Garmin Activity: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1507234645
53 km, 3h29, elevation 896m. Trip rating: 70%
The last day of the year, that requires a decent bike ride. So off I went! I chose to go to Cesky Krumlov and back, which would be around 50 km.
I remember that on December 31st 2015, I was working in Prague but we were sent home at 15.00. I therefore did a 30 km bike ride with a last report. Unbelievable that that ride is already a year ago!
I left at 12.45 to be sure that there was no ice on the roads. That bed seemed to be right
And the photo rage has begun
The road to Cesky Krumlov is full of little stingers
It slowly came to my mind that I was closing this year in style. I have done so many long rides, full weekend rides, three rides between Prague and home. It really has been a very good year on the bike
Fairy tale like view here
Not a single cloud in the sky
And the new cycling camera captured the images very well
I stopped here to make a video report about 2016. I thought back about all that has happened.
28mm tires with 70 PSI pressure, perfect recipe for this kind of riding
steep descent with sharp turns
In the shadows there was still a danger of ice
This is winter at its finest
It may be hard to believe but this is only 13 km away from Frymburk. that is how many pictures I have taken.
Holy virgin of Maria
At this part I started losing some elevation
Fabulous
All these views filled me with so much joy
I made a Dutch video with New Year's greetings here.
And then we marched on through this fairy tale land
That little village was on my route for sure
All of the sudden I made a very long descent, I dropped all the way under 500 meters.
I cycled into the town of Cesky Krumlov
I did not enter the historical area, I turned back since it was 14.30 and daylight was running out slightly.
I saw the signs and I decided I could go back via another way. Instead of going directly to Frymburk I could go to Vyssi Brod. That would turn the ride into a nice loop
This part was not enjoying from sunlight, hence these deep-freezer views.
This alternative route back was spicing up the ride
This part stayed relatively flat as opposed to the other route
The last hour of sunlight in 2016 was sliding through my hands like loose sand
Jip, sun was setting. Winter days with short daylight are a burden for cyclists, but there is way to deal with it
I could feel the temperature dropping also a little
Then I had to enter a small lane, I was begging for it to be in OK condition, luckily it was
This is all so beautiful. These are pictures I will still be viewing some five years later.
This bike has really stood everywhere, on the mountains and hills of tropical Taiwan, on the plains of Belgium, on the icy mountains of Czech Republic, in the cozy 19th century villages of East-Germany. It has brought me so much joy over the years.
More beauty laid hidden here. No one else was here except for this cyclocrazy Dutchman
Cycling here made me very happy. Before coming to Czechia in late 2015, I had told myself I should explore the hills and secrets of Czechia, just like I had done before in Taiwan. 14 months into that mission, I can proudly conclude that this has been an outright success. And it does not stop here.
It was a matter of minutes before that sun disappeared now.
At this point I had two choices. 1) a somewhat longer road to Vyssi Brod and then Lipno 2) 12 km to Frymburk to the right. Since daylight was running out, I opted for number two. Read further to find out why that was a horrible choice.
Eventually all went well and I had planned to be home before 16.00h
The red dot is my location, at the left you can see the lake Lipno, it was 12 km to the hotel which was right at the lake.
The two km to Masin were no problem
All is well went through my head
And this is where the misery started. Frymburk in 10 km. But the road was completely iced and snowed in
Views like these made me assume that it was just a short section within the long road, so I could just walk it. Wrong again!
In the end the whole section to Frymburk was snowed in. Since I already walked 2-3 km, I had to finish it. If I would walk back and then cycle the 26km as descrived above, it would be extremely late and in the dark would be risky. That is why I decided to just keep on walking. Accept the setback but do not create further risks
That snow was even piling up at my brake caliper, which means the tire was not even rolling. I needed to carry the bike. Yep, this was a crisis alright, the last crisis of 2016!
I was lucky in one thing. I use the kind of cycling shoes that makes walking doable. If I would use the race shoes like everyone else, this would have been a disaster
Slowly I began realizing this would really be a long, tiring and time consuming walk. Add to that that my internet was out, no credit on my phone and I did not have lunch, we were really having a crisis.
I stayed calm, used my GPS to calculate the distance and how long I would need for walking it. Then I tried to see it as a nice experience, but while making hast and walking as fast as possible
These area was very deserted in the last hours of 2016,
Some parts were so steep and slippery that I had to walk between the trees to maximize grip
I had already come to terms with the fact I would not make it out of this forest before darkness
The last glimpses of 2016 daylights would be in this area. Could still be worse...
I motivated myself by seeing progress on the line on my GPS.
The mentally hardest point was when the sunlight was completely gone. I was almost there! Just hang in there and use your bike lights.
These are the last pictures I took, because I came to the end of my 8 km walk in the snow. The ordeal was finally over! Now time for New Year's Eve in Hotel Leyla
It was a crisis, but I survived it. Mental strength helps mankind through all kinds of ordeals
Admittedly, this view was nice for year end closing. The star in the dark sky, the last shade of sunlade reflecting on the white carpet of snow. It was an experience
I arrived at the hotel at 17.20 where Narmin was worried sick about me. The good news is all went well and we had a nice new year's evening together.
So this was it for 2016, a year in which I discovered Central Europe on the bike. Not limiting myself to Czechia, but also including Austria, Poland, Slovakia, Germany and even my homelands of Belgium and Netherlands. Altogether more than twenty thousand km. Thank you for such a lovely and refreshing cycling year. If 2017 is the same, I will be more than happy.
No comments:
Post a Comment