The Wobblin' Sprocket

For those considering this tour, the distances are not long in comparison to the other tours, but there are three pretty steep climbs. The first is on the way to Motovun the first day. It’s optional so not a big deal. There is a “low road” that eliminates it completely. The second is the back way out of Motovun. There is a main road option to this also which doesn’t eliminate climbing but it is not nearly as steep and it is also more direct. The last is on the second to last day of riding on the way to Brod na Kupi. There is no avoiding this one unless you take a lift in the van which is perfectly fine.

What do I mean by steep? Sections that are 15% and up would qualify. These don’t have to be too long to be challenging.

Here is Divaca to Motovun. Towards the end we turn off the main road and there is an optional “high road” (where the arrow is below). It’s pretty steep. Janice said a few sections were at least 18%. If you don’t have some gears, it can be tough to get up.

In the case Motovun to Rabac, there is an immediate descent from town but that is followed by a climb. There are several points where you think you are at the top only to go around a bend and find yet more climbing. This happens more than once and that can be tough on the head.

This is the last big climbing day to Brod na Kupi. All the other big climbs can be avoided by cycling another route. For this one, the only way to avoid it is with a van ride (which is perfectly fine!). The chart is a little deceptive as the scale is much different. This is the hardest climb.

Perhaps some of the participants will comment. In a way, I’m a lousy judge since I like challenging rides.

….cooling my jets in the LJU airport. There is free wireless internet here!!! Leave it to the Slovenians to do a step better than almost ALL other airports in the world! Smart!

I think I’m looking forward to the next tour in Croatia already. It would also be a good place for a longer “tour of the Adriatic”. I might work on that.

There was yet another Rick Steves tour group starting out in LJU when we got back. Everyone is from the US…..about 15 people. I don’t think there were too many cycling prospects among them. They do a 14 day tour.

When we got to Novo Mesto yesterday there was a festival going on…a week long affair to celebrate their wines. Lots of accordian playing and food and wine and beer. Anyway a local cyclist, Igor, introduced himself and bought a bottle of wine for us to sample. He lived about 20k from Novo Mesto.

We told Igor what we were doing and I gave him my card. He looks at it and says, “oh yeah, I know Far and Away Cycling”. Huh? You have to be kidding!!! Turns out he has been interested in touring Laos solo and found the website and knew about Far and Away Cycling that way. I was a little dumbfounded by the whole thing.

Gotta go…my flight is boarding…looks like it is empty!

Bob

Barb hooked up with her relative and everyone save Carl took a nice ride to Novo Mesto and then trained back to LJU. Carl left this morning for a flight from Zagreb. He has a week in the US and then returns to europe for a week of cycling in the Pyrenees.

Tomorrow I catch a flight back to the US . Janice, Bob, Barb and Allen are cycling to Lake Bled.

It was fun

This is it, the last 87k.

It is Bob Bloomfield’s birthday, so we are going to have to do something special tonite.

Right now, I am sitting on the steps of a Church about 28k from LJU starting to wonder what has happened to Barb, Bob and Janice. Allan and Carl are long gone. They could be in LJU by now. Most likely they stopped for lunch. I will wait here a while longer to see if they show and then head on in to LJU.

The start of the ride was great. Very little traffic. The last 25 miles into LJU has a lot more. Still, there are a lot of cyclists out on this road, so we are by no means alone.

Everyone has an extra day tomorrow. I think most people will go for a ride. Barb intends to attempt to locate a 70 year old relative who speaks no english. She has an address and that is about it.