Day: 19 (Stare Mesto pod Landstejnem, CZ to Sanov, CZ)
Average Speed: 15.5 (10 MPH)
Average Speed: 15.5 (10 MPH)
Distance Cycled Today: 123.1 km (76.5 Miles)
Distance Cycled Total: 1814 km (1127 Miles)
Mood: Feelin' Good!
"Can I have the United States of America please?"
That's what it must sound like every time I ask for the check at a restaurant. "Can I have the check?" is a rather colloquial phrase, so it hasn't worked its way into the English language courses over here. I only figured out today why I get such strange looks in the Czech Republic when I ask for the bill this way.
I sound like I want to take over the country.
Anyway, I've been lucking out with weather. The only times I've seen rain have been on non-cycle days. That changed last night as I hunkered down in my paper-thin tiny tent hoping that I wouldn't wake up in a puddle. The thunder and lightning were severe, and sleep was interrupted often.
The rain never really let up the whole day, but ironically it was quite welcome. I can't imagine
doing what we did today in Missouri heat/humidity.
The tent, by the way, held up just fine.
Last night at the cyclist's camp, I had a few conversations with people about the bicycle maps of the Czech Republic. They asked which maps we were using. We're not, I explained. We downloaded a Random Guy's route who electronically recorded his ride, and we're following his every step.
I said this with some sort of pride, even though it's simply a sign of unpreparedness.
Turns out there are a gazillion well-mapped out routes of varying difficulty we could've taken, and the one we're using is for insane people. The climbs in the forest along the rocky paths are laughably steep, and If I pedaled them any slower, I'd fall for sure. The descents are downright frightening at times. I can't believe I biked all of it- I'm relatively sure the past three days trumps anything I did in the U.S. as far as technical difficulty goes. At one point, there was a gathering of people for a wine tasting at the top of a descent we were about to begin. All talking stood as the watched us struggle inch by inch down and ancient stone path at a 20% grade- it was both humiliating and highly enjoyable. Somebody up there lost a bet, because we made it without being helicoptered out.
Still, we've grown strangely attached to Random Guy's route (we've named him Crazy Bill for no particular reason). He makes no sense. We easily could've crossed our way into Austria today at any point and probably could've hit Vienna tonight, but Crazy Bill lives dangerously. It's like he gets distracted looking at a cliff, then wonders if he can climb it, then gives it a go.
An unexpected and highly avoidable factor that made today much harder than it could've been was Jamie's odd choice of soundtrack, blaring from his bluetooth speaker. He chose Techno Europop for the ride. And while it certainly helped to liven up a couple of the dreary villages first thing in the morning, it's hard to focus when all you want to do is dance.
10 hours of this awful sound. I thought it was going to be a passing joke in the morning, but no. This was my day.
The thing about hard days- they always come with huge rewards. You never get to the top of a mega-climb and feel sorry that you did it. Never. You grunt, and curse, and spit, and ignore everything except the goal of getting to the top. Nothing is funny when you're on a serious climb- Ever the one for the joke, Jamie learned that I'm serious when I say "don't make me laugh on this climb" back in the states. Traffic doesn't exist. It's you and the white line. Being in the woods poses another challenge, because finding you're way between rocks while facing a 19% grade on a bicycle that's made for the road is a whole different challenge.
The Czech people don't mess around with their caution signs either. If you come across one in the middle of the woods... for real... beware. I assume it translates to "You will be going down a absurdly steep and dangerous hill, and then you will go up one just as steep, and just as absurd."
We saw about eight of these signs in the woods alone. And they meant every word.
This is not to mention the beautiful castle that we climbed to on one side of a valley before descending down to its base, then climbing out of the valley again to find a closed road on the other side, then riding back to the base again, then climbing out of the valley a final way... a way that inspired Jamie to say "We're about to have a proper climb" before heading up it. If I say that phrase, it could mean we're going over a mole hill... when he says it as calmly as he does, it's for real.
And still... no regrets. Although we were forced to take a detour after working our asses off and were faced with a different truly brutal ascent, I'm happy we did it. The view was amazing, and the feeling when I got to the top was even better.
I'm tired to the point of keeling over. In fact, I did that already while writing this post. The waitress/owner/housekeeper of the *super-cheap* hotel we stayed at woke me up at my Macbook after I'd fallen asleep at the table.
 |
| Sign Advertising the "Czech Greenway" Bicycle Route |
"Can I have the United States of America please?"
That's what it must sound like every time I ask for the check at a restaurant. "Can I have the check?" is a rather colloquial phrase, so it hasn't worked its way into the English language courses over here. I only figured out today why I get such strange looks in the Czech Republic when I ask for the bill this way.
I sound like I want to take over the country.
 |
| Text exchange during batshit-crazy storm last night. |
Anyway, I've been lucking out with weather. The only times I've seen rain have been on non-cycle days. That changed last night as I hunkered down in my paper-thin tiny tent hoping that I wouldn't wake up in a puddle. The thunder and lightning were severe, and sleep was interrupted often.
The rain never really let up the whole day, but ironically it was quite welcome. I can't imagine
 |
| A gray day in an even grayer town... |
The tent, by the way, held up just fine.
Last night at the cyclist's camp, I had a few conversations with people about the bicycle maps of the Czech Republic. They asked which maps we were using. We're not, I explained. We downloaded a Random Guy's route who electronically recorded his ride, and we're following his every step.
I said this with some sort of pride, even though it's simply a sign of unpreparedness.
Turns out there are a gazillion well-mapped out routes of varying difficulty we could've taken, and the one we're using is for insane people. The climbs in the forest along the rocky paths are laughably steep, and If I pedaled them any slower, I'd fall for sure. The descents are downright frightening at times. I can't believe I biked all of it- I'm relatively sure the past three days trumps anything I did in the U.S. as far as technical difficulty goes. At one point, there was a gathering of people for a wine tasting at the top of a descent we were about to begin. All talking stood as the watched us struggle inch by inch down and ancient stone path at a 20% grade- it was both humiliating and highly enjoyable. Somebody up there lost a bet, because we made it without being helicoptered out.
 |
| Those people on the right are about to break out in dance... |
Still, we've grown strangely attached to Random Guy's route (we've named him Crazy Bill for no particular reason). He makes no sense. We easily could've crossed our way into Austria today at any point and probably could've hit Vienna tonight, but Crazy Bill lives dangerously. It's like he gets distracted looking at a cliff, then wonders if he can climb it, then gives it a go.
An unexpected and highly avoidable factor that made today much harder than it could've been was Jamie's odd choice of soundtrack, blaring from his bluetooth speaker. He chose Techno Europop for the ride. And while it certainly helped to liven up a couple of the dreary villages first thing in the morning, it's hard to focus when all you want to do is dance.
10 hours of this awful sound. I thought it was going to be a passing joke in the morning, but no. This was my day.
The thing about hard days- they always come with huge rewards. You never get to the top of a mega-climb and feel sorry that you did it. Never. You grunt, and curse, and spit, and ignore everything except the goal of getting to the top. Nothing is funny when you're on a serious climb- Ever the one for the joke, Jamie learned that I'm serious when I say "don't make me laugh on this climb" back in the states. Traffic doesn't exist. It's you and the white line. Being in the woods poses another challenge, because finding you're way between rocks while facing a 19% grade on a bicycle that's made for the road is a whole different challenge.
The Czech people don't mess around with their caution signs either. If you come across one in the middle of the woods... for real... beware. I assume it translates to "You will be going down a absurdly steep and dangerous hill, and then you will go up one just as steep, and just as absurd."
We saw about eight of these signs in the woods alone. And they meant every word.
 |
| Vranov Nad Dyji State Castle... Proud of myself for writing down its name (photo cred. Jamie). |
And still... no regrets. Although we were forced to take a detour after working our asses off and were faced with a different truly brutal ascent, I'm happy we did it. The view was amazing, and the feeling when I got to the top was even better.
 |
| Half-way up an ascent (same castle in distance) |
I'm tired to the point of keeling over. In fact, I did that already while writing this post. The waitress/owner/housekeeper of the *super-cheap* hotel we stayed at woke me up at my Macbook after I'd fallen asleep at the table.
"Time for sleep," she pantomimed with a motherly smile. Ahhh. A pantomimer. My favorite.
It was a hard day to let go of, though. It's one for the books.
Apart from the climbing, here's another couple of things I'm apt to remember:
 |
| Too lazy to censor that shameful finger. |
-A Quality Fall: I'm on my fourth fall of the season... but this one was legit- not just my usual "I-Forgot-To-Unclip" fall.
It's time consuming to get off-bike to change in and out of rain gear, so I tried to do it while riding. Bad choice. I lost control and fell hard (very luckily) into the grass on the roadside.
Excuse my visual profanity in the pic, but when someone is gleefully snapping a photo of a terrible moment, it's a knee-jerk reaction to flip the bird.
 |
| Cool. |
-The Bridge: You know when you're at summer adventure camp, and they have those ropes courses in the woods, and inevitably there's a rickety bridge you have to cross? We biked across one of those. Several times actually... back and forth... it was that much fun. Never mind the poor lady who was inconsolably sobbing while crossing on foot. We'll wait our turn, and cross it again, and again.
 |
| CHEERS FOR THE BEER, KATHY GARRY! |
Finishing in a Downpour: We were 650 meters from the hotel we booked for the night, and couldn't make it because of the severe rain. Instead, we took shelter in a pavilion that served beer and pizza.
Darn.
At any point today, we could've jumped off of Crazy Bill's path (I guarantee he had a mountain bike... and I know for a fact that he travels shorter distances than we do) and hit normal roads into Austria, but we stuck it out. And handled it like champs.
Sure, I'm a bit sore... but it's nothing. When you get finished with a ride like that, and complaining about a slightly sore ass is on the forefront of your mind, then you probably didn't finish the ride.
Accomplishment kicks the soreness away.
Three tough days in a row.
Looking forward to an easy ride to Vienna... but if it turns into something ridiculously hard... well- I can handle that too. As long as I can pick the music.
At any point today, we could've jumped off of Crazy Bill's path (I guarantee he had a mountain bike... and I know for a fact that he travels shorter distances than we do) and hit normal roads into Austria, but we stuck it out. And handled it like champs.
Sure, I'm a bit sore... but it's nothing. When you get finished with a ride like that, and complaining about a slightly sore ass is on the forefront of your mind, then you probably didn't finish the ride.
Accomplishment kicks the soreness away.
Three tough days in a row.
Looking forward to an easy ride to Vienna... but if it turns into something ridiculously hard... well- I can handle that too. As long as I can pick the music.
P.S.
The Bathroom on the Left is for People Who Look Like Pine Trees...
...The One on the Right is for Those Who Look Like Table Lamps.
Looks like you are back to good health.... and getting "back in shape" with the tough spots. I hope you will be willing to come back to the Grange to share this adventure! <3 - Chris
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