Ignalina, replaced the batteries there. It still kept switching off at bumps. One of the weirdest bump happened when I ren over a dead hedgehog. The tires stayed unpunctured.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: +10C at the beginning of the ride, some rain, then cleared up, got sunny, nice evening, around freezing at night, some fog, then overcast morning.

2007/4/12
(Thu)

26.62

01:43:45

15.39

206

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Slow recovery ride through Vingio Park. Met 55 other cyclists today.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: +10C, light westerly. Sunny.

2007/4/13
(Fri)

41.30

02:22:19

17.41

354

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Quick commute and the post office. Slow relaxing park ride afterwards. Saw 59 other cyclists today.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: Nice and warm, felt like +13C, sunny the whole day.

2007/4/14
(Sat)

74.65

03:59:47

18.68

891

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Spent most of the morning at a computer, lotsa homework to do, slept little at night too. The day turned out great outside, rode to the post office, then office, did some work there. Then the Hill of Three Crosses, measured up the incline, checked Rossini, Train Terminal geocaches after some DNF's filed. They were allright. Rode to Basteja, but could not inspect the cache due to tons of strangers. A drunk fellow was urinating right at the museum entrance door. A bit disgusting. Decided to inspect the Rokantiskes Hillfort in Naujoji Vilnia and took a scenic route through Belmontas cafe. The road was loaded with cars and I saw the real cager heaven near the cafe. The security guy told me and several other cyclist immediately leave the territory as cyclists were not allowed there. Weird. I heard from other cyclists about that, but no one was telling me to ride away during the winter months. Made a loop and rode to the place from the other side of the river. Very very unpleasant experience. I found a place for a disgusting geocache I am going to plant there and I already know what container will I use for it. The weather was great, the cagers kept walking in circles, so I left. Met a company of drunks at the foot of Rokantiskes hillfort. Loads and loads of trash everywhere. Strangely none of the locals know they have a famous mound in the vicinity. Inspected my geocache, took a geocoin, made to the top of the hill. Found a couple hiding in the grass :). Took another route back: Kojelaviciaus/Silo. Rode a circle in Vingio Park (too many cyclists and pedestrians), did not find it interesting and headed back home. Saw 280 cyclists today.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: Warm, guess the temperature hit +15C. A bit windy, but sunny most of the day.

2007/4/15
(Sun)

22.15

01:05:03

20.43

188

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Spent most of the day at a computer. Murphy struck first: the whole day was sunny and warm, had to stay home. Silly. Took a bicycle outside, rode to Vingio Park, found too many people to safely and enjoyably ride, passed by my office, then back to the park, wanted to visit Basteja geocache when all of a sudden Murphy showed his powers again: the front derailleur cable casing broke. Used a piece of wood and some tape to keep the derailleur on the middle chainring and rode home. Luckilly I had some spare casing at home. It took some time and it got dark outside so I called it a riding day and sat at a computer again. Saw 156 other cyclists today.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: +15C or at least felt like this. Light wind, sunny.

2007/4/16
(Mon)

76.45

04:11:50

18.21

553

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Did my homework, then the Virsuliskiu post office, lines are incredible. Sunny day. Checked Sirvydo square, wanted to take a geocoin a Latvian fellow dropped off yesterday. The square was full of muggles and there was a gentelman with a laptop right at the place I needed to reach. Thought I'd rather come later and rode to work. Then Vytenio post office and Gelezinkelio post office to pick the tent that came in the mail. EU bureaucracy at its best met me there. One counter to the other, lots and lots of paperwork. Lots and lots of stupidity. Lots of import taxes to pay. It approximately takes 20 minutes per person, there were like 3 people in front of me, so I decided not to wait and come later. Vingio park, the Sirvydo square again. Finally happen to pick a geocoin, wanted to bring it to Basteja, but there were crowds of students. Next time, I thought. Rode to Gelezinkelio post office again. There were no people at the customs lady so she started filling the forms. Geez, lots of stupid questions, lots of paper, ink and stupidity. So I was able to complete part of the paperwork, will get tomorrow to try to pick up the tent. Very annoying procedures for a used tent. Vingio Park again, did a lot of slow, aimles back and forth. Tons of people on main paths. Rode by the river and got back home. Did some computer work and another few miles before going to bed. Rather cool at night. Saw 205 other cyclists today.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: +15C or more. Sunny, no wind. Really nice.

2007/4/17
(Tue)

101.95

05:34:47

18.27

901

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: The perineum aches got noticeable again. Morning park ride, broke the spoke, got home, rode to Frank Zappa monument, hid the Yellow Shark geocache. Commute, the Vytenio post office, Finally took the tent after the third time visiting the Gelezinkelio post office and the customs. The box was rather big, luckilly I had my jumbo backpack, brought the tent home, then decided to visit the Medininkai Gate geocache. Enjoyed the slow ride. The day was beautiful. There were lotsa drunk fellows near the Gate so I quickly rode to Puckoriai, hid the disgusting cache there, made myself a tour, got back to Medininkai Gate, the fellows were still there, explored the old town for a while, found that the Mikalojaus Collapse cache was gone. No big deal, will replace it soon. 6PM or so, the drunks were still there so rode home with a quick detour to Vingio Park.

NONE OF THE GAS STATIONS SELL TRASH BAGS! But piles of fire wood, drinks, food and gas. Try asking anyone over the counter at any gas station re trash bags. What? A trash bag? We never had any for sale, are you stupid? The forests are getting more and more poluted.

Ate a lot of protein in a form of flies. Saw 172 other cyclists today.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: Warm and sunny. Cyclist's dream. +20C at peaks, felt like +25C.

2007/4/18
(Wed)

72.07

03:53:24

18.53

590

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Sat at a computer till late afternoon. Typical routine afterwards: commute, the post office with load. The other post office required three visits, but finally found no lines (just before closing down) and took my letters. Managed to grab the geocoin at Medininkai Gate. Enjoyed slow and relaxing park ride. Not many people today, the weather got a bit cooler. Saw 58 other cyclists today.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: Rained early in the morning then cleared up and was a perfect day for riding: slightly above +10C, light wind, a bit cloudy.

2007/4/19
(Thu)

184.86

07:52:30

23.47

1,083

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Typical commute and the post office with load. Had a short work day at the office due to well done homework at night. Rode to Salcininkai in the afternoon, stopped by Byelorussian border, did not take pictures of a cross point this time (after a bad experience a year ago). Fought a heavy head wind on the way to Eisiskes. Lovely places. Visited the Eisiskes hillfort. Needs a lot of care. Hid a geocache there and on the way to Pirciupiai visited two more hillforts: Kiauleku and Valakaviciu. Very nice twin brothers. First stopped by Kiauleku, had to carry my bicycle for some 10 minutes and then thought will cut it short to Valakaviciu, but got stuck in a swamp. Took about 30 minutes before I was able to approach the Valakaviciu, but that was fun experience. Kinda scary to cross the village with a dozen of loose dogs barking at you from all sides. No one bite, but I could not ride, had to walk the bicycle. Rode back home through Pirciupiai, tailwind helped to get home before dark, had some time to slowly ride a bit in Vingio Park. Got home by 8:30PM. Saw 42 other cyclists today.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: +10C or so, sunny morning, overcast afternoon, moderate southerly.

2007/4/20
(Fri)

37.19

02:04:04

17.99

454

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Commute, the post office and some errands, brought the tube to 2LE in Pilaite, front flat in Vingio Park on the way to work. Not much fun fixing it in the rain. Rode to the gas station to inflate only to discover the pump was broken (my minipump doesn't seem to do better than 60PSI). No big deal. Saw two other cyclists today.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: Moderate to strong westerly, some snow, some rain, some hail, some sunshine. Pretty amazing, but no big fun riding, only OK on paved surfaces.

2007/4/21
(Sat)

44.04

02:23:04

18.47

467

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: A quick ride to the post office and work. Explored Zverynas a bit, huge amount of work at home, so spent the majority of the day at a computer. Saw 10 other cyclists today.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: Some rain, some snow, moderate westerly. The temperature kept in the range of +5C the whole day.

2007/4/22
(Sun)

131.06

05:15:35

24.92

950

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Spent many hours working at a computer, decided to ventilate the brain. Had a nice Sunday afternoon ride Pilaite-Suderve-Maisiagala-Paberze-Giedraiciai-Moletu plentas-Vilnius. Lots of trash in the small cemetery between Kiemeliai and Maisiagala. Impressed by the bike path in Paberze - nearly as wide as the road and the quality is better, although it won't last long. Stopped by the Struve Geodetic Arc point in Meskonys. Never been there b4. There are three such points in Lithuania, will try to visit the remaining two.The Struve Arc is a chain of survey triangulations stretching from Hammerfest in Norway to the Black Sea, through ten countries and over 2,820km. These are points of a survey, carried out between 1816 and 1855 by the astronomer Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve, which represented the first accurate measuring of a long segment of a meridian. This helped establish the exact size and shape of our planet and marked an important step in the development of earth sciences and topographic mapping. It is an extraordinary example of scientific collaboration among scientists from different countries, and of collaboration between monarchs for a scientific cause. The original arc consisted of 258 main triangles with 265 main station points. The listed site includes 34 of the original station points, with different markings, i.e. a drilled hole in rock, iron cross, cairns, or built obelisks. The Struve geodetic arc was added to the world heritage list in 2005.
Nice tailwind Giedraiciai to Vilnius. Saw 15 other cyclists, none of them in Vilnius!

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: Pretty nice: +7C on average, light to moderate northerly, cleared up in the afternoon. Fun riding.

2007/4/23
(Mon)

127.09

06:02:27

21.04

872

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Commute and the post office. Typical. Lines at our post offices are incredible. I heard in Kazakhstan they have companies where a company workers would stand in line for you and SMS when they are close. We will soon need this in Lithuania. Saw traces of moron motorists hitting the tree in Vingio park.

Good to have a lot of a daylight. Rode to find another Struve point East of Didziasalis. Another one to go in Northern Lithuania, maybe sometime in the summer. Lots of loose dogs, all of them are tiny thin voiced babie-doggies. Cyclist friends. Took a ride to Medininkai on Minsk hwy. Very thin traffic. Visited the castle remains, then rode to Juozapine and Aukstojas hill - the highest spot in Lithuania, 293.84 meters ASL. That roughly equals 960 ft. My GPS altimeter seemed to be pretty accurate.
Lithuania is very flat. Detoured to Kena on the way home to complete a metric. Few raindrops fell. Got home before dark.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: Overcast, light wind. Temperature in the vicinity of +7C. Nice for riding.

2007/4/24
(Tue)

165.22

06:54:44

23.90

1,061

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Incoming post office and the commute. No load to bring to the outgoing post office today. Performed an after work century. Rode to Grigiskes and Lentvaris, enjoyed the lake and the manor remains, then Trakai, Aukstadvaris, Lepelionys. Hid the geocache on the slope of the hillfort. Stakliskes, Jieznas. The weather was great with no wind to bother. Got to the Kaunas-Vilnius hwy and saw dark clouds on Vilnius side so rode to Kaisiadorys and took a train home. A stupid lady with her buddy (presumably son, bloody drunk) kept calling me German spy. They were seriously angry why I take pictures of THEIR railroad and sell them to German intellingence. Weird. They got out soon and another young fellow, a cyclist, kept me a good company till Vilnius. Fell embarassly at an intersection on the way home in Vilnius when could not unclip. Saw 87 other cyclists today, the majority of whom in Kaisiadorys. Really great percentage of cycling people there.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: +15C or so, shorts and jersey. Light wind, overcast most of the day.

2007/4/25
(Wed)

169.39

07:03:26

24.00

861

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Another afterwork century. Great day to ride, happened to end the work day early. Rode to Anyksciai, explored the places of my childhood summers, the narrow railroad SIAURUKAS. Saw a nice trike suited to ride by rail. Took a bus to Ukmerge on the way back, a quick ride through the center of the city and another bus to Vilnius. A bit of Vingio park ride before it got dark. Too many people and cars - little fun. Saw 163 other cyclists today.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: Felt like +20C, light southerly, sunny most of the day. Dry and nice

2007/4/26
(Thu)

132.78

05:36:17

23.69

839

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: The post office, commute. Good to have a lot of daylight, rode a metric after work and hid a geocache near the Meskonys Struve Arc point. The road construction is still in progress North of Dukstos. Did not want to put an extra stress on my tired rims. Also did not ride the Meskonys-Paberze gravel. Get back the shortest route. Rode to Vingio Park for a cinnamon cone and a soda, wanted it sooooo badly, they are delicious. On a warm day like this the Vingio Park looks more like a parking lot, no fun. Saw 152 other cyclists today.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: +20C, sunny most of the day, light westerly.

2007/4/27
(Fri)

154.61

07:20:22

21.07

1,140

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Commute and the post office. Brought two giant backpacks of load today. Then rode a Lavoriskes-Rukainiai loop, hid a geocache in Lavoriskes near a very much abandoned hillfort. A bit of headwind on the way back, decided to take a scenic route through Grigaiciai and Dvarcionys, happened to make it in time for a critical mass ride. Tons of riders due to nice weather. Rode to Vingio park after the mass ride for a cinnamon cone :) Saw 284 other cyclists today, not counting the CM cyclists.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: Felt like over 20 degrees C. Light westerly, sunny most of the day.

2007/4/28
(Sat)

116.48

05:23:36

21.60

918

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Stopped by the office, some Vingio Park ride, then rode the Pilaite-Vievis-Trakai loop, some harsh northerly to fight with.Some composition building was going on near the turn to the stone art exposition in Suderve. I was nicely surprised to find the road construction works near Dukstos almost done and the road was newly paved. Visited the castle island with loads of tourists there, no fun. Back on A16, some park ride again and home. Ate 3 ice-creams at once. Saw 193 other cyclists today.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: Moderate northerly, some +15C, but dry and sunny most of the day.

2007/4/29
(Sun)

114.94

05:25:05

21.21

902

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Spent the first half of the day at a computer, then some Vingio Park ride, rode to Buivydai Hillfort, pretty many people to compare to two years ago when I first visited it. Bushes cut out, nice view. Rode to Maisiagala and the Mazoji Riese Hillfort. Flew over the handlebars after hitting the root in the forest. Landed very softly, cotton gloves helped to keep the palms safe. Enjoyed the views, hid a geocache and got back to Vilnius. Saw a smashed car near Avizieniai overpass. Could not resist a temptation and rode to Vingio Park to help myself with a cinnamon cone. Saw 160 other cyclists today.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: Sunny the whole day, moderate northerly, rather cool: the temperature kept in the vicinity of +10C, got +6C after dark.

2007/4/30
(Mon)

125.70

05:34:56

22.52

1,011

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Quickly checked outgoing and incomming post offices in the morning. Four day weekend in Lithuania. Four days off in a row. At least our post offices work every other day. Rather cold today, only a few degrees above freezing. Did some computer work at home and decided to ride a metric. Fought heavy northerly on the way to Kernave, relaxed slowly exploring the Dukstos Oakery slowly riding the wooden trails. Nothing spectacular in Kernave, same boring view with lots of STOP tape around hillforts. Had plans to go to Sirvintos and get back on A2, but it started snowing and the wind got even more chilling, so headed back, detoured to Maisiagala and made another loop in Vingio Park. It snowed all the way Kernave to Dukstos. Saw 49 other cyclists today.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: +5C during the day, temp dropped to nearly freezing after dark. Moderate to strong northerly. Snowed several times during the day.

2007/5/1
(Tue)

106.96

05:26:33

19.65

737

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Slow, aimless, urban metric. Back and forth through the city. Yet another public holiday in Lithuania. A working class solidarization. A couple of decades ago under the Soviet rule we were forced to go to mass demonstrations on this day. Not anymore. The streets were empty and the people looked tired of endless public holidays (twelve off days in April, the May started with a holiday, too). Spent most of the night at a computer, the urban metric was just the right thing my brain needed. Saw piles of white sand in Valakampiai, I suppose it was brought from the beach on the Baltics to decorate local playgrounds. Explored Turniskes and Snipiskes a bit. Saw 97 other cyclists today.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: Nice day to ride, light northerly, dry, +6C, dropped to +2C after dark. Some snow in the morning, but the day was nice.

2007/5/2
(Wed)

50.87

03:06:54

16.33

406

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: A bit of geocaching prior to work. Rode to Gudeliai hillfort, checked the geocache there, then Vingio Park, took the Pinguin TB, work. A big 40 year celebration for my coworker went pretty smooth. Started raining, rode to VP again, did some relaxing ride, the birds were singing like crazy. Got home by 8PM. Saw 24 other cyclists today.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: +5C or so, did not have a chance to glance at a thermometer. Pretty comfortable riding, light fresh rain in the afternoon.

2007/5/3
(Thu)

179.59

07:54:22

22.72

1,022

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Rode to Rumsiskes museum near Kaunas. Two flats, one of them after dark in subfreezing temps, no problem. Got home at 1:30AM there was a chance to get home earlier, but wanted to check the Estonian Ambasada. Saw only 9 other cyclists today.
GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: Cloudy, temperature was in the range of +5C, light wind.

2007/5/4
(Fri)

52.58

03:21:35

15.65

429

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Commute, two times to the post office with load, two Jumbo backpacks full of packages to deliver. Punctured rear tire near work, walked the bicycle and fixed the flat comfortably. Did some sloooow relaxing park ride. Stopped by an LBS, got some tube patches. Saw 61 other cyclist today.
GPS files: .txt

Weather Conditions: +12C, light wind, cloudy. For a slow ride wanted it to be a bit warmer.

2007/5/5
(Sat)

252.66

10:38:00

23.76

1,542

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Everybody had to go to work today for Monday as Sunday is Mothers day. A global weekday mixup - thanks Lithuanian government. I had a day off today! Wow! No obligations against anyone! Spent too much time at a computer in the morning and was only able to leave at around 8:40AM. Presented myself a little tour: Trakai-Onuskis-Pivasiunai-Alytus-Balbieriskis-Prienai-Rokai-Elektrenai-Vilnius. Enjoyed chatting with locals in Dusmenys, hid geocaches near Pivasiunai hillfort and Balbieriskis. Met a cycle tourist Andres from Poland near Prienai fully loaded. He was able to understand a bit of Russian. Andres said he made himself a one day tour to Lithuania and would get back to Poland by train. Nice man. Very poorly equipped reflectivewise. Punctured my rear tire twice on a streach Prienai to Kaunas. Had plans to walk around the left bank of the Kaunas man made sea, cross the dam and stop by Pazaislis, but the sun was rapidly getting close to the horizon. Decided to cut it short by A1. Saw hundreds of motorcyclists heading west. The night caught me near Electrenai. Fixed the front light and slowly made it home. Saw 27 other bicyclists today comparing to hundreds of motorcyclists. Not so many. Found myself in top 10 BJ rankings among other very respective cyclists. Great feeling. Not sure if I am going to keep it up, but I am very proud of what I happened to achieve. Could not make 300K today, maybe I need to concentrate more on plain riding. No sores, felt like I was able to do another 100K if I just had more time. Maybe in June?
GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: Clear: sunny and moony. The temperature was in the range of +10C when I left and around +5C when I got back. Light wind, seemed like easterly. Perfect day to ride a bike.

2007/5/6
(Sun)

37.60

01:52:52

19.99

249

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Slow evening ride downtown Vilnius and a bit of Vingio Park. Enjoyed watching the cuisine fest. Punctured rear tire by the time I was going to get home, fixed it pretty quick. A three patch cluster in about a couple of inch the tube length! Saw 67 other happy cyclists today.
GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: +15C, no wind. Fantastic!

2007/5/7
(Mon)

36.24

02:08:24

16.93

205

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Rained good portion of the day, so spent most of it at a computer. It is day off in Lithuania today. Stopped raining by evening, rode to Vingio Park, then shower started pouring down again. Thought would overwait it under the Pedagoginio bridge, but it continued raining, so quickly rode downtown and back. Got a bit wet. Saw 62 other cyclists today.

GPS files: .txt .gpx

Weather Conditions: +10C, light wind, rainy day.

2007/5/8
(Tue)

51.02

03:02:38

16.76

346

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Commute and the post office with load. Rained pretty bad in the morning, but not very cold. Then did a very slow relaxing Vingio Park ride. The park is getting similar to automobile race place. Another wooden bench smashed. There are still some places unocupied by motorists. So nice to slowly ride and listen the birds singing. Saw a brave duck, the slugs are showing up. Recent rainy days made the green to cover all over. I continue to amaze the people who commute by cars. The less than hour walk distance they spend over an hour in their cars. That's over two hours a day in traffic jams! Saw 39 other happy cyclists today.
GPS files: txt gpx

Weather Conditions: +10C on average, rainy morning, sunny afternoon. Nice, fresh air.

2007/5/9
(Wed)

44.57

02:25:12

18.42

327

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Rained a good portion of the day. Rode to Vingio Park. The flowers and lit candles showed up next to the tree that a car hit about a week ago. SAD. VERY SAD.
Three post offices: incoming, outgoing and EMS, delivered another jumbo backpack full of packages today.Got a bit wet, replaced front brake shoes, then some more Vingio park ride. Got home by 6PM. Saw 23 other happy cyclists today.

GPS files: txt gpx

Weather Conditions: around +10C, rained heavily several times during the day.

2007/5/10
(Thu)

88.58

04:21:23

20.33

618

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Did some errands in the morning including the incoming post office and the bank. Got home then stopped by the LBS prior to work. Found a nice wheelset there, decided to pick it after work. One of the pictures below shows a nice giant box that I found next to the post office. My 160 liter jumbo backpack is a baby camelback compared to the size of that box. Started raining pretty annoyingly. Got the wheelset and rode back home, replaced the rear wheel as it was getting close to death, put the new tire, too. Will replace the front wheel shortly. Decided to ride a bit by evening. It quit raining, so had a good chance to dry up the shoes and give the new wheel a test. Rode a bit in Vingio Park. Saw one crazy motorist zoom between three cyclists speeding like mad. The municipality doesn't do anything to prevent further deaths. Saw 58 other happy cyclists today.

GPS files: txt gpx

Weather Conditions: +10C on average, light westerly, rained several times during the day, cleared up by late afternoon.

2007/5/11
(Fri)

47.93

02:34:08

18.66

0

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments:

Weather Conditions:

2007/5/12
(Sat)

77.76

04:24:50

17.62

419

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments:

Weather Conditions:

2007/5/14
(Mon)

32.19

02:07:44

15.12

204

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Recovery ride after a bd party. Consumed a bit too much. Did not feel like I could ride very easy, relaxed in Vingio park a bit, rode to the stadium. Saw 133 other happy cyclists today.

GPS files: txt gpx

Weather Conditions: Nice and sunny.

2007/5/15
(Tue)

67.10

03:57:10

16.98

519

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Still not feeling right after wife's bday celebration. Did some slow park ride after commute and the post office. Met Antanas, a fellow who used to be into cycling sports a while ago. Rode a Gariunai-Bukciai loop together, got back to the park, I slowly relaxed making a few lazy kilometers and got home. A nice white doggie unexpectedly showed up in front of me, most likely smelled something tasty while I was having a lunch break on a bank of a river. Saw 63 other happy cyclists today.

GPS files: txt gpx

Weather Conditions: Felt like +18C, some clouds, nice day to ride.

2007/5/16
(Wed)

101.61

05:23:16

18.86

751

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Commute and the post office, typical routines. Rode to Pavilniai, started raining. Wasn't cold, completed the day slowly riding in the Vingio Park. Met Antanas during the day again for a quick circle in the park. Checked the power plant and took some pictures prior to reading the sign forbidding taking movies or still pictures, so not going to publish them here. Punctured the rear tire near the TV tower right before getting home. Saw 93 other happy cyclists today.

GPS files: txt gpx

Weather Conditions: +13C on average, overcast, some rain, light wind.

2007/5/17
(Thu)

104.08

04:53:59

21.24

677

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Another spoke broke and the rim seemed to be unusable anymore so replaced the front wheel. Commute, the post office, some errands, enjoyed slow Sereikiskiu park ride, then Vingio park, Titnago-Lazdyneliai loop, some more Vingio park ride, got home, answered email and rode to Vingio park again. Afterparty recovery is almost complete. Saw 111 other happy cyclists today.

GPS files: txt gpx

Weather Conditions: Nice and warm +15C. Overcast most of the afternoon, but it did not rain. Cyclists dream.

2007/5/18
(Fri)

161.45

06:59:15

23.11

1,048

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Stopped at mom's in the morning, fixed the utility equipment rapidly, then by the office and to the post office. The whole afternoon was free, slowly rode in Vingio Park, then decided to ride to Kernave for a pint or two of cold beer at Kerniaus. Made a small slow loop at Oakery. Kernave was full of kids, Kerniaus too, so turned back home. Thought would detour at Dukstos toward Maisiagala, but changed my mind and made it straith to Avizieniai. Met many hitchhikers and cyclists loaded with paniers and backpacks heading toward Kernave. A sunny and warm weekend is on the forecast. Got back to Vilnius, all thirsty. Bought myself some cold gira with a hot kibinas at a kiosk, ate it within seconds. Rode some extra casual miles to complete the century. A circle around the Gedimino Castle and a few loops near home.
Finally it is warming up! Saw 270 happy cyclists today.

GPS files: txt gpx

Weather Conditions: Felt like +20C, some clouds, seemed like it cleared out late in the afternoon. Light wind, couldn't tell the direction. Most likely, headwind round trip.

2007/5/19
(Sat)

133.51

05:40:09

23.55

0

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments:

Weather Conditions:

2007/5/20
(Sun)

36.41

02:25:24

15.02

314

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments:

Weather Conditions:

2007/5/21
(Mon)

105.54

05:50:34

18.06

549

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Saw 26 other happy cyclists.

Weather Conditions:

2007/5/22
(Tue)

18.95

00:57:26

19.80

114

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Saw 15 other happy cyclists.

Weather Conditions:

2007/5/23
(Wed)

67.58

04:05:47

16.50

489

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Saw other 179 very happy cyclists.

Weather Conditions:

2007/5/24
(Thu)

63.49

04:02:15

15.73

296

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Saw other 216 cyclists today.

Weather Conditions:

2007/5/25
(Fri)

88.19

04:48:39

18.33

522

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Commute, the post office, a bit of Vingio park ride. Made myself a small tour to Trakai afterwards, missed the Critical Mass in Vilnius, but enjoyed a very tasty kibinas in Kibinine restaurant followed by a great night ride back. Only saw 35 other cyclists today.

Weather Conditions: Hot during the day, comfortable at night.

2007/5/26
(Sat)

76.70

04:31:24

16.96

448

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Slow and relaxing ride through the city and parks.

Weather Conditions: Terribly hot +30C or so, I can't stand it. Slow riding in the wind helps a bit.

2007/5/27
(Sun)

118.84

05:07:16

23.21

692

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Explored a newly built expensive bike path Rubezius-Traikai. Only saw three other cyclists on the whole track: a couple with a five year old daughter. No none cyclist on the path met on the way back! The day was great, tried to ride around the lakes, got stuck at eastern part of Luka a bit scared of approaching rain storm so could not complete it, rode Trakai back and forth. Soooo many tourists, but enjoyed the day except for the rear tube blew up. First time this happened to it: part of the stem flew far far away and I could not find it. This is why it is always not a bad idea to carry a spare tube with you. I can only guess why the stem tore. I shouldn't have pumped the tires to the full 100psi prior to leaving at +30C heat, then after I jumped over a pine root and landed on the rear tire the air decided it was time to escape and found the way to do it. Returned through Naujasis Lentvaris and Grigiskes, the motor traffic was huge. Made it really quick Lentvaris to Grigiskes thanks to a nice tailwind combined with a pretty steep descent. Totally saw 104 happy cyclists today and about 15,000 car drivers trying to share the road.

Weather Conditions: Bring me back to February for a few minutes! Incredible! +30C or even above that. Some rain. No mudguards, no big deal. The one and only jersey will soon get unwashable. A backpack helps to keep the back of a jersey just a little bit cleaner. I don't care much.

2007/5/28
(Mon)

49.04

02:33:24

19.18

356

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Quick commute then home, feared to get wet. It did not rain, so took a relaxing park ride by evening. Rode to a gas station for my favorite garlic sausage, brought my own sauce and used half a dozen of napkins I was given to clean up the pulleys. Saw other 124 cyclists today.

Weather Conditions: Hot and humid. Felt like +30, this is when you sweat off the saddle and dry up riding. No big complains tho.

2007/5/29
(Tue)

79.81

04:29:06

17.79

497

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Commute and the post office with load. Left the second jumbo package for tomorrow - too hot to travel back and forth with load. Some slow park ride, rode to Salote, Giluzis. Too many people, too many cars, too loud music. The state heritage Vilkeliske Hillfort is freshly used for quad races. Weird. Will most likely report it to heritage agencies. Some more Vingio park ride later, by the river, plain slow back and forth. Got home before the rain. Saw 126 other cyclists today.

Weather Conditions: Hot, humid and rainy. Strong shower in the morning and in the evening. Happened to stay dry the whole day.

2007/5/30
(Wed)

103.54

05:13:36

19.81

709

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Checked the post office and rode to Balsys lake. Just wanted to see the monument I saw in one of the online pictures. I had never ridden by that beautiful path before! Will come back later when I have more time. Got to work OK, although it was very hot. The post office with load and some park ride. Got home to continue installing new computer hardware, no luck. Then LBS, got a pair of new shoes, switched the pedals SPD to eggbeaters again, tested the new shoes. Felt pretty good. Had a small b-day party for Paulius by night. Saw 225 other cyclists today.

Weather Conditions: Hot and humid again. Lots of water drunk, lots of sweat. Felt like +29. It seemed like the clouds were dangerously collecting up in the sky in the afternoon, but it cleared up again by 6PM. Nice day.

2007/5/31
(Thu)

28.23

01:31:11

18.58

198

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: The hardware installation took most of the day again. A quick commute late in the afternoon, the post office and stopped to watch the horses in Vingio park. Saw 35 other cyclists today.

Weather Conditions: Overcast, rained around noon, rather comfortable. The temperature in the range of +20C. Nice.

2007/6/1
(Fri)

134.72

06:07:26

22.00

857

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Typical commute, the post office with load. Stopped in the Vingio Park to enjoy the horse contest for a while, then rode a metric which included Trakai (met LY4U on his bicycle near Lentvaris), Vievis, Cekoniskes with a detour to Uzutrakis where I spent some time slowly exploring the manor and the park. Pretty amazing. Found an abandoned Soviet time children camp or something. Then stopped by a modern camping by Slenis. Rode to Vingio Park again, after returning to Vilnius, the contest was still going on. Enjoyed it a lot. Saw 165 other cyclists today.

GPS files: txt gpx

Weather Conditions: Much more comfortable than the previous days. The temperature was in the range of +20C, overcast most of the day. It seemed it was going to start raining in Trakai, but the sky cleared up on the way to Vievis.

2007/6/2
(Sat)

116.88

04:40:50

24.97

700

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Felt sleepy after spending many many hours at a computer. Thought I'd better get my ass out and ride a bit. Rode a boring metric: Pilaite-Kernave-Sirvintos-Maisiagala-Vilnius. Stopped to watch the horse contest after return. Saw 65 other cyclists today.

GPS files: txt gpx

Weather Conditions: Moderate easterly, +15C, overcast. Cyclist's dream!

2007/6/3
(Sun)

134.15

05:53:58

22.74

891

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Sat at a computer most of the morning, rode a slow and relaxing metric after noon. Typical, a bit boring Vievis-Trakai loop, slowly rode by the lakes there, picked some wild poppies and bluebottles for my wife. She loves them. Some Vingio park kilometers to complete the metric. Got home and rode a bit more by the evening. Checked calm Sunday streets downtown. Saw 152 other cyclists today.

GPS files: txt gpx

Weather Conditions: +14C to +17C. Overcast in the morning, moderate easterly. Cleared up and warmed up by the evening. Nice weather for riding a bike.

2007/6/4
(Mon)

52.92

02:59:41

17.67

352

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Quick commute and the post office, then slooooow park ride. The horse contest is over, examined the empty stable. Leaving toward the sea tonight. Saw 105 other cyclists during the day.

GPS files: txt gpx

Weather Conditions: Sunny and warm, +22C or so. Light easterly. Super.

2007/6/5
(Tue)

379.90

15:50:00

23.99

1,110

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: A day off occured on Tuesday. Thought I'd ride to the Baltics and stick my toe into the sea. Thought done. Left at midnight, was in Klaipeda a hairpin before noon. Made 300km+ within 12 hours. This was a bit of a challenge. The shorts start feeling uncomfortable after some 10 hours into the ride. The right shoe let me know about itself after 11 hours or so. Reached the sea OK, slowly rode along the shore. The enthusiasm to ride more melted away right after my but touched a soft and white beach sand and the toe got stuck into the sea waters. Spent the rest of the day cruising by the shore Klaipeda to Butinge, slept for several hours in dunes near Palanga and took an early morning bus home to get to work in time. Enjoyed the trip a lot. The tally counter broke so I quit counting other cyclists. Instead saw a fox and a deer... and countless number of dead squirrels and hedgehogs along the road. The GPS started acting weird around Klaipeda. I replaced the batteries, but it did not seem to help much. It kept switching off every 10 minutes or so. Most likely, it needs some maintenance.

GPS files: txt gpx

Weather Conditions: Clear and warm. Moonshine after 2AM, there was +16C on the thermometer display near Kaunas at 4AM. Some boring fog (my eyeglasses don't tolerate it) in the morning followed by a hot day +25C or so.

2007/6/6
(Wed)

22.83

01:57:29

11.66

139

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Woke up in dunes near the Baltic sea, streched, ate a piece of meat I was able to get downtown Palanga at 4:30AM and took a bus to Vilnius. Then a bus station to work, then the post office with load and a slow recovery ride home.

GPS files: txt gpx

Weather Conditions: Felt like +29. Sunny and no wind.

2007/6/7
(Thu)

104.43

05:14:32

19.92

704

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Another hot summer day. Commute and the post office. Rode to Trakai, swam in Totoriskes lake and ate a kibinas. Got home after dark.

GPS files: txt gpx

Weather Conditions: +27C, no wind, clear. A bit too hot for me.

2007/6/8
(Fri)

78.68

04:42:03

16.74

339

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Rode to Velniakampis lake after commute. Did not think I would see tons of motorists and piles of trash there. Did not like it much because of running engines, loud music, cus language, etc. Typical Lithuanian relaxation form. Didn't even want to swim. Got home a bit after dark, rode about 6km on sand. The GPS died a few hours before home.

GPS files: txt gpx

Weather Conditions: +28C. Really hot. No wind.

2007/6/9
(Sat)

38.40

02:05:52

18.31

202

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: A bit of a slow evening ride after spending most of the Saturday home. Hundreds of cyclists everywhere. Rode to Vingio Park, downtown Vilnius, some more Vingio Park.

GPS files: txt gpx

Weather Conditions: +27C, maybe less. No wind, no clouds.

2007/6/10
(Sun)

71.94

04:02:26

17.80

379

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: A slow afternoon ride to Trakai, swam in the lake and back. Nothing very much spectacular. Stopped by the poppy field near Lentvaris. They are blooming all over.

GPS files: txt gpx

Weather Conditions: Some +25C degrees, no wind, some clouds. Nice summer weather.

2007/6/11
(Mon)

118.48

05:52:49

20.15

621

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: A lazy Monday metric. Did not have to go to work today, spent most of the morning at a computer, rode to Vingio Park, Valakampiai, Nemencine, Karvys (examined the Northern side of the lake), did not swim, came back by A2, rode to Vingio Park to complete the metric.

GPS files: txt gpx

Weather Conditions: A bit cloudy, some +25C degrees, some rain during the day, light northerly.

2007/6/12
(Tue)

131.49

06:19:47

20.77

853

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Rode a Vievis Trakai ccw metric after commute and the post office. The poppy fields are all blooming red. Wow. Did not swim, felt like cold, just slowly rode around the lakes.

GPS files: txt gpx

Weather Conditions: Sunny and warm, possibly around +27C. Light westerly.

2007/6/13
(Wed)

65.91

03:28:30

18.97

423

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: My 100th commute today. Did the post office with load, road back and forth Vilnius, a bit of Vingio park, met with yellowjacket and traded my old B-17 into some stickers. Some more park and made it home before the rain started.

GPS files: txt gpx

Weather Conditions: Light rain in the morning, a few drops during the day then good freshing rain in the evening. +27C to +16C, light wind. Terribly humid throughout the day.

2007/6/14
(Thu)

87.57

04:21:42

20.08

593

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Seemed like it was going to start raining the whole day, but it did not. A quick commute and the post office with load then slow relaxing Vingio Park ride, some Karoliniskes, lake Salote and the vicinities, did not want to ride further not to get wet. Getting spoiled, eh? Got home, did some computer work and then some more slow park riding later in the evening. Lotsa crazy kid drivers playing stupid games with their automobiles. Scary riding.

GPS files: txt gpx

Weather Conditions: Hot and humid. The temperature in the vicinity of +27C, it did not rain today, basically no wind and rather humid. Feeling good on the saddle, but start sweating immediately once you stop.

2007/6/15
(Fri)

401.86

16:23:00

24.53

2,365

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Didn't think the ride was going to turn out into a 400K ride, my first ever. Left home at 5:40, thought I would circle a metric, but since I had a day off, I thought I would ride a little bit further. Stopped near Utena and took a picture of LY1PM HAM radio antenna farm. It happened so that I found myself besides Stelmuze oak in the North East part of Lithuania. Examined the grand Oak (supposed to be around 2,000 years old), saw some other heritage objects and wanted to get into the grocery store to get some mineral water as I started getting thirsty. My GPS receiver showed a geocache nearby, I fed thousands of mosquitoes before I couldn't find the geocache and gave up. (I later ate tons of other mosquitoes). Some park official came to check what I was doing in bushes. We chatted for a while, then I rode to the oak. I found a nice fellow with a home built trike. An interesting part is that the trike could be driven by legs, arms or gas. Smart guy. Pity he has some problems with his legs and he needs some money for the upcoming operation. The store was still closed. Thought I'd ride to Latvia. The border crossing went smoothly, I only needed to show my passport once. The roads there were not what I was expecting. I met another cyclist coming to Lithuania, I chatted with her later when I got back to Lithuania. She was travelling for several days and lost her hex wrench, so I was happy to help. We soon found that our cycling interests are a bit different so I rode toward Visaginas Nuclear Plant. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get close enough due to threatening signs, so I decided to get back. My math showed me I could be close to 400K if I get back to Vilnius by bike instead of taking a train, so that's what I did. The road construction with a lot of Friday traffic near Svencionys took some time to get through. Made it OK, replaced the GPS batteries and rode toward home. I definitely need a different saddle and/or shorts to feel comfortable. Punctured my front tire near Nemencine. Took me about 30 minutes to fix it in the dark. Found I was about 20 kilometers short of 400 after I got to Vilnius, so made a short trip around the city. Not much fun being constantly fingered by drunks. Bought two cans of beer right after hitting the 400, came home and fell asleep immediately.

GPS files: txt gpx

Weather Conditions: +25C during the day, about +12C during the night. No rain, no significant wind. Super.

2007/6/16
(Sat)

15.49

01:00:06

15.46

92

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Was pleasantly surprised to hear my wife took her bicycle and rode to Rokantiskes summer house to visit her parents, so did I late in the afternoon. Had a nice time there.

Weather Conditions: +25C or so. Some sun, some rain, some hail, not the best weather to ride a bike.

2007/6/17
(Sun)

69.42

03:52:54

17.88

470

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Spent the day at the summer house in Rokantiskes. I was given an order to bring some ice-cream in the morning so rode by Aukstagiris and saw hundreds of cyclists getting ready for a contest. Then rode a bit with my wife, examined the vicinities. Got home to check the internet late in the afternoon and back to the summer house. Swam in a lake. Nice day.

Weather Conditions: +25C, cloudy. No rain. Great day to ride.

2007/6/18
(Mon)

48.07

03:30:09

13.72

282

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments:

Weather Conditions:

2007/6/19
(Tue)

55.26

03:10:46

17.38

361

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments:

Weather Conditions:

2007/6/20
(Wed)

142.49

07:50:26

18.17

870

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Typical commute, some Vingio Park ride. Then rode to Paduksciai Pilkapynas, took the Owl TB out. Both of us visited the Trakai geocache, took us some 15 minutes to locate it. Enjoyed getting home at night.

Weather Conditions: Some northerly in the afternoon, but very calm evening. +22C on the average. No rain. What else would a cyclist need.

2007/6/21
(Thu)

44.53

02:45:04

16.19

311

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Typical commute and the post office followed with some slow park ride.

Weather Conditions:

2007/6/22
(Fri)

87.05

05:01:12

17.34

387

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Commute and the post office. Started raining right after I left. Collected some wild strawberries in Valakupiai then a bit back and forth Vilnius, some Vingio park ride and home. Saw at least 20 other cyclists made not out of sugar and enjoying nice summer rain ride.

Weather Conditions: +18C or so. Overcast in the morning, then it rained most of the late afternoon.

2007/6/23
(Sat)

69.86

04:50:57

14.41

527

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Some Rasos celebration in the summerhouse, slowly rode around Rokantiskes.

Weather Conditions: Overcast and not really hot, great weather to ride a bike.

2007/6/24
(Sun)

64.08

03:35:26

17.85

515

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Some Antakalnis, Turniskes, downtown and Zirmunai ride. Punctured the front tire three times! Time to replace it. The rainfall caught me at Vingio Park, overwaited it under the shelter. Still no fenders so got home with a wet and sandy back :)

Weather Conditions: +20C or so. Some sun, some rain.

2007/6/25
(Mon)

125.05

06:34:25

19.02

772

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: A slow metric including Vingio Park relaxing ride, Trakai and back to Vilnius through Vievis. Swam in Siemetis and Vilnoja lakes.

Weather Conditions: Rather nice to ride a bike: +20C with no rain and light wind. Some clouds some sun. Perfect.

2007/6/26
(Tue)

41.84

02:31:20

16.59

342

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Quick commute and the post office with load followed by a slooooow park ride. Checked the poluted Neris river and slowly rode toward home, got caught by a rainshower so decided to swim in Salote lake. Much fun. On a weather like this you only take your shoes and helmet off and jump straight to the water without bothering to take off the jersey, shorts and socks. Saw many other cyclists enjoying the rain ride.

Weather Conditions: +18C on average. Light wind. Fantastic prolongued rain shower late in the afternoon. Muchos funos.

2007/6/27
(Wed)

102.85

04:56:19

20.83

781

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Rode to the train station for tickets. Leaving with my wife and two bicycles on July 5. Hope the weather is nice near the Baltics. Then work, the post office with load and some park ride. Looked like it was going to start raining, decided not to go anywhere far from home, so rode to Suderve, stopped at Avizieniai Hillfort with the hope to pick a geocoin from a geocache, but found it was missing. Two fellow geocachers from Colorado already took it and evidently had no access to the internet to log the cache. Got back to Vilnius, it started clearing up. Stopped by Umarai LBS for rear blinkies as my other one died after yesterday's shower ride. Then a bit more park ride and got home early.

Weather Conditions: +17C on average, overcast with a moderate westerly.

2007/6/28
(Thu)

35.51

02:00:57

17.62

262

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Commute and the post office with load then downtown army surplus store for some bug repelent, got some other gadgets. Got home, dried the apparel, then visited Algis in Pasilaiciai and back followed by a short trip to IKI for groceries.

Weather Conditions: Boring rain most of the afternoon. Rather cool, temperature averaged to +13C, moderate westerly.

2007/6/29
(Fri)

11.52

00:34:23

20.10

68

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Home to the train station

Weather Conditions:

2007/6/30
(Sat)

344.59

18:55:00

18.22

990

Road: Flat

Trek 520
Touring

Bike Friday

Comments: Kretinga to Palanga, some geocaching, Sventoji, Palanga Critical Mass, stopped for some beer in Karkle, slept near Priekule, slow day ride to Bubiai through Jurbarkas, overwaited the night rain at a bus booth.

Weather Conditions: