June 23: Day 53, Lycksele-Skellefteå
Long ride today: 9h, 157km. So an early start was in order. It couldn't be too early because breakfast only started at 8; all I could do was arrive on time. No pastries but they did have some small chocolate confectionary. A Swedish tradition? Or just some random leftovers? The safest option was to have one. Or two.
It's Midsommar's Eve, which means a lot of things are shut. But happily the supermarket was open, and had lunch. I got on the road shortly about 915 which is pretty prompt in comparison with some recent mornings.
The first problem was that the route went over the river without using a bridge. There was no wharf there, so it's not a ferry route either. (See the photo below!) The road bridge was 250m away so I suppose this makes it a warmup exercise.
After that Komoot led me through a nice little park, threaded me through some trees, instructed me to turn onto the main road and announced "stay on this road for 60 kilometers" and left me to it.
So let's talk about state road traffic on Midsommar's Eve. It is pretty light, with quite a lot of caravans and campervans. There were almost no trucks, happily. So it was a pretty low stress ride for the most part.
One downside of it being so remote is that there's no good places to stop for lunch. I had a boxed salad with me, and cycled for about an hour looking for a lookout or rest spot or even just a bench, but there was nothing. (Actual cafes are rare, and closed today.) I gave up and ate on the side of the road.
From left to right: the non-museli part of the breakfast buffet; check out all the dairy options. Komoot’s recommendation for how to get across the river. And the actual departure point. Park on the way out of town. The road.
The weather forecast looked good. Lycksele forecast was for sun all day; Komoot's forecast for my route was "17% chance of rain". This turned out to be dangerously wrong... but it started well, the morning was bright and sunny. Shortly after lunch there was a bit of drizzle: but with that weather forecast, I figured I didn't need my raincoat just yet. My route turned from North to East in a few kilometers; maybe I'd escape the raincloud?
After a while the road surface abruptly went from dry to wet - it was so sharp I briefly wondered if there was a puddle ahead which was causing it, it seemed unlikely that it was rain. But I figured it out, took the hint and stopped at the first possible place to put my rain gear on. The first available stopping place was a few minutes down the road - during this time it started to properly rain.
And the rain continued for a few hours. The road had puddles of standing water; they accumulate in the worn places which means the tyre tracks. So I could choose which side of the righthand tyre track to ride on: left means I'm in the middle of the lane, right in front of cars approaching from behind, for better or worse. On the right means on the white line at the edge of the road, which is narrow, with a deep tyre-track puddle on one side and often with gravel on the other.
Neither option is good; so I tended to switch between them, using the road edge if it looked trustworthy or if a car was coming.
From left to right: putting on the rain gear, but not excited about it. I stopped under a railway bridge for a snack and got a photo. Unusual bridge on the entry to Skellefteå. These houses looked like a tourist attraction - but they’re actually in use…?
Cycling in the rain on a main road isn't a whole lot of fun, so I just focused on making the distance.
After about an hour I turned off the state road to go to Skellefteå. The road passed through a few small towns - maybe a cafe would be open? Just about nothing was open, so I didn't stop.
My cellphone is difficult to use in the rain, it's best to be under shelter. Unfortunately there is almost no shelter out here too: there's few trees next to the road, for sensible reasons. I wasn't interested in hiding in someone's carport. Or taking a side road in the hopes that it'd pass next to a tall sheltering tree. So I kept going.
I was also a bit worried about picking up a cold. I've got nearly two weeks left, it's not long but there's not really time in the schedule for being sick! I figured stopping and getting cold was risky, so I pressed on.
It won't be a surprise but I ended up getting to Skellefteå early! Tomorrow is a rest day. I really hope the weather is fine for the final section, these rainy days are not much fun.
What I’m listening to: Can’t Say Goodbye to Yesterday / Carla White: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-SRvG6NAFY
