Posts from — April 2008

today’s distance: 111km
total distance: 2134km
riding time: 7h

What a long day … it was a good start I thought until I realized that the grumbling in the distance was not from any trucks but that there was a thunderstorm rolling in. Just managed to break the tent down and head out before things came down. On the road for about 15 minutes, the road became moist and while the t-storm was only behind me at one point, it all of a sudden seemed all around me. I was heading into some dramatic scenery. The mountains were becoming higher, the grades steeper. The added effect of the weather played a part as well for sure. Soon enough I was in the middle of hard rain, having to make a considerable detour because of some road closure. 25km worth of a detour. What was supposed to be a 12km ride ended up being a bit longer with a lot more ridges to climb over. I stopped a couple of times to find some cover. The second time was close to someone’s house. The guy wouldn’t even say hello, just ignored me. Can’t say that I was particularly unfriendly or anything … even my attempt at getting some water from him failed. He clearly understood me, but just turned around. A bit frustrating. Once the rain tapered off a bit I went on to Netkovic, the border town on the Croatian side.

Road conditions were … not so good. The road was not designed to handle heavy traffic and certainly not the amount it had to handle. Starting out fine, the uphill was partially devoid of any solid surface only to become worse before it joined the main road again.

I have to get this off my chest - Croatian driving is quite possibly the most insane driving I have seen yet. Cars go at breakneck speed around corners, keep no distance whatsoever … the image that I have is that of a person on a cell phone or talking to the person next to him/her (or both), smoking a cigarette and doing a range of other things … while driving. There is also a specific order in which these things are done:

1. Talk to the person next to you or on the phone.
2. Pull out of your lane to overtake the already speeding car in front of you. Without checking at all whether there is anyone coming at you.
3. Keep doing what you were doing, smoke, talk, speak on the phone, grab a magazine, etc.
4a. If you’re seeing a car, hit the accelarator harder and pray that you will make it.
4b. If you see a biker, don’t do anything, trust he will realize that in case of a crash, he will loose and don’t mind him. 
5. If someone lets you know that you’re off your rocker, yell at him, threaten him with the family.

Truck drivers are an entirely different matter - keep on doing 1-3 and don’t worry about 4-5. You are invincible. Or maybe not.

Passing the unremarkable border with now lower windows, having to duck to see the chest of a big border guard, the driving on the other side eased right away. More distance, less speed and more regard for human beings in general seemed to be the order of the road. And just to prove the point, those cars and trucks passing more closely mostly had Croatian license plates (the underlying assumption is of course that a Croatian license plate represents a Croatian driver as well, a contestable assumption for sure and I’m also aware of the ethnic issues prevailing in this part of the world, see this picture for example).

I tried putting the distance to Mostar behind me. On the way I had seen a number of shelled houses as well as pockmarked hosues. Definitely a former war area. And if anything, Mostar goes to show this. Bombed out houses line the streets. The center is rebuilt, but very close to the tourist places, things aren’t so pretty. It will take time - the bridge that everyone gawks at was a quick project, though by no means the only way to cross the river.

Found a place after all couchsurfing options failed. The owner is a former soldier and has issues walking because he was shot in the leg by a sniper. He also has strong sentiments about politics … interesting to say the least. I will stay for one day of rest and then move on to Dubrovnik.

today’s distance: 112km
total distance: 2023km
riding time: 6-7h

Waking up to a crowd of cleaning ladies who were busy smoking, answering cell phones and drinking coffee (loudly) is why I’m not a fan of hostels any longer. Or maybe it was just this hostel. Left the place and checked out Split. After a slight detour I arrived in this ancient city with the Palace of Diocletian as the centerpiece. It has flair I must say and provided for nice strolls in the alleys and alongside the massive stone walls.

 Once I saw the Nike Kids store though I felt I needed to leave. Corporate what - Croatia I guess - had taken over. For some reason I was reluctant to get on the road and the start was a slow one. Dodging heavy city traffic I tried to make some progress towards calmer roads - had lunch in Baska Voda, dangling my feet in the clear turquoise water.

Back on the bike was a bit of a struggle again, the area undulating and sometimes hilly without any flat stretches to speak of. Guess just one of these days. Maybe I need another rest day … guess what? Rest will come after tomorrow. Moved on to Makarska and found out that the website is back up and running again. A big thank you to Simon for setting things straight again. Couldn’t have done it without him. There will be the odds and ends most likely, but it’s looking pretty again. My apologies to everyone for the downtime.

I tried to do some more mileage towards the end of the day and ended up feasting on a concoction of pasta, green pesto, fried slices of zucchini and carrots. It was great … for me at least. Topped things off with a honey laced yoghurt. The silver moon is shining through the branches of the olive tree that I am sitting under … couldn’t wish for anything else.
ed on bulk cranberries, dried banana chips and pistacchios. Life was good. Sooner than I thought I arrived in Trogir after receving an amazed but inspiring look from an old man who just raised his arms and smiled at me, a small picturesque little town surrounded by water and walls. Finally got a hold of an internet connection and found out that none of the couchsurfing people in Split could host me. Too bad. Cycled on, trying to find a good spot or campsite, but soon enought I was in urban territoriy. Not a good place to camp out. Two choices - go past Split and find a place. Not a real option since it was getting dark. Took option two - whipped out the Lonely Planet and found a nice hotel.

Am still not sure I’m German … couldn’t find anything to complain about. Have been ranting for too long. 

today’s distance: 130km
total distance: 1912km
riding time: 7-8h

(imagine a stoic and robotic voice, sort of like Marvin from the Hitchhiker’s Guide …) I am German - need to complain. I am German - need to find something to complain about. Cannot be German, cannot find anything to complain about. Alright, Markus has gone over the top, he’s gone nuts and the bike trip wasn’t a good idea to begin with I hear you say.

Seriously though, the day was glorious. Waking up amidst all the olive trees I saw some water drops on my tent - when I turned in it rained pretty hard and must have continued for part of the night. Didn’t notice it much though. Coming out of the tent, the sun was out, no cloud to be seen, the sea in the bay underneath me calm and quiet. What a good day it would be I thought. Then the wind forecast - I had biked quite a bit to cover as much mileage as possible towards Split because the wind was predicted to come straight from the southeast. Wrong. Dead wrong. It came straight from the northwest. It was heaven. Not strong at first, it picked up quite a bit during the day. So I coasted along trying to figure out whether to go all the way to Slpit when I realized a biker coming up behind me. Turned out to be Marko who was thinking: “Maybe it’s that crazy guy I have read about in the paper.” Turned out it was that guy. Marko, a dentist from Rijeka read the article that appeared in the local newspaper and lo and behold, there I was. We had a fun ride together for the the next 10km before he had to turn around and get back for Sunday family lunch. If you ever need to get your teeth fixed, Marko is the man. He also rents out apartments, sounds like a great deal. We rode together until Sibenik, chatting about this and that. When we reached the bridge, it was the first time that the topic of the war came up during my time here - seems like it was the only important bridge that wasn’t destroyed.

 The town is great … many people who want to be seen are taking their Sunday stroll along the water promenade where I was doing an early lunch. After doing my round through town, it happened. I heard a big clonk behind me and the sandals that I had put the bungee cord through to let them dry out (mud), was gone and were stuck between the wheel and the rear rack. Bungee cord was torn in two.

Not sure how that happened. Too much tension I guess. What to do … need some kind of cord or rope. There is a ship. The Beauty of the Adriatic - hailed someone cleaning and explained what happened and asked whether they had any rope. “Sure we have rope on a ship” said the Asian crewhand and came back with a perfect piece of rope for my purposes. Thanks a bunch!!!

The remaining ride was pure joy, the scenery stunning. The turquoise waters that I had been missing out on over the last couple of days were out in full force. I visited a number of towns along the route, stopped and munched on bulk cranberries, dried banana chips and pistacchios. Life was good. Sooner than I thought I arrived in Trogir after receving an amazed but inspiring look from an old man who just raised his arms and smiled at me, a small picturesque little town surrounded by water and walls.

 Finally got a hold of an internet connection and found out that none of the couchsurfing people in Split could host me. Too bad. Cycled on, trying to find a good spot or campsite, but soon enought I was in urban territoriy. Not a good place to camp out. Two choices - go past Split and find a place. Not a real option since it was getting dark. Took option two - whipped out the Lonely Planet and found a hostel.

Am still not sure I’m German … couldn’t find anything to complain about. Have been ranting for too long. 

today’s distance: 106km
total distance: 1782km
riding time: 6-7h

Didn’t sleep too well despite a good spot and woke up exhausted. Usually a sign to rest up. When I was about to get out of my tent, the rain came down in droves. Back in my sleeping bag with my bike shorts on and out about an hour later. Rain and more rain until the town of Pag and more rain after that. Eventually it stopped and I headed to Zadar. Only 50km - not much really, but I was tired. And I felt it. The road crosses a number of ridges, it had become sunny by now, gorgeous views on the right, various shades of grey, mostly of the dark kind, on the left. Which was my general direction. The road takes the ridges in a perpendicular fashion - shortest way across, also the steepest.

It was all good until I reached Zadar when the rain hit again. I got out from a grocery store and waited … and waited … and waited. After about two hours, the sun came back so I set out south. The idea was to cover a bit of distance from Zadar. It turned out to be glorious. Big puddles of water on the street made even the otherwise rather aggressive Croatian drivers a bit more defensive when they saw me … thanks for not spraying me. But because of all the moisture in the air, the colors were especially intense.

 So I pedaled along the coastal road, stopping here and there to take in the views. The islands before the coast were an amazing backdrop. Continuing along the same road, I eventually found a nice place to camp near an olive grove and turned in.

today’s distance: 107km
total distance: 1676km
riding time: 6-7h

As a German I am supposed to like to complain. Maybe I will, noty sure yet. I had a late start into the day … I was tired from the late and long ride the day before and didn’t ultimately leave the hotel until just before 10am. The ride was undulating and the weather was OK - it didn’t rain and the wind wasn’t a factor.

I reached Senj, where everyone had told me I would find a bike store in the vain hope that I would able to replace the bike computer. No such luck. It was here where the first rain hit me. Nothing bad really. I moved on towards the ferry to the island of Pag. There was a long climb in the way - about 10km from the markers at the side of the road. It was iffy, but doable. Until the wind started its frontal assault. It was as if a bad joke started to play out. Uphill and into a pretty demanding wind. Not much fun given the open terrain. The brief breaks before left hand turns were far too few of course. Am in the complaining phase now, if you haven’t noticed. The downhill was … well, no fun either. The wind came in with such force that my downhill speed barely reached 20km/h when I pushed hard. A bit on the frustrating side. I finally arrived at what I thought was the turnoff to the ferry, only to discover that the lady in the post office was wron.g  Another 12km into the wind and by now driving rain. Oh what fun it was. Then the wind started to do strange things (reminds me of this Iceland who told me in 1999 that their volcanoes do strange things - in this cas e, erupt, melt glacial ice and flood the valley I had been riding through a couple of hours before). The top winds came from the north, bringing better weather, the ground winds still predominantly from the south and in my face. Sometimes the Bura (wind from the north) seemed to carry the day, but in the end Yugo (wind from the south) carried the day. I eventually arrived, pretty worn out … only to barely make the ferry. They lifted the gates right behind me.

The downhill to the ferry terminal was great - but there was another hill waiting on the island. Barren and desolate on the eastern side, I climbed up for the first 5km.

Then I met Zoran, a sheep farmer. I had seen this fantastic area, turned around to take s ome pics and he approached me and with his limted German we struck up a conversation. He filled me in on the winds in the area, told me distances and gave me a rangfe of other good advice.

 The wather had turned nice by now, the wind still coming into my face. But somehow it didn’t matter after meeting Zoran. Moving on, I found a nice spot to pitch the tent, cooked up some pasta and will happily fall asleep soon.

So, here is my two cents on wind and rain.

1. Wind in your face: not a fun thing to duke it out with, but you somehow manage, become stoic, think of nice things in life and somehow arrive - and you curse a bit.
Note also that wind from the front is always demanding, harsh, tough, strong, ferocious, crazy, forbidding, howling, in your face, exhausting or atrocious and that tailwinds are usually gentle, kind or nudging you along.
2. Rain: not as bad as 1. Unless it is coming down in sheets and completely soaks you, see last post.
3. 1+2 combined = no fun at all. Sort of like your worst nightmare. Pinpricks hitting your face, wetness taking a hold of everything that you wear, demoralizing you.

But it’s still a great feeling at the end of the day when you sit in your tent with a pot of pasta and cake from Marko’s mother and having had a good conversation with someone like Zoiran. Wouldn’t trade this day!!!