Rollin' to Croatia on a bike

Summary

jeanraphael — Sat, 10 Oct 2015 02:43:00 GMT

Bike Trail: 1000km, 10 days, 7 nights camping, highest point= 2434 m, average km per day= 100km, 2 t-shirts, 1 pair of socks, 2 legs, 0 major problems.

To illustrate the end story. Here you can trace the last part of my travel (if you read the story at chapter 9). ;)

Photos: Summary

jeanraphael — Sat, 10 Oct 2015 02:37:00 GMT

9) Dubrovnik

jeanraphael — Sat, 10 Oct 2015 02:18:00 GMT

22.8.15, Dubrovnik… Despite some last minute stressful situations, I made it on time with my bike in one piece. Last post, last story, so here is one misadventure I remember well.

Hvar city, 2 days before :

It is said that travelling from one island to the other is very easy in Croatia. This is true… When you don’t have a bike.

Going south from the city of Hvar using the means of transportation available (Catamarans, buses and ferries) is another story.

I was just arrived in Hvar, probably where tourism mass industry is the most present in Croatia, that I had the urge to leave immediately. The constant agitation and excitment typical of places that attract many people lead by the « sea, sex and sun » slogan, came to me like a punch in the face. The slow rythm, wild and unexpected week I was coming from was strongly degrading my perceptions of such a modern mess.

Anyway, it is very easy and cheap to put a bike on ferries so I was confident that I could leave by the afternoon to arrive in Korcula. Where I had planned to bike one last time through this doubtlessly beautiful island before taking a boat to Dubrovnik. Well, in the end and like most of this travel, it didn’t happen according to the plan.

Firstly, the only ferries leaving the island were 40 and 70km away, behind the mountains I had just drove down and they only go to the continent. Fortunately there are many Catamarans that connect Hvar with the surrounding islands, among which 2 were going each day to Korcula. So I waited the first boat. And found out the key words of industrialisation… time-optimisation. Once arrived, the passengers would rush off the boat chaoticly carrying their unhandy baggage while the other would wait their turn to rush on the boat. Good luck if, like me, you want to kindly ask the captain if it is ok to let you get on his boat with a loaded bike (even though I found out later that there is plenty of space on it !). But I insisted, nicely, waited a bit to match a moment of short break… Nope. They would just ignore me and say « no » without even looking me in the eyes.

Then I noticed the sign saying NO BIKE ALLOWED.

Shit.

I had 4 hours to think of a strategy. The key here is to think of the situation as a game in which all rules are permitted and where the limits are your own mindset. For example, I could have got on the boat with my bike ignoring the warning of the crew and at some point they would have been fed up to argue in vain and probably would have made an exception. Or threw my bike in the sea.

Since I had no intention of arguing or losing my bike, I decided to unbuilt the wheels, wrap the whole in opac garbage bags and, in case they ask, pretend it is a television with its round rubber table… And hope that would not be the same crew. I would hence have to load my stuff in 2 times.

Loaded like a donkey, I queued up the line with this annoying pressure in the stomach. Two wheels in one hand, showing my ticket with the other while hiding the wheels from the eyes of the controller… a couple of seconds later I was on board ! No time for satisfaction, the core part was still waiting on the wharf and the last passenger got on the boat. After kindly asking the crew to wait for a sec to let me pick up a last « bag », running back with a half-bike and smiling to their surprised looked. I had win the game !

End of the story

The rest went pretty smoothly… I took a bus from Korcula to Dubrovnik and arrived at the appartment we had rented for the next 4 days. Here again the tourism mass industry is very present but I have been able to enjoy it being with friends and having a stable place to stay.

How not to want to dive?

My favourite picture of Dubrovnik (behind is Lokrum island).

Bloody tourists! :P

Doubtlessly a first class world wonder...

Sunset from the mount behind Dubrovnik.

With all the gangsta crew!

Trouvez charlie!

Arrivederci, Aurevoir, Goodbye, Aufwiedersehen...

8) Beautiful Croatia

jeanraphael — Mon, 28 Sep 2015 23:21:00 GMT

Doberdan (Hello)!

Here I am going to share some typical and diverse scenery of this wild country.

The city of Hvar hidden behind this mount.

A banal coastal beach on Hvar island.

A deserted village still on Hvar Island.

A beach but also the room, living room and the kitchen for the next 12 hours.

Wanna sit?

See you in Dubrovnik!

7) Departure N°2

jeanraphael — Mon, 28 Sep 2015 22:18:00 GMT

Lienz, Austria, 1000 km, day 11, the half of the trip, new beginning.

For a matter of circumstances Max returned home yesterday. I am therefore unexpectedly confronted to face the road on my own and having to put up with my mood changing... "Shit, I'll have to speak german!" is one of the thought I am having (I discovered I didn't like to speak german).

This reverse of situation reminded me that we always have the choice to do the best of what happens to us. Let's see the bright side of it: It is a whole new adventure that starts and it opens the way to several directions and creativity. After 2 more days alone on the road, not seeing the point of it anymore, I decided to take a break to make my mind clear and rest. I then stopped 2 days at a comfortable austrian touristic lake (Klopeinersee).

The next drew itself as followed:

1) Continue biking until the destination without changing plans, which means 100km/day not knowing the topography of the road, dealing with a whole new culture with one more language barrier (slovenian and croatian), following national roads from Maribor to Dubrovnik (which are not bike friendly) and not having the time to really meet people.

2) Bike 2 more days until Maribor and think again.

3) Take a train directly to the coast and just chill for the remaining 10 days before to meet my friends in Dubrovnik.

Los!

Leaving Austria at 10am I'll be in Plitvice National Park by the end of the day. Sometimes all it takes is a bit of action to confirm your are on the right trail. A couple of chat with travelers, hop on a bus in Zagreb, more chats, advices, hop off at destination. DONE. Let's follow the flow from now on...

Which brought me a travel partner the day after. Luckily our respective plans allow us to follow the same road for the next 7 days. Plitvice lakes-music festival-Sibenik-Split-Makarska-Hvar... A lot of new people along the road, a lot of fun.

Plitvice lake (no filter)

On the road to the coast..

...bike on the roof.

6) …and downs

jeanraphael — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 00:16:00 GMT

"Remember where you come from but don't forget where you are heading" said once a very famous swiss biker autoproclaimed philosoph.

Indeed, the Alps are now behind us. It's a relief to be that close to the Austrian boundary as it forecast a much more flat and predictable landscape! Youhou, no more unexpected surprise such as 16% steep slopes at 4pm... But fortunately, and as the picture illustrates it, after each rising slope there is a descent! We had plenty of opportunities to be taught with that lesson.

And during the hard times, singing "Get up to get down" (see youtube link) helped release the tension.

I strongly recommend anyone who would like to experience wild Switzerland to go bicycle (VTT) or trekking in the canton of Grisons. It is where the wider national park are located and therefore contains a great wildlife diversity. At some places, the wides and wild views away from the noise of civilisation might even transport your imagination to another country such as Canada.

Here: an example of the surprising wildlife (to handle at your own risks!)

The everyday routine... Building and folding the camp.

-Here it is! We finally found it!!!!

-But what?

-The mountain we were all drawing at drawing classes being kids of course... With its very typical triangular mountain shape!

-And it can be found just here in Austria...

Austria... What a wonderfully boring country (sorry for the spontaneity)!

Despite some extremely cute landscape like this one (see above) and the exemplar cleanliness of villages I couldn't say we had a lot of fun in this country. This picture resume pretty much everything we could see from Austria (apart from the maize fields of course). Churches, fields, mountains, fields, villages after villages, and more fields. It is definetely an agricultural country for farm lovers... I am unfortunately not one of them. I much more prefer to....

SEARCH FOR THE MOST INNOVATIVE SWAG!

A+

5) Ups…

jeanraphael — Sat, 12 Sep 2015 20:15:00 GMT

We did it... It's day n°3 and we Fu'kapass! The first pass of a serie of 3. Oberalpass and Albulapass were still to come.

While most people reach the top riding motorbikes, it was also common to meet cyclists on our way up. I'm having trouble to remember my thoughts on that day but I do remember it was the most exhausting step of the trip ----> 16km, 1070m of denivellation and 6.7 % constant steepness.

The trick there is to go at a very slow but constant speed (don't need to rush, you're gonna get there sooner or later), regularly stop to drink water, sometimes eat an energy bar and keeping a good mood.

I guaranty you it is quite impressive to see something like that when you are already sweating and you know it's what you are going to come accross before to finally have lunch (it was 1pm already, we had breakfast at 9am). I heard somewhere that strong sun exposition while over exercising could lead to hallucinations... True or false? (to be continued...)

A beautiful tunnel digged in the mountain on the way up...

When it's too much... It's just too much.

O_O'

4) The D-day(s)

jeanraphael — Sat, 5 Sep 2015 20:09:00 GMT

Prelude: I first wanted to write this journal day by day all along the trip. Then I thought that every 3 days would be a better frequency. Or even once a week.

Finally I had absolutely no opportunity to update the website, lacking computers and time... But especially computers. I didn't find a single internet café in Switzerland, nor in Austria and not even in Croatia. Bad luck? I don't think so. At the wifi era, having his own Laptop has become so obvious that it seems internet café have all shut down. But willing to complete this blog, I am going to memorise as much as I can the points I'd like to share with you.

1st August: A national day for Switzerland, commemorating the unification pact of 1291 between the cantons... 724 years later on this exact same date, two young men rediscover this folkloric event from a two-wheels perspective. Villages after villages (not daring to use the word "cities" here), we observe the traditionnal costumes, smell the grilled sausage and melted cheese, listen to the cor des Alps music... and of course keep pedalling towards our destination: Sion (100-ish km away from Morges).

While passing through those places in celebration, despite not being able to find any sort of identification in this national event, I enjoy being in this dynamic environment. I see it as a funny mix between local conventionnal swiss probably not speaking more than 2 words of english and tourist from all around the world wondering what real swiss cheese tastes like.

The week before, after the training that ended up as a survivor's challenge in wet and cold, I went shopping for some proper wetsuit... A chance because we didn't have to wait long for the rain...

Well... Here was the first step to a whole bunch of SWAG attempts. A big thanks to Coop for being a reliable source of waterproof plastic bags along the way!

To avoid an indigestions of sandwiches, we balanced the lunch sandwich-menu with a warm meal each evening. This is what a classic meal looked like... Pasta, cheese and pesto sauce.

Everyday's MENU:

Morning breakfast (6 am): Whole Müesli + slices of banana + grapes + fruit juice (no milk as it is more complicated to conserve without a fridge and it's also harder to digest) = Full power for the day

Snack break (9.30 am): Energy bars (farmers, balisto)

Lunch (1 pm): Homemade sandwiches for example... Bursins cheese + slice of cucumber + Tuna + slice of tomato = Yum yum

Evening (7.30 pm): Hot meals + beer (s) = ZZZzzzzzzz.......

Photos: Dubrovnik

jeanraphael — Thu, 3 Sep 2015 05:31:00 GMT

Photos: The coast of Croatia

jeanraphael — Thu, 3 Sep 2015 05:22:00 GMT

Photos: To bike or not to bike?

jeanraphael — Thu, 3 Sep 2015 05:11:00 GMT

Photos: Der Graubünden Radweg

jeanraphael — Thu, 3 Sep 2015 04:22:00 GMT

Photos: The first days (CH)

jeanraphael — Thu, 3 Sep 2015 04:00:00 GMT

3) The final countdown

jeanraphael — Sat, 25 Jul 2015 06:05:00 GMT

Day-7: This is a period of excitement and slight apprehension... Doubts are present. Doubts on my physical strength and endurance, doubts on the amount of time we have, doubts on the itinerary (where the hell can we find maps of cycling routes for Croatia and Slovenia!?), doubts on my friend's physical strength and organisation, doubts on our friend dynamic and capacity to get along and meet people. DOUBTS.

We are leaving Morges in 1 week but I have already exposed all the equipment on the best spot I could find... My Bed! As a result, I am sleeping in another room.

Here are a couple of inspiring books that gave me company during the last couple of months. Nelson Mandela, Sarah Marquis, Claude Marthaller, Nick Vujicic...

Trying some artistic shot on a quick stop on the way back from our first test expedition in tandem and with full load. After 2 months of caniculair weather, it suddenly (and fortunately in some way) decided to turn its back against us for this ride... from a usual 32°C we got 15°C down to 9°C at night, strong rain and wind on the way up and rain again for the tent building (in the dark). What a great way to make me notice that my waterproof bags were not waterproof. D-5.

2) Some training...

jeanraphael — Sat, 25 Jul 2015 05:28:00 GMT

Here I am going to post the itinerary of each training course I have done (with a very brief description). Started more or less 1 month prior departure, I did one "long" ride each week in addition with daily short rides home-work and work-home, which account for 30 min per day for 2 months.

To note that this summer is particularly hot with an average of 32 degree in July, sometimes reaching 37 and even 39 degrees.

Geneva-Pampigny (60 km, achieved in 4h15): comfortable morning ride with low denivellation

Yverdon-Neuchâtel (40 km, achieved in 2h30): first training... first painful but.

Geneva-Sillingy (45 km, achieved in 3h30): Exhausting due to heat (33 deg) and high denivellation. Sweat in the eyes ... Worst thing ever...

Préverenges-Les Bouix : 40 km, 1 col (1180m), achieved in 3h: Rain, wind, cold weather... Found out my bag was not completely waterproof. A test from the beginning until the end!

1) Hell yeah!

jeanraphael — Sat, 25 Jul 2015 03:59:00 GMT

Hi!

My name is Jean-Raphael. I am 23 years old. I am 190cm tall and weigh 85kg. I am swiss.

It all began on a cold day of January...

January 2015: A friend and I, fond of outdoor sports, were having a banal conversation about summer holiday when one of us had this brilliant idea...

"Hey Chef! Why don't we go to Montenegro by bike this summer?!" =D

Such an enthusiastic suggestion could only result in a likewise enthusiastic answer...

"Hell yeah Chef, let's do that!"

At this point, the plan was clear:

Buy a bike, a camping tent and all sort of essential equipment for adventure.
Get trained (since I haven't ever really bicycled).
Find a more or less precise itinerary, a date of departure and a flight on the way back.

...after some talking and rethinking, we decided to target Dubrovnik (Croatia) instead of Montenegro. The amount of time we had being to short (23 days) for unexperienced adventurer like us. Moreover, we want to prioritise the travel experience more than the sportive performance.

And to be honnest, at the time I am writing this, I still wonder whether or not we are underestimating the task...

Well, we are currently waiting for the departure date: 3th August 2015. And of course in the training process.

See you soon!

8th July 2015

New departure date: 1st August 2015

Expected arrival date: 23rd August 2015

Photos: Pre-departure

jeanraphael — Thu, 9 Jul 2015 23:33:00 GMT

The preparation phases.