Friday, April 21, 2006

Yesterday’s ride was by far the most beautiful of any so far. The weather was perfect, about 68 degrees, and sunny. Today I debated my ride choices – flat and long (translation: busy roads with cars), small hills and medium distance to towns I’ve already visited, or a new unexplored area northeast of Nova Gorica. I had a map of the area which gave elevations and distances… but you never really know what it will be like until you ride it.

Luckily, I felt adventurous and chose the unexplored area to ride. A nice warm up for about 6 miles soon turned into the hardest climb I have ever done on a road bike. It was a quiet, narrow road (my favorite kind of ride), that traversed a steep limestone bluff. The entire climb was in a forest, offering much-appreciated shade on this warmest day so far during my stay.

The ride went through the tiny town of Solkan, to Grgar, where the climb began. From the map, I’m estimating I climbed for about 2 miles and gained about 500 meters – about 1,600 feet. When I got to the top, the road became everything I love about road biking… more narrow, windy, free of cars, and views to rival any tourist brochure. But in the midst of all this biking glory, my map suddenly turned into a distinctly unhelpful puzzle. The sparse road signs all pointed to towns that were not on ther map. So, where was I, exactly? Which impossible hill should I ride up next? Go left or right or turn around here before I became too tired to ride home?

Evil map experiences are not new to me. Matter of fact this phenomenon is long-running joke in my family; during cross-country vacations it seems we often found ourselves on winding mountain roads that eventually turned into tense, knuckle-whitening mazes of impossibly narrow roads. This resulted in much yelling, map shaking and frustration for everyone who dared try to find out where we were. Consequently it’s familiar territory for me, and has the same effect on me years later.

Luckily, Stephen came back to find me, having left me miles behind an hour ago, and said, “we just go this way, it’s obvious”. Huh, it seems that some people have internal navigation even when road signs and maps make no sense. We eventually came to an intersection in the middle of nowhere, pointing to the town of Kanal. Success! I enjoyed the rest of the ride even more, knowing I was not lost.

The ride took me along a ridge for a few kilometers and the views were simply jaw-dropping. The town of Kal is in a postcard-perfect setting, surrounded by high meadows just beginning to flower and unobstructed views of the sparkling snow-covered Julian Alps to the north. Again, it was lucky I didn’t have my camera. No way could I capture this scenery!

I flew down a long and winding descent into Kanal, located right on the Soca river. I stopped in the town square to refuel on strawberry juice and met up with Stephen again, then rode along the river all the way back to Nova Gorica (about 10 miles).

The day’s ride wasn’t the longest on this trip (41 miles) but certainly the most physically challenging because of the elevation gain. The climbs were easier for me because my bike has a triple chain ring in the front. Without that, there would be no hope for me to ride these hills. "Real" bikers claim to not need a triple, but I’ll keep it.