Garmin Activity: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1560441786
102 km, 5h15, 1359hm. Trip rating: 80%
I had a fantastic night rest in Krivoklat and after a good breakfast, I hit the road at 08.44. I took one last view of the castle which was right across my hostel.
Then the journey commenced. I planned 86 km for this day.
I would cycle south through Krivoklat, into the Brdy park, to a place called Nepomuk and then the train back from Rokycany. That was the plan.
This area was still fresh in my memory from an October ride. Here, I climbed from 260 to 450 meters and I felt it well.
It was six km to a little town called Karlova Ves. It all went uphill. Krivoklat was clearly one of the lower locations within the forest.
The long climb went all the way to 500 meters before it headed down.
That was a good warm up! I installed my bike cam on my helmet and recorded the downhill section. The white valleys were very beautiful.
Not as cold as the last few weeks and a good lengthy climb prompted me to lose some clothes.
Having been here already once helped me estimate everything. I knew a new long climb started here
There was less ice than expected and for a brief moment I regretted not taking my other bike.
District of Beroun.
Then came this very long climb, which went to 550 meters. This was fully covered in ice and my snow tires did a terrific job. I also recorded this.
The sensation of conquering these icy roads motivated me big time. Thumbs up!
Weird rocky formation
The first 20 km of this ride were intensive with 600 meters of climbing. It came nothing short of a KOM ride.
The descent was lovely again. Many patches of ice on the roads which were no issue for me. I did lower my speed a little. No need for abrupt movements at 45 kmph.
I could see the sunlight appearing from under the skies. Would it be a good weather day?
As I approached a place called Tocnik, that suspicion was confirmed. I saw clear skies taking shape
A long descent brought me to Tocnik. This is the castle, which is originally called Castle Tocnik.
Skies were clearing up and I felt motivated. I was afraid it would be another day like yesterday
Some other cyclists even joined me in this extreme winter cycling. At last, I was not the only fool!
I sliced through some old towns and arrived at Cerhonice, a place I remember having a Potraviny. I bought some supplies there and mentally prepared myself for the attack on Brdy.
After that stop, I knew it would get more intense. Luckily the weather got better as well.
Good progress today
And then it became very beautiful. It was above zero degrees. Very pleasant all of the sudden
Now let's build some momentum
Slowly approaching the higher hills (Officially I cannot call them mountains)
Romantic view
I was sent a bit differently from last time. At this point I had cycled 43 km.
This map indicated what I would be doing. I would cycle from this Nova Ves to Nepomuk, 20 km through the Brdy forest park. I was ready for a lot of climbing and snow. Bring it on!
Welcome to the Brdy forest park,Czechia's largest forest park
I stopped for a picture here and only then I realized I had been here before. I was back on the normal route.
Off I went into the Brdy park.
Ice and sun, the only other time I picture that is holding an ice cream in the summer. Now it was the other way around.
This area was completely covered in snow and ice, but I could manage. I made a recording as well
I gradually rose to 630 meters. I remembered there would a turn to the left, where I would climb all the way to 750+ meters. That was right here. I went in, but unfortunately the snow here was so deep that I had no grip with my bike. I could not do it! So I decided to go back to the main road and just follow it.
The main road was fine for cycling, but all the rest was in too much snow.
Today I also learned the limitations of these snow tires. I made a wise decision by staying on the main road. Do not want to get hurt in this kind of area when I am all alone. Reason above everything!
So the only two remaining options where heading back or going to a place called Strasice. I went for option two. It was about six kilometers, all on ice.
The main road had many advantages. it was wide, visible, and only a layer of ice. I could ride it with ease and the gradient was never too steep. It allowed me to make some nice recordings. I did a clip in English and Chinese.
It is not often that I get to enjoy cycling like this. It is even a first in my long cycling career. This gave me a refreshing feeling of discovery.
There was absolutely no noise in this forest. I was truly all alone. At some point I started getting afraid of bears. Even though there are no bears in this area. It just felt creepy and haunted.
Fighting against the winter, a fight I was not losing today.
Slowly I made it to Strasice, where my Brdy aspect of the ride finished. It should have been longer, but as mentioned above, it would be unwise to do so.
At this spot I calculated my current time and distance to see what I would do next. With the Brdy shortcut I would have only 70 km to Rokycany. So I decided to lengthen that a little to Pilzen.
It was another 30 km from here
Enjoying the views, the weather was great for a winter ride
Along the way I took pictures of inspiring landscapes
The irony of life. how often do we complain about asshole taxi drivers. This one seemingly got unlucky while overestimating his luck. There was an old man standing next to me and we chatted a little about it. Good news is no one got hurt...
Rokycany, it was still early so this was not my last stop.
This was just beautiful
I stopped in this park to have a break, eat some snacks, check my route and share some pictures
Basically going to Pilzen from here would leave me with 90 km, where I actually wanted a 100. I calculated a little detour over a town called Mesno, which would get me that hundred.
I also checked the trains and I was aiming for the 16.06 train in Plzen.
In the Rokycany city center
Last 25 km of the ride
I did not take into account that this detour would give me some extra elevation gain. I passed by a place called Vesela
This was a decent uphill with 8%.
I ended up going all the way back to 520 meters.
Now this is spectacular view!
An old man on a bicycle asked me for a bar nearby. I told him I had no idea, I told him there would be probably one in the next town. He said he wanted the one with the white Ukranian woman. At that point I just left, old pervert
Magnificent
Nice bikorama, panorama with bike
Luckily after that it descended again.
When I navigated to Plzen for the last leg of the ride, it appeared to be 26 km. I was a bit stressed of not making it in time for that train, so I kept low on pictures and made haste.
In this Pilzen area I did not stop for pictures, I just advanced and calculated if I would be on time.
One thing that required me to halt was this Toller dog. I asked the owner where he got it. It came from Pilzen. This is the breed my mom has for the last 30 years. Not checking it out would be a crime.
In Pilzen I passed through some cycling lanes, but they were covered in half melted ice. It was very hard to keep grip. And also, there was a shitload of people there. But in the end I made it in time.
Pilzen Main Station. I bought my ticket for a misery 190 CZK, bought a snack and went to my train
Very smoothly I arrived in Prague at 17.45. This turned out to be a nice winter weekend
No comments:
Post a Comment