Offseason observations and held hostage by the Bura

Dear friends and family,

I am holed up in my Botel, a ship built in 1936, tied up directly in the center of the city and used as a hotel. The wind is howling again, as a bura wind, when it gets roaring it takes a couple of days to settle down, 

It’s 32 degrees F, (zero Celsius)as well and there is snow less than 1000 feet above the city. And my route south takes me up over 2500 feet.

I thought I would talk about how I plan logistics in this off-season journey of mine:

The clock is ticking. I have only 20 days remaining to be in the Shengen zone, of which Croatia is my last stop. I’ve got about 250 miles to ride to get there, but I want to stop and visit these little seaside towns and the bigger cities of Split and Dubrovnik as well, so have to allow tourist time.

I thought I would leave today, but was warned by several people not to challenge these Bora (bura is Croatia name) winds on a bike as I could get blown off the road, and these warnings come from experienced Croatian cyclists! And I found out this morning at breakfast the roads have been closed due to bura wind, wow!

So, now I have distances per day to compute, staying out of the wind and deciding which route to take. I woke up this morning thinking I was so smart to decide to take the coast road instead of the inland road that all the prescribed bike routes suggest. It will be significantly less hilly (snowy?) and even less miles to ride. I wanted to test my idea against experienced riders so I went on Warmshowers app and found a cyclist who lives here in Croatia during the summer only. He responded by letting me know that the coast highway is only busy in the summer and he actually suggests it during the winter. Check that box.

Just to make sure, I walked a long way to a bike shop to ask there as well. Usually shop people are riders and I suspect they would have ridden these roads around here. I was right about the experienced rider and the woman at the shop not only seconded the idea, she went online with me to help me map it out and make specific suggestions. Hooray, one idea set!

Now I need to break the trip up into rideable sections with a place to stay at the end of each section. Most hotels along this section of the coast are closed for the season and restaurants as well. I am finding apartments  for overnight rentals, but need food. So I loaded up with travel food today at the grocery store, so I won’t starve. I hate to carry the extra weight, but would hate even more going to bed hungry after a five hour ride with another equal ride the next day. 

I’ve got a spreadsheet to plan my distances and so far it looks like I can make the days distance I need to get to adequate lodging and could all be within my Shengen timing (90 days in this group of countries only before I have to leave then for another 90)

The prior month I have ridden a day and then take a day off for wondering around the town I’m in. That will have to change and I’ll have to ride day after day for a bit. I should be fit enough for it, even in the icy cold temperatures. It’s only about five hours per day, but even dressed well, I and still happy to be in a warm room afterwards.

I haven’t met another bike tourer for over a month. The locals, even the bike riders, think I am crazy for touring this time of year. In fact, the front desk guy at the hotel told me not to climb the hill to the castle in town as the cold freezing weather could damage my lungs. And it’s 32 degrees F, so we live in a different reality. You northern readers be aware not to gout out in temps that low!?

I like the low traffic and lack of busyness. It is a big challenge to find places open, but so far it has JUST worked out. I have had dozens of meals where I am the only customer in the restaurant. Feels weird, but I enjoy the conversations with the employees since they have no one else to look after. For instance, no buffet breakfast today, just the cook asking what I would like and then making it for me. Feels special.

The cold until today has been fine for biking, it’s just this big wind and cold together that make this so uncomfortable. If it is about 35 F and I am dressed right and pedaling, I am quite comfortable. 

Every town has loads of sidewalk cafes and it would be fun to sit outside and have a coffee often, but the trade-off for the seasonal crowds might not make it worth it. 

The last ride on the Istra Peninsula to get back to this mainland was a challenge. It started with an 850 foot climb from the sea to the mountain behind on a 12% grade climb. Gregg, who I rode across the USA with two years ago always says “there’s no shame in pushing your bike up a hill”, so I did, but when I found the backside descent of up to 18% grade on loose gravel I had to walk the bike down while holding on to the brake to keep the bike from getting away from me. Maybe “there’s no shame in walking it down either”.

After two of those climbs and one steep descent, the remainder of the ride was mostly a long descent through tiny fortress towns perched on the side of the mountain above the sea. I enjoyed the latter part immensely, but after six and a half hours, was getting cold, hungry and very tired. Luckily my Botel was impossible to miss, so not the same situation as an earlier ride trying to find the lodging. I rode the last few miles on a bike trail between still standing but “abandoned” train rails, following the arrow in the right direction. Once I get off the highway and onto a bike trail I typically relax my vigilance and just cruise. As I exited this “abandoned” track, I looked behind and saw a freight train cruising past on the track I rode between. Guess the “abandon” was wrong. 

I just got back from a history museum in the old, elegant governor’s palace. It was mostly devoted to the fighting in Croatia in the early 1990’s for their separation from Yugoslavia. Such a big conflict and so recent, exemplified by the high definition movies documenting it. Most of the exhibit was in Croatian, so hard to follow, but enough was in English to understand the basic situation. This city of Rijeka absorbed 40.000 refugees from the interior where the fighting was intense and most have stayed and live here now, seriously increasing the population. 

Assuming the wind lets up and I can figure out my navigation, I’ll be off to the south towards the south tomorrow. 

Sending love,

Charley