Sunday, April 23, 2006

On such a beautiful day it would have been criminal to not ride. So I’m glad I went… but it was challenging. I was tired from not sleeping well and had still not recovered from yesterday's climbs. I wanted to meet up with my friend Darrick again, but he went off to ride in Italy – on some Giro d’Italia climb. No thanks.

As an aside, Stephen had gone to a bike race in Slovenia on Saturday and did a great job . There were approximately 200 entrants in the race, it was about 80 kilometers long and he didn’t know the course or understand the language or the race protocol. The race finished without a banner across the road or any notice the race had finished… so he stopped racing when he saw other bikers sitting on the side of the road eating donuts and drinking hot cider (on a 75+ degree day). Pretty funny experience.

Today’s ride was 50-miles through the tiny towns and up and down the local hills I have come to love during my stay here. It was another picture-perfect sunny day, about 70 degrees, a light breeze and hardly any traffic on the roads I chose to ride. I started in Ŝempeter pri Gorica, went to Vrtojba, then to Miren. Out of Miren there was a 200 meter climb, which I did very poorly on. I turned to go through Lokvica then to Kostanjevica where the guesthouse/hotel patio was full of locals enjoying Sunday afternoon drinks in the warm sun. In such a tiny town, I was easily identified as “not local ”. My American “Joyride” bike shop jersey was also a dead giveaway that I am not a European cyclist.

I went on through Koman to Kobjeglava and climbed up to Ŝtanjel (where I was a few days ago, but approached from the other side). The downhill from Ŝtanjel is one of my favorite rides, swooping through the trees and around tight corners. Arriving to the valley floor, I took a small road to the left – a secret biking paradise Stephen found earlier in the year ant told me about. No traffic at all for about 6 miles.

On the way home I planned to stop at the home of the local bike club president, Branca Rutar. He rides with the Goriŝka Brda club, which is sponsored by the largest winery in the region – the same place I visited a few days ago. To get to his house I could ride the known route … or choose an unknown “shortcut” and save so me miles and a couple steep climbs. Of course I decided to try the shortcut.

The shortcut certainly saved some distance but sent me on the steepest climb of my trip. Luckily the hill was short so I only got a chance to complain to myself for about 20 minutes. I reached the valley on the other side of the mountain out of breath and ready to rest for awhile. Branca and his wife graciously let me collapse on their lawn and brought out snacks for me to devour. It was interesting to hear Branca and his wife talk about their jobs and lives with ease yet constantly apologize for their “poor ” English. The truth is, they speak better English than many native speakers do. I have found that to be the case with many Slovenians and Italians I met on this trip. They don’t realize their English is completely acceptable and they would have no problem functioning in the US.

After about an hour I looked at my watch. It was 6 p.m. and cooling off fast, so I decided to head home . I was thrilled to find out from Branca there was a shortcut back home and took this unknown road without any fear of an unknown “killer” hill looming ahead . I realized as I put my bike away, this would probably be my last ride on this trip.

I’ve learned a lot about biking in Europe. The most important things are that 1)Europeans treat bikers with respect, and, 2) another trip like this is mandatory for me.