Doubilet-Benson Europe Bike Trip 2011: Cycling With a Guide

When we first conceived of this bike trip from London to St. Petersburg almost a year ago, we were warned by many people (including a number of Russians) not to cycle in Russia. Even though the Russian part of the 2000-mile trip is only ~100 miles long – from the Russian-Estonian border to St. Petersburg – we were told that Russia is a lawless land, and that we would have to deal with pickpockets, thieves, kidnappers, and corrupt cops trying to shake us down. We considered our options, including: (i) ignoring the warnings and biking to St. P; or (ii) taking the warnings seriously and ending our trip in Tallinn, Estonia. In the end, we chose a middle ground: we got the name of an Estonian bike tour guide who has guided trips from Tallinn to St. P, and made arrangements with him to guide us on that part of our trip (the last 5 days of our ride).

After months of email communication, we met our guide, Toomas Levov, a 36-year-old triathlete and owner of a bike rental and tour business in Tallinn, when we arrived in Tallinn on Sunday. After a rest day on Monday, Toomas picked us up at our hotel this morning (Tuesday) and we set out with him. A side benefit of riding with him, besides having him help us navigate the perils of Russia when we get there on Thursday, is that we learn a lot about Estonia from him. For example, he told us that Estonian and Finnish are quite similar, though words often have subtly different meanings in the two languages (e.g., the word for "marriage" in Estonian means "trouble" in Finnish). We also heard about his experiences until age 15 under Soviet rule, a period from which he has several recollections about availability of food items: a special day was the rare day when bananas were available; you had to have "connections" to buy oranges; when you went to the food store to buy cheese, you simply asked for "cheese" because there was only one variety (as opposed to now, when our visit to a Tallinn supermarket revealed a 30-foot-long display of dozens of types of cheese).

Our destination today is a marvelous hotel in Lahemaa National Park in Estonia. The hotel is on the grounds of an estate that is beautifully preserved, with ponds, manicured lawns, and an outdoor stage where a 60's-era rock concert is being held tonight. The songs (e.g., Catch the Wind, Sloop John B, You Really Got Me, End of the World) are all sung translated from English to Estonian.