This is the same video on Instagram:

Day 17: Gospic-Knin (107 km, 802 m ↑)

Yesterday, we somehow managed to leave the Sports Café in Gospic at a decent time, and this morning, we left at nine o’clock – one hour later than we normally do. There was one bakery that was open on Sundays in Gospic. So first thing we did was to make a stop there to get some croissants, a coffee, and a strudel to go. They have strudel everywhere in Slovenia and Balkan, and it’s a good energy source for during the day. Today I had apple strudel.

Our first fifty kilometres were pretty flat today. In addition, we had tailwind, and Udo started, to quote my English teacher, Mr. Mychajluk, as if he had a torpedo in his ass. So we had a very high pace to start with.

What stopped us after ten kilometres was that my rear brake did not work properly. I had already noticed that yesterday, but today I felt like I did not have any brake power at all. Actually, the brake has always been a problem with this bicycle. Now, fixing brakes isn’t something I had done before. But Udo said, we should try to fix it. We removed the brake from the frame, opened it up, and took out the brake pads. For some reason, there was no visible opening and closing movement of the pads. One cause was that the metal clip meant to keep the pads apart was bent. So, we straightened it. Another reason was that the pistons, which are supposed to push the pads together, were barely moving. So we adjusted the brake cable until the pistons started moving again. In the end, we screwed everything back together, and now my brake works better than it ever has.

There were hardly any towns or villages on the route today. Our first possible coffee break was after forty-five kilometres. Some time before, though, we passed a house with two plum-trees in the front yard which were full of plums. I got tempted to pick a few. Then the grandmother who lived there opened the window and said something in Serbo-Croatian – I don’t know what exactly, but apparently she wanted to say “go ahead and pick as many as you like.” I said “hvala, hvala” and filled my pockets with some very sweet and juicy plums.

The café we eventually reached was called “Café Rustik”, and rustic it was, but also cozy. We had two coffees each, and then came the only longer hill of today’s route. After we crossed the pass, we had a very long, almost twenty-five kilometres’ downhill stretch with a spectacular view. The remaining twenty or so kilometres to our destination, Knin, another small town, were relatively easy, just very windy at times. The house we are staying at in Knin looks shady from the outside – east-block big apartment block style – but the apartment inside is very modern and nice. We had a nice Italian dinner at restaurant La Rossa and look forward to a working day tomorrow.

Day 16: Sveti Juraj-Gospic (77 km, 1410 m ↑)

After one night in Sveti Juraj in probably the nices apartment we’ve stayed at so far, we continued this morning into the moutains. The Dinaric Alps stretch over more than 600 kilometres from Italy in the northwest through Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and Kosovo to Albania in the southeast. Our planned route for today was not too long, but it had a very challenging climb right in the beginning with 1020 metres elevation gain. As a comparison, this is almost the same as the Tour de France climb to Alpe d’Huez with 1090 metres. I still had good power from yesterday’s Cevapcici, so Udo and I mastered this challenge, surprisingly, with relative ease. We were also rewarded by amazing views, both during the ascent and at the top.

Once, we reached the top, the terrain got more wavy. It was never flat, but the most challenging part was behind us. We stopped for one coffee break right after the first descent. And then we stopped for a schnitzel and burger break twenty kilometres before Gospic.

When we arrived in Gospic, the owner of the apartment, Danko, and his wife met us. Danko did not speak much English, but he had a lot on his heart to tell us. He was retired, but used to be a music teacher in Gospic. After a quick shower, we went to the supermarket to buy some supplies for tomorrow. And we went to the sports café because it had good Google reviews. And would you believe that the waitress Antonia used to be Danko’s student? I guess Gospic is a small town really.

Day 14: Vrbovsko-Rijeka (75 km, 1520 m ↑)
Day 15: Rijeka-Sveti Juraj (75 km, 1130 m ↑)

For some reason, I forgot to write a blog entry when we came to Rijeka. So, this is a combined post for cycling days 14 and 15.

Vrbovsko was a small nest. After the nice dinner we had at Nina’s fast food place the first night, we had to go to another restaurant on Monday, because Nina’s place is closed on Mondays. This demanded cycling down into the valley and then cycling up to Vrbovsko again after dinner. The coffee supply was very good though in Vrbovsko. There were several cafés, and the price was 1,20 € per coffee.

The weather forecast for Tuesday was bad, and it was pretty accurate, too. We left at half past seven, I think, when it was still dry. But around noon, it started raining – first a little, then a more and more. The route from Vrbovsko to Rijeka was pretty mountainous, but also picturesque. If it hadn’t been for the rain, it would have been a very nice cycling day.

Shortly before we arrived in Rijeka, our friend Freek messaged and told us that he was already there. Our apartment was very spacious and modern. There was a pizza restaurant in the same building at which we enjoyed dinner the first evening. The second evening, we went to a more traditional local restaurant. And we found some nice bars as well.

Wednesday and Thursday were working days. Today, Friday, Freek returned towards Germany, and Udo and I continued along the Adriatic coast southwards. The route to Sveti Juraj, Croatian for Saint George, was very scenic. We had a climb in the beginning and then a great view over the sea and the island Krk. And the last stretch was along the coast.

In Sveti Juraj, we also rented a very nice apartment. Our host Mario offered us a beer when we arrived which we gladly accepted and enjoyed on one of the two balconies with a great view over the sea. We even managed to go swimming this afternoon.

Now, we are back at the flat and just watched Schalke win against Fürth. And tomorrow, we will continue into the mountains towards Gospic.

Video from week 3: Ljubljana-Vrbovsko

Day 13: Zagreb-Vrbovski (108 km, 1040 m ↑)

We spent an extra day in Zagreb for resting and sightseeing. It was a very nice city actually. We also had a nice apartment with a central location and a TV where we could watch Arminia and Schalke.

Then today we continued our journey through Croatia and cycled from Zagreb towards Vrbovsko. The first part out of Zagreb was not very nice – commercial areas and quite a lot of traffic. But once we got a bit further away from the city, the landscape was very scenic again with lot of hills.

This stage also had an interesting profile with a three-hundred metres’ climb at the very end. We took two coffee breaks on the way to keep the energy level high. Udo was unfortunate and had a broken spoke on his rear wheel thirty kilometres away from today’s destination. He managed to continue anyway. There is no bike shop in this small village, so most likely he will try to get to Rijeka as well and get it fixed there.

In Vrbovsko we have a nice apartment again. I was pretty hungry during the day, so I was happy that there was a grill restaurant in this village called Fast Food Nina, and Nina made pretty tasty ćevapčićis in fact.

I cycled more than one thousand kilometres now after three weeks. Progress is good, and my shape is getting better and better. Tomorrow is a work day. On Tuesday, we will continue towards Rijeka – back to the coast – where we will meet with Freek.

Video from week 2: Padua-Ljubljana

Instagram reel:

Video from week 1: Milano-Padua

Instagram Reel (same video)

Day 12: Novo Mesto-Zagreb (82 km, 300 ↑)

Quick recap from Novo Mesto: The town is pretty small and was a bit boring in the evenings. But our hostel was very nice. It had a great common area that we used for our remote work. And they had a very good kitchen where we enjoyed our lunches.

This morning, we left a nine o’clock. The roads were very good and almost flat, so we had a nice average pace today. After around fifty kilometres, we stopped for a coffee and sweets break – Udo had a banana split and I had a sour cherry strudel. With these extra calories, we managed to reach Zagreb at half past one. Here, we will stay for two nights so that we have enough time to explore the city. On Sunday, we will continue towards Vrbovsko.

Day 11: Ljubljana-Novo Mesto (71 km, 813 ↑)

In Ljubljana, we stayed for one more workday and one more night. Ljubljana was quite nice with many restaurants and bars and a nice old town.

What was not so nice was the weather forecast for today. Yr forecast a lot of rain the whole day, already in the morning, while wetter.com said it would be nice in the morning, but thunderstorms and heavy rain showers from around noon. We chose to believe wetter.com, set our alarms for six o’clock and planned to leave by seven.

The stage to Novo Mesto was not too long with 71 kilometres, but had a lot of hills. We should still manage to arrive comfortably before twelve if nothing unforeseen happened.

The unforseen did happen though when Udo had a flat tire after one hour. We had to stop to fix the tire which cost us around fifty minutes. With the bad weather forecast threatening us and the clouds moving in, we tried our best to reach Novo Mesto as quickly as we could.

Luckily, we managed to reach our hotel at quarter past twelve – dry. Shortly after though, the heavens opened and a heavy rain shower came down. We were lucky to be inside the hotel and could watch the spectacle from our table where we had a very nice lunch.

We were also happy to meet our Korean friend Jong-Won again, as well as Clara from Germany and Meret from Switzerland – all bikers with different routes and interesting stories to tell. We enjoyed some pizza and drinks and spent a lovely evening together.