Tag: Toursim

At the Sunday August 9th there were cross-country bicycles competitions Grand Rock 2015 were held in Upper Ufaley city. There were many distances options for riders : 2 laps x 40 km or 1 lap for men; 2 laps x 30 km or 1 lap x 40 km for women; and Fun mini-marathon with 1 lap x 30 km. Race started at 11 o’clock and were held in warm and dry weather, only closer to finish of the competitions there was small rain. Around 100 athletes from different cities of Russia participated in event. There were lots of road areas with big stones on it, fast downhills with length around 1 km, cross-country uphills on rocks on forest path on the way to Grand Rock, wetlands with little wood bridges in the most muddy areas and grand uphills ( the most memorable is the uphill to Wolfs’ Hill, on which only few sportsmen were able to ride on their bikes, the rest moved on feet with bike nearby ). Cars movement was limited on the roads, because of that they were mostly free and those cars, that moved through them, did that with slow speed. On the key points there were police officers and marshals, who showed right way for the riders. Track was marked very good and there was no feeling of movement “in the wrong way”; with thank to that there was ability to move fast and do not turn in wrong directions. Competitions were concluded with awards ceremony and prizes drawing among competitions participants.

I rode 40 km on competition; there was wish to ride 80 km, but, taking into account forthcoming 60 – 80 km of way home, I rode only 40 km. Road from Upper Ufaley to Polevskoy sometimes looks like westerns scene : with sandy and stony roads, quarries and abandoned industrial and living buildings; sometimes like Soviet times park with posters from Soviet Union times; at some areas road is so broken, that bicycle rider can move much faster, than cars with powerful engines; but mostly it is the road through beautiful forest with small villages, that are located on its length ( most memorable is the Selki village, in which there are only 5 – 6 homes on the bank of small half-boggy waters ). First around 20 km there was warm and dry weather and it was pleasure to ride on this road; then intense rain started and fell till Itkul lake, it ended with beautiful rainbow over Itkul lake and with magnificient views of sunset above wet road and forest, that mirrored its light, and humid atmosphere, that scattered it. There were lots of steep uphils with long and fast downhills after them. From Upper Ufaley till Itkul lake road is relatively good; then along its coast and to border of Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk regions there is very broken part of road. Then from border of Sverdlosk region there is excellent road surface, on which it is pleasure to ride fast. After sunset fog descended on land and there was need to be careful in low altitude areas, especially when cars moved from behind or from frontal direction.

After Poldnevaya village it was so dark, that road signs was not distinguishable and there was need to pedal, while orienting on white road marks and light of sky, that mirrored from wet road surface. In 10 – 8 km from Polevskoy its lights on the sky appeared and it was much easier to pedal on the bike. After entrance into city there were additional 6 – 10 km of ride on its lighted roads with cars, that moved from behind and from frontal direction, and in 11 – 12 o’clock I at last came to home. Then : eat and sleep. See you on the next bicycles event!

You can see rest of photos here.

In this Sunday August 2nd there were bicycle tour “West coast of Iset lake” near Yekaterinburg. 12 people participated in it. First 10 km path run in city in the direction of Ganin Yama and then in the direction of Iset village. After this distance 2 persons separated from group and returned to Yekaterinburg : it was hard for them ride such distance without appropriate experience and on hard bikes. Lets hope, that they will prepare for next event and will be able to ride all 60 – 100 km. After Iset village we moved in the direction of quarry, that is located nearby. Views from it side are truly amazing; its depth is around 90 m.

Next the most interesting part have started : steep uphiils on boulders and fast downhills in the direction of PetroGron rocks. We made brief rest on them and moved forward. Downhill from these rocks was very fast and run on rocky trails in forest. We’ve went in the direction of bigger rocks, that are located nearby. At the middle of the distance there was fork : with fast and hard way and relatively easy and longer way. I went with part of group, that chose hard way : there were 3 rocky downhills and uphills with jumps above boulders and crossing of little marshes and forest river. In 20 – 30 minutes we completed this way and waited for other part of group. There are fantastic views from these rocks with Yekaterinburg on the horizon.

Next : fast rocky downhills and steep uphills waited for us, with crossing of flooded areas with bicycle on the shoulder. We moved in the direction of Sandy Lake; there are amazing views at sunset. 2 persons swam in it, while water is still warm. Then through the Severka village we moved to road to Yekaterinburg and rode 10 – 15 km to city. In it people started to separate from group and move to their homes. There are lots of positive and impressions and all of this in 1 day.

You can see rest of photos here. There is need to say separate thank to Victor Ustinov, which navigated us through these places without mistakes, without him we would miss some of these beatiful areas. And thank to organizer of bike tour Vadim Grebenkin and all of the participants of tour, see you on next bicycle tour event!