Bicycling Through Rural Russia

The Golden Ring of Russia

About a year and a half ago after returning from Spain and biking a little there I begin to think about another kind of bike trip. Reading everything I could about touring by bike on the Internet I came upon a small article in the Moscow Bicycle Club news about one of their members that was organizing a bicycle tour of the Golden Ring of Russia. I thought how interesting. In further research I could not find any reports by other Americans biking in Russia.

Americans still seem to think of Russia as the Evil Empire although the old Russia has been out of business for over a decade. Many people have asked me if I feared anything in Russia. I can report to you that after this trip there is as much or more safety in Russia as anywhere in the world. Violent crime seldom happens in Russia. Please don’t ask me to compare it to our country because you might not like the answer, at least in the area of personal safety.

I contacted the Moscow Bicycle Club on the Internet and located the information on The Golden Ring of Russia bicycle tour. The more I read of it the more I believed I had to do it. As time went on the plans were made for the trip.  I had been on a previous trip to Russia in 2003 so I knew all the legal procedures one must go through in order to visit Russia.  My trip in 2003 had nothing to do with biking.

My next move was to fill out the forms for this tour and send in my deposit for the tour.  The tour director was having difficulty getting enough people for the tour. Seven people from around the world had been signed up within a week of the time I was to leave for Russia.  They were all from different countries.  Upon arriving I found that the number had doubled. 

This was an adventure tour.  That means, sleeping on the ground most of time in a small back packer’s tent and cooking a meal over an open fire of wood gathered in the area. I did have the luxury of sleeping in an old school building in a small village one night and sleeping in a Russian home another night in my sleeping bag on the floor. I also had several nights of sleeping in my sleeping bag inside buildings several other times. The many nights sleeping outdoors were certainly an adventure of a different kind.  We slept in woods along side of small lakes, several nights along the beautiful Volga. Several camping areas were also used.

Hot water, toilets, etc. were a luxury we seldom experienced. Our bathing was in ponds, the Volga River, and a lake or two. Sometimes it was almost impossible. You learn to live with it and the mosquitoes. After a day’s ride of many miles on hilly roads ranging from twenty-five to sixty miles on very rough blacktop full of potholes, cobblestone, mud, or dirt, food and rest held priority.  Then the hunt for a place to get rid of a little dirt and smell fell into place. We also had several days of biking in the rain. 

This probably sounds like a trip you would prefer not to do. Believe me, it was the trip of a lifetime and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. The things I have seen, the places I have been, the people I have known, and more are the most enriching kind of education possible. The Golden Ring of Russia is an area to the North and East of Moscow. This ring of cities, towns, and villages make up the medieval area of Russia.  These cities, towns, and villages where connected with paths, roads, rivers, etc. that made a ring.  Thus The Golden Ring of Russia.  Our travel by bicycle was somewhere between 500 and 600 miles or close to 1000 kilometers.

There is much written about The Golden Ring of Russia if you wish to know more about it.  This area has a rich history dating back over a thousand years.  It is full of hundreds of old churches.  Many of these churches were sacked during the era of Stalin, their bells melted down and the priests killed.  Now many of these churches are being repaired but it is a long and difficult task as there is little money in these towns and villages for such things.

The people of the small towns and villages are very poor by our standards but they are rich in many other ways.  They treated us very well and were very generous with what little they have. The economic collapse of Russia in the nineties will leave scars on the country for many years to come. 

One of the highlights I will long remember is staying in a small school house one night.  The four teachers of the school came in and helped prepare a meal for all of us. It was a most pleasant gathering that evening.  One of them took all of us to her home so that we might see how the people of this little village live. We Americans live in luxury beyond the dreams of most Russians.  We are the most blessed nation on the face of the Earth when it comes to luxury. Be thankful that you are here.