Garmin Activity: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1560441641
100 km, 5h09, 1200 hm. Trip rating: 70%
Fifth weekend of snow and ice. Slowly I am forgetting how a road bike feels... I woke up and cycled to Letnany, from where I took the metro to the westernmost point of Prague, Zlicin. There my journey started
Today would be a spin around the Krivoklatsko forest area. First landmark was Rakovnik, a larger city where I ironically have never been. From Zlicin, I was sent in the direction of Unhost.
I noticed that it was warmer compared to the previous month.
4 km down the road I left Prague and the journey commenced
I kept going west, it was 52 km to Rakovnik.
Happy with the warmer temperatures, unhappy with the mist and sad weather
After 15 km I stopped to do some calibrations on my gps
It was a sad weather day
It did not take me long to switch on the bike lights
Me no like
At this point, I decided to just follow the bike paths to Rakovnik instead of what the GPS said
Most roads were doable on a normal bike today
Some of the ice even got stuck on my spikes
Entrance into Krivoklatsko forest area
This is where it started to get interesting
There was a long section in the forest with an ascent and a descent. Sight was limited
Apart from the roads, the world was still covered in white
Making full usage of my snow tires motivated me for this otherwise harsh ride
There was not a lot of traffic, but one car honked at me real loud for no reason. My lights were on, I was on the right side and I even wore reflective clothing. Asshole
From the sides, it looked like I could go snow blind every minute now.
There was a very long descent into this Rakovnik area, but straight after it came a very steep 12% ascent on ice, which I recorded as well.
I just came down from there. I think I dropped some 100 meters here.
The narrow little path sent me all the way to 500 meters. It was a moment where I was happy to have my snow tires.
No other bike would have been able to go here
As I came higher than 450m, the fog was really thick. I could not see more than 20 meters.
Obviously I took a movie clip here, but the fog made my lens wet and the clip was useless
The next area was fully covered in white. I had fantastic grip with my tires
It was a bizarre moment, never experienced something like it
Look closely at the picture, you will see that I am approaching a new forest here. These were really serious conditions for cycling.
The advantage was that due to this, no car was around. It was super quiet for me.
Approaching Rakovnik.
52 km of cycling brought me into Rakovnik. I took a break here.
another city I can tick off from the to do list.
I had a break here and I studied the map. If I would go to Krivoklat directly, I would only do 70 km. I wanted to go for 100, so I decided to go to a random place within the Krivoklatsko.
Rakovnik is about half way between Prague and Karlovy Vary, from here the Krusovice brewery was close.
Old buildings in the Rakovnik city center
18 km from Rakovnik to Slabce, a place more south in the forest.
Completely as expected, there was a lot of climbing.
Fearless cycling on these roads.
Then I was sent through a 2.5km off road section. At first I loved that idea, but then I learned that in very deep snow, even my winter tires do not have grip. I could not cycle here, I had to walk.
Not really amused with this setback, which cost me a lot of time loss.
Did I say snow blind? I hardly saw where I was going. I just believed the distance Garmin said.
Very happy when I arrived back to a cross section with paved road. This section was crazy!
Approaching Slabce, the second waypoint of this ride.
The weather never changed for the better. Admittedly, I would have preferred to stay home.
Actually it wasn't that cold. It was between -1 and +1
Interesting to see Plzen was only a mere 50 km from here, but that is for tomorrow.
Another reminder of us being in Krivoklat
80 km and 4 hours of cycling, I was nearing the end of the ride, Krivoklat the town.
I took one more break at 85 km in a small forest lane.
Fifteen km left and I would be there, with 100 km. That prospect motivated me.
Little chapel, probably it has seen better days
Elevation gain was good, I did more than 1200 in these 100 km. All the roads seemed to have some gradient.
On these snow tires, that gradient was easy to notice. But nothing that stopped me fro enjoying.
At the end of the ride, there was a surprising long descent. At that point I remembered my previous visit to Krivoklat. it is located exactly in a valley. So it made sense!
When I came to this point, I had a nice feeling of connectivity. Linking a new route with some familiar ones.
I arrived in Krivoklat. The last thing I had to do was look for my hostel. Could not be difficult in such a small town.
Entering Krivoklat, I recognized the area.
My hostel. I was here at 3.30 but they only opened at 4. So I needed to kill off thirty minutes. I went for a small additional spin.
I cycled through the town, up one of the hills and saw the castle
The view was nice. Clearly this lower elevation meant less fog and mist
I went up to the castle to get a descent snapshot of it.
Cycling and walking map of the area
In the evening, I just took a shower, grabbed some food and went to bed a little after eight. I slept for nine hours. These hundred km were clearly enough for a full day of fun
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