DAY 125 | Russia | How To Move The Stars | A bicycle ride around the world

How To Move The Stars is the day by day retelling of a bicycle ride around the world. Start from the beginning to get the whole story. My adventure was a modern day epic, a solo, self-supported bicycle ride spanning 38,000 miles across six continents. There were moments I barely survived, and times I cried tears of joy, but mostly, this is a story about the thousands of people I met along the way. I moved through their cultures, and dramatic landscapes. I ate their food and slept on their land. I was constantly arriving to the open arms of strangers who were excited to help me achieve a feat that few could imagine. I did this for years, immersing myself in the world and meeting the people who live here. The story I returned with is a snapshot of humanity, captured in a lived experience. Thank you for joining me on my journey.Purchase Jacob's art inspired by his bicycle tour, including the world's most beautiful Ant Farm. ⁠www.AntLife.space⁠Join Jacob on a bicycle tour! He leads week-long bicycle tours in Colorado during the summer. Sign up here, ⁠www.MountainHighBicycleTours.com⁠.Contact me at [e-mail] me on Buy Me A Coffee www.buymeacoffee.com/HowToMoveTheStars#bicycletouring #travelblogger #bikepacking #adventure #narrated #series #bicycle #bicycleculture

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
June 18th, 2013 Crows. I've crossed a religious border
between Roman Catholic and EthanOrthodoxy.
The line is less distinct than astate border, but the churches
are a giveaway. Inside, the art no longer
focuses so specifically on the gruesome death of Jesus.
Instead, the interiors are gaudy, decorated liberally with

(00:23):
gold foil and flourishes of neonlights.
The walls are covered in brightly painted scenes with
characters and such multitudes that they evoke a clear feeling
of clutter. The crosses have changed too,
from the Roman Catholic tee to the three bar Cross of Ether and
Orthodoxy. Even the church steeples are a

(00:43):
different shape. The sharp Spires of Western
Europe have been replaced by tear shaped domes covered in
polished gold. The tier shaped.
The mirror finish has an effect of creating a beacon that
directs the sun into the eyes ofall who look They're blinding
and stand out for miles away. I carried on climbing over low

(01:04):
hills on wary legs. I was going slow, but some of
the trucks were barely faster. They crept past me with black
smoke pouring from their tailpipe.
I would try to hold my breath until the air cleared, but on
the steep hills I would still end up gasping in a lung full of
exhaust. During the hottest part of the
afternoon, I rejoiced to find a spring flowing steadily from a

(01:27):
thin copper pipe stuck into a hillside.
I drank with abandoned and delighted and rinsing my face, I
lingered to enjoy the feeling ofabundance created by the flowing
water. For as long as I stood there, I
could drink as much as I wanted.I've not seen much wildlife
other than birds, mostly crows. Dead trees along the road will

(01:49):
occasionally be the home to hundreds of them.
Their black, squawking mass fills every branch.
There are so many that one will inevitably get killed by a
passing truck. Some of the living birds fly to
the road to eat the dead, and they too are killed.
Eventually a dozen birds are ground to a paste in the middle
of the lane, while 100 more lookdown from the trees and scream a

(02:13):
bicycle. Past this sad, gruesome scene
again this afternoon I needed tofind a place to sleep, but
pedaled another hour to be sure,as far away from the mournful
creatures. Eventually I pushed my bike into
a narrow strip of forest betweenthe farm fields.