The Cyclist Traveled 100 Kilometers to Participate in the Partisan March

And 100 more to go home.

Aliaksandr Rybka lives in Slutsk. To take part in Sunday's "Partisan March" in Minsk, he covered about 200 km by bicycle: left at 9.30 am, returned after midnight, tut.by writes.

Aliaksandr is 41 years old; he is an accountant by profession.

"This is my fifth trip from Slutsk to Minsk by bike, but the first one with the way back and forth on the same day," the man says. "I used to get there by minibus. The idea to choose a bike came out of love for such riding; it is also more convenient to catch up with the column on the march."

Aliaksandr has had a bicycle for about six years, but the accountant became interested in long-distance trips only this year:

- In spring and summer, when daylight and weather allowed, I drove about 60 km every day, with the obligatory stretching after the distance to recover.

He had to take a forced break in training, he clarifies, from August 10 to September 6. According to the cyclist, on August 10, he was detained with the use of force on Freedom Square in Minsk. From the Central ROVD, he ended up in the detention in Zhodzina.

- I was released three days later, and I got out neither convicted nor documented in any way. I am talking about this because I was again detained a week later and did not go anywhere in the database. That second detention was on August 20, near the MAZ entrance: for participation in the rally to call for a strike, he was convicted under the "classic" article 23.34, and the sentence was 20 basic amounts.

After the first arrest, Aliaksandr says, he had to seek medical help: pain in his left side bothered him for another month. At the same time, his bicycle also disappeared - it was only possible to return it on September 6:

- I already started looking for it via the Internet, but it turned out that it was in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, - says Aliaksandr.

The trip to the "Partisan March" from Slutsk to Minsk on October 18 was not easy, but it was even more difficult to return:

- Because I had to go home in the dark, plus the headwind, rain. I felt that there was increased pressure, as this is still a stressful distance for me. The body received such a load for the first time.

Back in Slutsk, Aliaksandr recorded a short video message: he dedicated his 200 km on a bicycle to political prisoners and those detained for participating in protests. And the next day, he already did a recovery training:

- I drove 20-30 km, and I feel good.