Garmin Activity. https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1427463704
200 km, 9h16, elev 3256. Trip rating 95%
This ride was dedicated to the Conquest of Tremsin, a big 827m hill located in between Plzen and Pribram. I left around 05:30 from Cakovice. This is the Holesovice brdige.
Even the Vltava was still fast asleep
I plowed my way through Prague and made it to Central Bohemia.
Then it went further along the 6, in the direction of Krivoklat
Because of the clouded skies, it took a very long time before it became lighter
It was the last ride in Summer time. This very evening we switched back t the winter time, which means more darkness
From studying the map I saw that I could conveniently pass through the Krivoklatsko forest part on my way to Tremsin. It offered me an opportunity to explore a new area.
Time to switch off lights, after two hours. I did more than 40 km in darkness.
That was the warm up, now the ride can begin!
Wide open area
I dressed up for this ride because it can get cold now.
The entrance into the Krivoklatsko park
District of Rakovnik, that means I already left Prague far behind me.
Beautiful view. Here I descended for more than 200 meters, only to retake them once past the city.
This is a nice view
Impossible to feel cold with all this elevation gain
Enchanting forest areas in Autumn
Krivoklat in a few km.
One third accomplished and well ahead of schedule. God bless early departures!
Going downhill!
I saw on google maps that there is a castle in Krivoklat, but apparently it is being renovated.
I had a break in Krivoklat, what followed was my journey south for Rozmital Pod Tremsinem. That was 70km, or 130km from home.
Also here lots of steep forest roads with Autumn colours
The air quality here is very pure
Before my eyes the beauty of Autumn was being displayed
With great right did I take many pictures
For those sections not covered by trees the view was also stunning.
So much fun riding here with all these ups and downs, accompanied with picturesque views
Beroun, a name that will always remind me of my former colleague Willem
There were many hills which slowed down my general progress
Happy to see that it was dry, which makes the biggest difference in Autumn rides
The roads were wet, I think it was raining the day before. Anyway, I was very happy with my setup of 28mm tires with 80 PSI. It gave the best grip and cushion for these kind of settings.
Feeling still fresh after 100 km full of hills
Panorama
This area made me lost in thoughts. Almost nobody was out here. Yes there were some occasional cars, but no hikers of bikers.
Gorgeous view!
This area in Beroun reminded me of a ride I did somewhere in March. At Sunday I cycled from Plzen to Karlstejn and I cycled through a very similarly looking area, also in Beroun.
Shocking to see that Plzen is so closeby, but I still have one big mission to accomplish before I can head there
My god this is beautiful!
Taking a shitload of pictures today and with reason!
Apparently this little town is named after bunnies
Bit by bit I was taking down the distance to Rozmital pod Tremsinem.
The sun came out and magically turned this into a fairy tale ride
The solitude, the magnificent views, the fresh air, the freedom, that is what you get from cycling
Then there was a very cool feature in the ride when I entered this forest
All the sudden, elevation began rising to 500 and more
And then I saw that it would go a lot higher than that. It was an incredible climb that just kept going
I was so much fascinated by this that I had to make a video report.
It just baffled me that there were so many tiny roads and that my GPS sent me through them.
The view was similar during the whole climb: going uphill with 8-9%, leafs all over the place and this tiny road. Deep inside I kinda felt frightened because I thought that in these areas wild bears could come and attack.
But when I saw a man with his daughter walking under the trees I knew I was thinking too much.
It climbed all the way to 730! Wow! And there was even more after that...
The sun came out at the top, which was lovely
I did not expect to climb so high. When I prepared this trip, I thought the only high mark would be Tremsin itself.
More elevation gain after that
These are all intensive climbs. For roadies they are great. I did not understand how it was possible that I was the only one out here
This forest was going up and down like a jojo
These surroundings forced me to take many pictures
And record movie clips. There is just soooo much beautiful stuff going on here
It is Czechia's Paradise Lost and I am the one who found it
It made me completely forget about my life and job in Prague. It was a moment of meditation, being lost in thoughts while contemplating this beauty.
The stage where I could believe what was happening had already long past. Here I was even going over 800 meters, which means as high as the Tremsin, the mountain for which I had set out form Prague.
813 meters, that is about the same height as Tremsin.
This little house made me think of the fairy tales of Grimm
It also resembled an awful lot the Nantou mountain roads where I have spent many long days
A longer descent followed that and I saw I left the Brdy natural park. This was 6 km from Rozmital pod Tremsinem.
Info about the Brdy natural park, Czechia's largest forest area
Rozmital pod Trensinem was indicated on the bike path signs.
To that town it all went downhill
Microregion Tremsin. I took a few minutes to examine this.
Stunning!
An epic ride in the making
Rozmital pod Tremsinem
Judging my numbers I had a 300m climb up there, that seemed very doable.
I first went to Hute pod Tremsinem
The roads already went uphill
Climbing further
Way in the back of this picture is the Tremsin hill
In Hute pod Tremsinem I did not know which way to go. I studied a map and tried to follow the direction that made most sense. There were no signs however.
Until I saw these signs. They indicated that the Tremsin was 4 km to the right. So that is what I did!
Of course it went uphill through tiny forest lanes with falling leaves and steep gradient.
As has been the case the whole day :-) At the summit I would already have 2600 m of climbing.
At 750m elev. I saw this little house.
There was one downside here: the paved road ended here. What followed was off road, grass, rocks, etc.
Since this is really not the location where you want to get a flat tire, I decided to walk it. It would be maximum 500 meters anyway.
One of those moments where I realize why I use MTB shoes instead of road.
This was still quite difficult to do while carrying my bike
But I was so close. Already had 800m height here
And there it is, the Tremsin!
Welcome to the Tremsin, 827m
I did what I usually do at such places: read the signs, look around and make movie clips.
Apparently there used to be a big church here but it was destroyed in 1600. Now they have this chapel as a reminder of it.
Even though my GPS suggested me to through here, I went back the normal way.
After walking to the paved road, I descended back to 600 meters, where I had to take a small lane to the left.
It was 15:30, it was 60km to Plzen and there was still a lot of climbing in this segment. The question I had in my mind is: would I still be able to catch the 18.07 train in Pilzen?
That answer was probably no but it was worth a try..
There were still quite some miles within the forest area and many climbing.
Then route 177 led me out of the forest. It was now less than 50 km to Plzen and it was a little after 16.00. I was also well under way to collection 3K elevation
This late afternoon sceneries were astonishing
I tried my best to make it to Plzen before 18.00 but there were many uphill sections I had to deal with
Many tiny roads sent me to Rokycany and then to Plzen (later I learned that Rokycany is a big train hub where one could take the train to Plzen or Prague).
14 km left and I was still on schedule to make it for that train. I had to try it!
One of my last pictures, after all I was in a slight rush
Ladies and Gentlemen, presenting. Pilzen city
I went straight to the train station, I arrived at 17:57 and was able to buy a seat for the 18:07 train. That went very smooth. I arrived in Prague at 19.45. This was truly a KOM ride with 205 km, 3250hm and 9h+.
