Garmin Activity to be added
183km, 7h17, elevation 1417m.
看到灰色無雲的天空時, 我知道天氣預報沒有在騙我. 真的會下雨! 因此決定騎平把. 畢竟不希望高級的戰馬受到委屈. 就這樣自從去年八月環島以來的初次平把長途騎乘開始了. 頭一個小時還沒有開始下雨, 進度比較快, 沒有甚麼丘陵.. 從布拉格東出, 漸漸地往東北部遷移. 今天的目標本來是去波瀾, 看我同事住的地方.
雨還是來了, 一旦來了也沒有停了. 從早上九點到下午四點不斷地下雨. 不是那種台灣的傾盆大雨, 但一直下就對了. 騎久了襪子還是濕濕的, 手套也是. 幸好安全帽保護我的眼睛. 當我騎了
130公里我決定放棄去波瀾的計畫, 雨中騎260好像有一點多. 我直接去民宿. 加上這50公里的距離還是騎了180公里在雨中. 這也不少喔!
最後一段漸漸地靠近北部的山脈, 爬坡比較多, 比較長, 也有下坡路段. 在這種淋濕又滑的丘陵路下坡沒有甚麼問題, 有了碟煞車子一切可以控制得很好. 假若是另外一台可能沒那麼簡單. 還有時間一邊下坡一邊拍照錄影. 今天沒有帶照相機, 只靠單車錄影機, 它的表現卓越!
下午三點有半個小時停雨了, 然後又開始下. 因為手套淋濕了, 因為溫度只有兩度, 我的手快要麻痺了. 幸好到民宿只剩下十公里. 比平常早到了兩個小時, 但今天就是沒有關係. 我在這他媽的天氣裡頭騎了七個多小時, 183公里, 可以足夠. 改天重複這個騎乘, 還有機會. 在民宿用熱水洗澡了, 去隔壁的小飯館買了一點熱飯, 然後回到民宿玩手機, 報告騎乘, 跟朋友聊天. 而我的衣服, 都在溫暖的民宿裡面乾乾的.
The weather forecast of the previous day did not promise me any good. When I woke up on Saturday, I noticed the skies were grey and dark. I thought about what I should do. The chain of my road bike needed to be replaced, so I took my flatbar road bike for this ride. I wanted to do a long ride with my buddy that flew over from Taiwan. It was the right bike for a day like this.
The first hour or so was still dry, but then it started raining gently. Nothing intense like Taiwan offered, but continuous.
The goal was to cycle to Nachod, onwards to Poland to check out my colleague's home town near the border and then on to Vrchlabi, where I had my pension.
I left rather late and I was at odds if I should go all the way to Poland. There was a funny village called Patek, Friday in Czech.
The last time I had a long ride with this bikey of mine was back in August 2015, during my trip around the island. That was another era and another world.
The first part of the road was pretty flat, the miles accumulated nicely and elevation stayed low.
A turning point of the ride is the below picture, when I stopped for a drink in this little shop. When I came out again, it had already started raining and it would not stop for the next five hours.
I put the shield of my helmet on, which did give me a lot coverage. My eyes were not attacked by drops of rain. This made the ordeal a lot more doable.
This photo summarizes my day: wet roads, grey dark skies and solitude. Who would come out on a day like this? I almost saw nobody. And oh yeah, there was a lot of wind too.
Apparently I was navigating east, towards the city of Hradec Kralove, or King's Castle in English.
Cycling with my flatbar and seeing the wetlands gave the ride a completely different feeling.
Obviously I did not take many pictures, just once every now and then. I am still traumatized by the August 2013 typhoon in central Taiwan, which became the death of my expensive camera. Today I took only my mobile phone and bike cam.
One more thing about rainy days, you will get a wet buttocks and socks. That is truly the most annoying part.
Luckily there are epic selfies to compensate for this pain.
The distance to Nachod was declining pretty fast, due to the lack of a lot of elevation. That was the good part about this ride.
Stopping for a little snack by a riverside bicycle lane. Needless to point out I was the only cyclist using it.
One break later I found myself under this bridge. I made short video report here as well. I decided that I would just go to Vrchlabi right away, since the rain would not stop. It was 50 km from this very point, totaling the ride at 183 km. Considering the conditions, that was more than acceptable!
My bike cam actually serves as a perfect camera for snapshots as well.
It does a great job with selfies
I passed a town center, no idea where precisely, but there were some older buildings worthy of a snapshot
Days like these, it is disc brakes till we die!
Lots of cobbles everywhere on this ride. I felt I was riding my own Roubaix right here...
The last section near Vrchlabi began displaying some hills. This is where I noticed the big difference between my fact 11 SW Roubaix and today's bike, the 8 carbon Sirrus. Stiffness and weight are not the same.
Engaging on Trutnov. The relaxing part about this ride was that nothing was super far away.
Sending me through sand on a day like this means mud, why Garmin why?
Wet feet and wrinkled toes, the price you pay for rainy rides
What can I say, I've had better days in Czechia?
As Vrchlabi drew closer, the hills became visible, even though there was thick pack of mist covering up their most charming side.
During the descents I rejoiced the choice of today's bike. The disc brakes were fabulous in these treacherous situations. Would not want to be here on my rim brakes.
I do not think this building corroded from today's downpour. But several downpours did bring it to this I guess.
In the late afternoon, there was a brief dry intermezzo. Unfortunately it did not last very long.
Less than 20 km to Vrchlabi, there was a lengthy descent. I managed to record while I was descending. Kids, do not try this at home!
Suddenly, I found myself at Route 14, the one I had often seen on maps. Vrchlabi was less than 15km away from me...
There was more rain during the last ten km. I was getting soaked once again.
Hang in there bro, almost there!
You do get some epic footage on days like these
Vrchlabi, here I am!
Not the numbers I usually do, but ok, at least I was here.
One downside about the hostel was that there was nobody there. I had to call them...
The hostel itself was very good for the money
The town of Vrchlabi
Looks extremely cute and central European
A bike store, but unfortunately it was closed
Close to the Krkonose indeed. I spent the evening FB-ing with friends and turning in earlier. I would see the next day what I would be doing.
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