Thu21Jul16: Lomza - Rybaczswka, Poland (131.3km, 1,674.4km YTD)

It's a strange feeling to be on a TDA tour and wake up alone in a hotel room.  Air was wonderfully cool and quiet, but I wake up often to check my watch and make sure the alarm hadn't gone off, because with nobody else's 'night noises' to listen to, it sure makes you feel isolated from the group.
Packed and took the bag downstairs to the lobby, retrieved the bike from the garage, lined up for the breakfast buffet, and most of the group were ready to depart at the same time.  And got confused at the same time, because Gergo hadn't put up the marking tape yet!  Nobody was exactly sure on that first roundabout which was the "3rd exit", and where to "keep Right"; I surged ahead on my impression of the correct route and then waited; nobody else followed for 5 minutes so I backtracked and found that I'd made the wrong decision - an extra 2.2km of 'exploring' is the price that I pay for being impestuous.

Caught up and surprised Ozgur, our 'sweep' for the morning ride, passed his slower moving herd of riders, and joined the group of Judy & Tim & John for about 10km.  When they stopped for photographs I went ahead on my own, a mixture of farmland and forested areas, good riding surface today with smooth aggregate today.

Gergo is keeping us on the secondary roads on a lovely sunny day with a brisk NW28kph wind.  For example, we are on Highway #61 and a sign says "Warsaw, 119km" but our instructions are to turn Right onto secondary Road #544 into a headwind for 25km; later there's a junction and a sign saying "Warsaw, 107km" but our instructions are to turn Left and downwind on Road #626 for 15km, after which there's a junction and sign saying "Warsaw, 98km" - so firstly we went upwind 25km to get 12km closer to Warsaw, and then we cycled downwind for 15km to get 9km closer to Warsaw, which means we just skirting the northern outskirts of that city in a crosswind.  Not my style of 'tour cycling' but we sure are taking the scenic route and seeing more of the countryside.

 About 1pm and after 120km I pull into a service station in Pultusk for a 'Coke stop', a 1L bottle of Coca-Cola with its sugar, caffeine, and fluids.  Nice to have a rest and a break in riding, because the next 10km are on rural roads, followed by 2km of dirt and sand.
"Camp Rybaczswka" is a backwater campground, but it has nice tenting sites, hot showers, and a bar (for those riders who enjoy a cold beer at the end of a day).  I set up my tent on the moss undercover, shower, do laundry, and then make time for photos and the blog.  

Although it's beautiful camping weather, some riders still enjoy the comfort of a flat mattress and a lock on the door.
Everybody is supposed to take a turn at washing out the pots at the end of each camping meal, so Wayne (Australia) and I self-selected ourselves again today when nobody else would step forward.