“Didn’t you know,” said Edo, Italian logistics run and route coordinator, “July 1st is Adventure Day!” Oh right, of course. We were hanging out on the side of a pot-hole laden dirt road, swatting away cockroach sized horse flies, and trying to keep cool in the intense heat. Outside the vans, shade was not to be found. But at least, for the moment, we had escaped the grit and roar of trucks on the M7. I’ll take horseflies over trucks any day.

Having just ferried across the Vjatka River, along with Team Orange and our police escort crew, it seemed we had suddenly crossed into a different part of Russia. Away from the urban trafficked area of Moscow and then Kazan, finally it felt like we were entering the rural interior.
I was feeling quite refreshed and happy after a nice swim in the river. The water was silt-dark and cool, and I was going to swim across to the other side but the police said, as they had said in regards to Frisbee on the side of an empty road, that this was not a good idea. So, I conserved energy for my run. My 3pm 10 mile leg included heat, hills, and horseflies but the green quiet country side was delightful.

Three times the size of the US, we will spend the next 25 days trekking through this country. Our drives have gotten longer, as the roads have considerably deteriorated. This combined with the aggressive Russian driving style make it difficult to do anything else in the van but to hold on for dear life. As we fly down at 100km on a small road and suddenly lurch to a halt veering to avoid a pothole, it crosses my mind that these drivers must go through a lot of break-pads. These days, it feels safer sitting in the far back seat.