Slava escorts us out of town, a keen cyclist with a mop of blond curly hair. Bread sells for 40,000 kupon, at 150,000 kupon/dollar. Brandt is sick again. Stay in a backyard pension. I leave my Swiss army knife on the wharf. Oleg wears a speedo

Three of us ride. Oleg and Brandt taxi out of Alushta. Strong. Stop at store while good looking woman tries to talk to us. Mafia husband stares at us from tinted window Volvo. Meet in Sudak on Bladk sea coast. Oleg loses his sleeping bag. “Doug, why you make joke me?” He spends night shivering in his clothes

Begin as Brandt’s pacesetter at 15 km/hr. He’s hurting. Leave Crimea mountains for Alberta style plains and guys collecting hay on motorcycles. Oleg: “They collect this grass because of rabbits.” Leave Brandt at 20 km and break away with Alex. Strong again. Guy we meet in Sudak paces us until lunch in Fedosia. Dill pickles, ice cream and bread. Push final 25 km to small village. Woman at market houses us. Son killed at soccer match in Simeropal. She spends evening crying to us, reminding her of her son. Oleg weeps to himself at night, missing Natasha.