tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27839529636062674972024-03-05T11:20:11.137+01:00Orient Express 2013Brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16056962046807596227noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783952963606267497.post-55426240589821250282013-09-30T21:15:00.000+02:002013-09-30T21:17:54.174+02:00Ride Wrap-up<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I've been delaying this final ride entry. I'm not sure why exactly why it's taken so long, the final day of the ride was Aug 25 and I arrived home Aug 28th. That makes it a month since the end of the ride. I figure that writing this last post is me admitting that the summer adventure is over and it's time to complete the re-entry into my real life.<br />
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I'll tell you, returning after such an adventure takes a bit of time to reorient yourself when you get home. I'm not sure if I'm really ready to say that I'm even back at this point, but I need to do a final trip entry.<br />
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When I got home, I had my bike reassembled and ready to ride, but I couldn't bring myself to clean the bike, washing off dirt and mud that had accumulated since Vienna. The layers of dirt contain a brief history of countries that we had ridden through. Last week I needed to bring the bike into the shop to have the chain replaced and to have a post-ride inspection, so I reluctantly took out the hose, gathered the cleaning soap and brushes and gave the bike a good scrubbing. In the end, the bike was sparking clean with gears shining in the sunlight, but the accumulated road dirt, the history of the ride, was running down the driveway into the drain.<br />
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One the goals for this trip was to push the boundaries of my concept of "foreign". To me, foreign is just some place that you haven't been or don't understand. I guess I've been using my bicycle to push back the what is foreign for a while now. When I first started to <a href="http://www.coxintl.com/" target="_blank">travel via bicycle</a>, even many of the states in the US were foreign to me. When traveling from coast to coast in the US, many of the states were what are commonly called fly-over states. States that you fly over when traveling from the East coast to the West. Each time you travel, especially by bike, the places you travel, becomes more familiar and less foreign.<br />
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This trip we biked 8 countries, only one (France) that I had been in before. So each new kilometer and new country, my concept of foreign was pushed back. Maybe that is one of the most enjoyable aspects of traveling by bike. Push back the boundaries that are unfamiliar and possibly foreign, test what you are capable of and perhaps become a bit healthier for it.<br />
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Was as so fortunate to be able to share the experience with such a great group of folks. Thank you everyone.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783952963606267497.post-46622088014110102612013-09-10T02:53:00.000+02:002013-09-11T17:35:51.565+02:00Tour Summary Video<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Click on the video below is view a summary of the Tour:<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783952963606267497.post-64940354153244026252013-08-25T15:47:00.003+02:002013-09-03T05:45:04.137+02:00One last ride<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Last riding day of the tour, what can I say? After riding with almost 30 people on a daily basis for the past 50 days, it will be hard to say goodbye. The ride was pretty short, just over 50 kilometers. At that point we boarded a ferry for an hour long ride into Istanbul and to the Hotel where TDA is putting us up for an evening at the <a href="http://goo.gl/X3svYq" target="_blank">Princess Hotel</a>.<br />
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The trip itself was a continuation of the highway that we were on yesterday with more ups and downs. A real treat was in the town of Gokturk where we found the first Starbucks since Vienna! Oh a Granda Latte never tasted so good. Strange, we've been in Turkey for 4 days now and have not found the famed Turkish coffee. Every place we stop for coffee serves us instant Nescafe.<br />
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After Gokturk, it is ride through a busy town of Kemerburgaz and through a forest road that climbed and climbed until we dropped down to the ferry was to pick us up and take us to the hotel. The entire group got there before the ferry arrived and we had a chance to celebrate the completion of the ride with dunking of tires and pictures, pictures and more pictures.<br />
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The ferry arrived and the riders and staff enjoyed a leisurely ride to about a block from the hotel. We've since packed up our bikes and the group will have one final dinner this evening and that will complete the ride.<br />
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It's been wonderful, it's been an adventure and it's expanded my horizons. Calling it a trip of a lifetime would not be an overstatement.<br />
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I'm likely to have a couple more posts and when I get home, I'll figure out how to post the photos that I've been having issues with posting. So until then, Happy Biking,<br />
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Brian<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783952963606267497.post-15038908977087872552013-08-24T17:54:00.001+02:002013-09-03T05:09:05.280+02:00Last full day of riding<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I was figuring that since we were moving south from the mountains and along the Black Sea that the amount of feet climbed would be pretty low. I was wrong. Though the maximum elevation never exceeded ~1400 feet, the accumulated elevation gained was greater than 4650 feet. Though we had some very nice downhill descents.<br />
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Though we departed Vuze with a lot of commercial traffic on pretty rough surface, the courtesy shown by the drivers was not a one time event. Generally traffic passing us gave us warning beeps and room as they passed. The on coming traffic also acknowledged us by beeping and waving to us. A very nice biking experience.<br />
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After the town of Saray the traffic thinned and the road began is have protective trees on either side, that helped to protect us from the cross winds. All day long we had the wind. Sometimes headwinds, sometimes crosswinds and even tail winds on some occasions.<br />
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We arrived on at the hotel, which is a very nice resort, after working our way through a lot of road construction. Turkey is creating a huge 6 line highway, 3 lanes in each direction, and we need to work our away amount the construction signs. Being Saturday, there was no construction.<br />
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Tonight is the last night of the tour with tomorrow being the last ride, about 51km then a ferry ride into Istanbul. The destination that seemed so far distant 7 weeks ago, will be under our wheels. 8 countries in 7 weeks, that's quite an adventure. I've learned from past bike rides, that it will some time to "process" the trip.<br />
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Well that's it for now, Happy Biking,<br />
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Brian<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783952963606267497.post-12953707324106226162013-08-22T21:06:00.004+02:002013-09-03T04:51:48.163+02:00Up over the border we go....<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I guess borders are drawn between counties base on several different factors, but today we found that the border between Turkey and Bulgaria was drawn based on a mountain range. So we climbed at the beginning of the ride over a mountain to get to the border where we got a visa to enter Turkey (15 euros) and after having it stamped and inspected at the entrance gate, we were in.<br />
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Each country that is entered, I don't have a clue what to expect and try not to have any expectations. I want to experience the country for what it has to offer, not what I want it to offer.<br />
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Upon entering Turkey, we had a quick down hill followed by another climb. The roads were the best that we've seen in a very long time. Newly paved, wide shoulders and beautiful views.<br />
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The first town wasn't until about 40 km into the ride. It was called Kirklareli. We pulled into town and as it turned out, it was a pretty good sized town. A couple of kilometers into the town center and shops, bakeries and lots of traffic. Several shops were selling gold jewelry and I guess we'll see more of that as the trip progresses. The bakery was a treat. The first fresh pastries that we had in several weeks. We also looking forward to tasting "Turkish Delight" that everyone has been talking about.<br />
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With the first pastry stop out of the way, it was time to push on to lunch about 20 more kilometers (a bit over 12 miles). By this time, the wind was picking up and it wasn't in our favor. Sometimes a headwind, sometimes a cross wind, but never a tail wind. Our pace dropped off rapidly.<br />
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After lunch it was more of the same but with some uphills and downhills to add some variety to the day all the way to the town of Vize.<br />
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The most striking thing about Turkey so far is the people. We saw the most curious and friendly folks on the road today. Sometimes you will be riding and occasionally a drive will give you a quick beep of his horn to let you know that he's behind you and well be passing shortly. But most of the time drivers will step on the gas and go blasting pass you and not give you any room on the road at all!!<br />
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Today drivers behind us not only gave us some breathing room, but drivers of cars and trucks would often give us friendly toots and blink their lights and wave as they passed. All very nice. I hope that it continues.<br />
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We also had two drivers in particular go above and beyond the call of duty. At one point a dog started to bark and chase me (not the first time on this trip), and much to my surprise, a car behind me pulled his car off the road and on to the shoulder effectively putting a block between the dog and me. When he saw that I had peddled out of danger, he pulled back on to the road and gave me a toot as continued to drive down the road. Wow I have never had that experience before.<br />
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A second driver pulled off to the side of the road to ask if he could help when one our riders had a flat. Maybe the courtesies that we saw today won't be repeated in the future, but it sure was a very nice introduction to a country that I hope to enjoy visiting.<br />
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That all for today, Happy Biking,<br />
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Brian<br />
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The trip today was a short ride, just about 80 km bringing us just short of the Turkey border. Just 8 km from the start we turned on to a quite road that lasted until lunch at the 48 km point. The road was fairly neglected but for our bikes that was just fine. Take a look at the elevation plot by click on "view details" of the Garmin plot to view the ups and downs of the day. The accumulated climb for the day was over 4000 feet.<br />
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The border crossing into Turkey is only 7 km away and we'll be making it tomorrow morning. The border is heavily patrolled in this area of the county since it's the frontier with the European Union. It seems that lots of folks have been trying to cross illegally from Turkey to Bulgaria and therefor into the EU.<br />
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Some of our riders were stopped today by the border petrol today even though we were over 40 km from the Turkey border at that point. <br />
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That's about it for now.<br />
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Happy Biking,<br />
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Brian<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783952963606267497.post-28966026895774211192013-08-20T17:22:00.000+02:002013-09-03T04:25:59.240+02:00Aug 20th 2013<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783952963606267497.post-20112916363058851032013-08-19T17:19:00.000+02:002013-09-03T04:08:34.880+02:00aug 19th 2013<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783952963606267497.post-54720185750544219472013-08-17T17:10:00.003+02:002013-08-19T17:16:04.906+02:00Miles and miles of Sunflowers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Days like today are the reason I enjoy these bike trips. This morning started with a steep climb from the Hotel to the main road. A short distance, then a jog to a small road and that's all we saw of the busy roads today. For the majority of the ride we were on small secondary farm roads passing grazing live stock and miles and miles of agricultural. Some corn but mostly sunflowers. Miles and miles of sunflowers. They had all passed their prime and the huge seed heads were hanging limply on the stalks because of their sheer weight. I don't know anything about sunflowers, but my guess is that the farmers are allowing the seeds to dry a bit before harvesting them.<br />
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The roads climbed and dropped quite a bit and we accumulated over 1500 meters (~5000 feet) during the course of the day.<br />
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There was one point of the day where after a rest stop, the road started a long downhill and on either side was sunflower fields stretching as far as the eye could see. We were coasting with the warm wind wrapping around our arms and legs as we went. The wind wicked away all sweat keeping us dry as we went even though if we were to stop of a couple of minutes, you would be drenching in sweat.<br />
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We were just out of town when we came upon an unexpectedly large hill, take a look at the Garmin plot below. Up and up we went. The hill was pretty steep and being at the end of the ride, it took a lot out of us. But he rewarding downhill into town was really enjoyable and as we entered the town we discovered very large castle walls with a castle high upon a mountain peak.<br />
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After that, it was one more hill into town and we quickly found the hotel.<br />
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We're planning on exploring the town and the castle tomorrow.<br />
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Happy Biking,<br />
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Brian<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783952963606267497.post-50558433318953807442013-08-16T14:20:00.004+02:002013-08-16T16:46:01.353+02:00Goodbye Romania, Hello Bulgaria!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
How can you have any concerns in the world when you are lounging in a lovely hotel that would serve as a ideal location for a corporate retreat? The informal hotel is located in a middle of a forest on the edge of the<br />
Danube River. We diverged from the Danube weeks ago and now in Bulgaria we have reconverted in the wonderful environment.<br />
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The day started off with the day gray and overcast as we got on our bikes. Bucharest is a big city that does not have any accommodations for bikes and we had to convoy out together for the first 10 kilometers or so. The group needed to stop and regroup an number of times as traffic and traffic lights separated the riders.<br />
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Finally we left the street cars and buses behind and the traffic began to thin out. The tension of riding through the traffic and riding in tight formation required one thing, go fast. The road was pretty much a major road connecting to Bulgaria, but the surface was largely smooth and the shoulder was wide. Plus there was a "rabbit" in the distance.<br />
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When you're biking sometime you can see a rabbit ( another biker ). Like a greyhound chasing a little bunny around a race track, you feel a need to catch up to the rabbit. The rabbit was moving at a nice clip and after maybe 30 minutes or so, we caught up and passed the rabbit just to see another rabbit further ahead. I was a lot of fun and got use to the Bulgaria border in no time.<br />
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A quick stop for coffee then a lunch stop then the border crossing resulted in entering Bulgaria pretty early. I'm guessing 11:30 or so. The town on the Bulgaria is called Ruse and our hotel is just on the far side of the town. A stop for exchange of Romanian money for Bulgaria money was needed as was a trip to the ATM for additional cash. Please don't ask about the exchange rate, after a while it's all just monopoly money anyway.<br />
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A stop for coffee and soft drinks was in the game plan followed by stop at a market for some fruit and cookies for the hotel. We then traveled on to the hotel, only a couple more kilometers.<br />
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A quick turn followed by a couple of steep drops deposited us on the steps of the hotel.<br />
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That's it for now. Our ride tomorrow is likely to be more adventurous, but today was just plain fun.<br />
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Happy Biking,<br />
<br />
Brian<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783952963606267497.post-82083441019082614362013-08-14T20:40:00.000+02:002013-08-14T20:43:47.894+02:00into Bucharest<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Fairly short day today, only ~85 km (~ 53 miles). The roads into Bucharest are very busy so our tour leader, Shanny, found some quiet alternate roads which we appreciated. The updated route took us through several small villages that we would never have seen and experienced had we been on the busy thoroughfare.<br />
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Oh we also left the mountains behind us. The ride was mostly downhill with the wind occasionally to our backs. The Garmin recorded only 95 meters (~310 feet) all day long. All in all a very easy day.<br />
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I'm very happy with how well our bikes are holding up on the ride. Except for being very dusty, the bikes are in good shape. If I can find a high pressure hose during tomorrow's rest day, I'll clean the bike.<br />
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Chet and I have gotten in the habit of taking a quick spin around town early in the morning on our days off. Usually it's only a couple of miles, but it gives us a chance to survey the town before it wakes up.<br />
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That's it for today, Happy Biking,<br />
<br />
Brian<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783952963606267497.post-36983174727472220372013-08-13T16:38:00.002+02:002013-08-13T17:11:54.107+02:00up, down, up, down, up, down, down, down<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Today was a day to put some miles between the start and the finish. We started off in the cool morning air (about 68 degrees F) and headed north through the busy morning traffic. It was a relief to get on to a road with less traffic. The many trucks and cars were a feature of today's ride almost constantly however.<br />
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If you click he Garmin information ("view details") you will note that we had many ups and downs in the first half of the ride. It turns out that each of the downhills were into a small town located near a small river. The ups were climbs to a plateau before repeating the process again.<br />
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The climbs were complete as we reached the lunch stop at about 70 km. After lunch it was mostly downhill and often had the help of a tail-wind. If you take the traffic and the bumpy roads out of the equation, it was a very nice ride today.<br />
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Happy Biking,<br />
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Brian<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783952963606267497.post-79370398099229729002013-08-12T19:41:00.000+02:002013-08-12T20:56:58.530+02:00What goes up, must come down<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
We spent the night at the top of the Transfaragasan Pass last night. As we were finishing dinner the skies opened up and it just started to pour, then the fog moved in and it continued to pour. I didn't know that it was possible to have it rain so hard and be foggy at the same time.<br />
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However this morning we woke to blue skies and absolutely calm air, but pretty chilly at the upper 40's. Yesterday we came up the northern face of the pass and today we went through a almost 1 km long tunnel to pop out on the southern face of the pass. The roads on this side were almost as crazy as the northern side.<br />
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We flew down the winding strips of road in the cool air. Like yesterday, the upper 10 km was above treeline and we continued to drop as through the forest. We were almost 17 km from the top before we were required to start peddling again. The cool air had chilled our legs so much it was difficult to start climbing even the most modest incline, but on we went.<br />
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The morning coffee was at a small cafe buried in the forest on the edge of a lake. A very nice stop that called for two cups of coffee and cookies before continuing the ride.<br />
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The rest of the ride was descending for the rest of the day and went fairly quickly.<br />
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We're coming to the realization that the ride is starting to come to an end. The total trip is 40 riding days. After today, we have 10 days remaining. Still time to have fun, but it's a reminder to take our time and enjoy each mile/kilometer because we may never pass this way again.<br />
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Gotta finish this blog up, 'cause tomorrow if going to be a long ride and I need my rest.<br />
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Happy Biking,<br />
<br />
Brian<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783952963606267497.post-32313130788817543742013-08-11T19:18:00.000+02:002013-08-12T20:22:32.958+02:00Crank, Crank, Crank, up the mountain we go!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
We woke today with the skies clearing from a downpour last night. As I was slipping off to sleep last night you could hear the thunder in the distance and through the tent, see occasional flashes of lightening.<br />
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The storm must have been a weather front coming through because this morning the air was cool and fresh. A nice change from the past weeks.<br />
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The ride today is to the top of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transf%C4%83g%C4%83r%C4%83%C8%99an" target="_blank">Transfagarasan Highway</a>. A crazy set of switchback that climb over 5,300 feet in less that 30 kilometers (~20 miles). We’re staying on the peak tonight in a hotel.<br />
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To get to the base of the climb we left the campground and peddled about 10 kilometers (~6 miles) through fields with the range of mountains growing higher with each peddle revolution. We tried to pick out the road as we got closer, but the dense forest hide it from us.<br />
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The forested road started to bend up slowly before the switchbacks started to appear. We must have been in the forest for several kilometers as we gained attitude because at one point and opening appered in the trees and you could view a valley below that went all the way down to the plains where we had started the climb.<br />
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At 20 kilometers (1/2 way) we came upon a tourist trap at the bend of the road that had nick-nacks, hats, coffee and sandwiches. We just had to stop. Within 10-15 minutes we had a gathering of 7 or 8 riders all drinking coffee and snacking on bread-like concoction that is rapped on a cylinder and roasted over coals and then covered in cinnamon and sugar. Then after a while it was time to continue up the hill. There was no need to hurry. The distance wasn't too long and we wouldn't be passing this way again, so just spin the peddles and make it to the top at a comfortable rate.<br />
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As we climbed you could look up and see where the next set of switchback would bring you to and the difference in height seemed incredible!! But with time you would be at the point that you had seen 20 minutes previous and be amazed at the progress!!<br />
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With about 10 kilometers to go, we popped about treeline and could see the final 10 km of switchbacks laid out in front of us. I would be lying if I told you that I wasn't intimidated by the sight. But I kept in mind that the pitch of the road was likely to be similar to what we had already done and it wasn't going to be much worst. Also the weather had been on our side as well. The temperature was a perfect 60-65 degrees F and the sky was still overcast keeping the sun from beating down on us, which was fortunate because from not to the top we were exposed without any tree cover or shade.<br />
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I don’t think that the photos can capture the beauty of the vista as we completed the climb but as we got higher and higher, the road below started to remind me of slot car tracks that we had as children with the road winding up the mountain like discarded Christmas ribbon after the presents are opened.<br />
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Messages painted on the road started to count down as we approached the top; 3 km, 2 km, 1 km, 300 meters as our stops to take photos increased. There was no need to hurry. It was close to noon and lunch awaited us at the top. Finally 100 meters message rolled under our tires, a quick turn and we found ourselves in the middle of a completely unexpected set of tourist trap stands and the roadway blocked with cars all of them blocking our progress. Shirley was mixed in with the crowd directing us to the lunch stop. We had to dismount and walk our way through the combination of cars and people to find our way to the end of the ride.<br />
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Well gotta go, tomorrow will be a longer day and I need to get to bed.<br />
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Happy Biking,<br />
<br />
Brian<br />
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There are many ways to tour with a bike. Some folks add saddlebags to their bikes, grab a map and head off on a trip. This type of touring is called unsupported. If anything happens on the road, you’re on your own. Most people that tour unsupported enjoys the flexibility and price that this type of tour allows.<br />
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I prefer a supported ride where a company carries your bags, provides your meals and handles the routing of the trip. The trips can be reasonable on a day to day basis, but the reason I like this type of touring is that all you have to do is get on the bike and ride. Everything else is pretty much taken care of. Today, my trusty bike developed a small ticking sound down in the pedal assembly called the bottom bracket. I had it rebuilt last summer (about 5000 miles ago). A bad bearing in the bottom bracket could pretty much leave you stuck on the side of the road. I brought it into camp and had our bike mechanic Peter look at it. He dissembled the assembly and re-tightened everything, fixing the problem.<br />
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That’s what I mean by support. If I was on a self supported tour, I would have to find a bike shop and visit them when they are open (I wonder how many shops are open on a Saturday evening?) and hope that they had a qualified mechanic that could fix it right then.<br />
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Well that it for now, Happy Biking,<br />
<br />
Brian<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783952963606267497.post-25768309275961243492013-08-10T16:36:00.005+02:002013-08-13T17:29:21.392+02:00Fortified Church<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
We left the campground and retracted the path that we took yesterday, which meant an immediate climb of 4 km before descending into Medias then catching the road to Agnita. Generally it was a pleasant ride with nice views.<br />
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The local attractions were limited today. We did stop at a “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biertan" target="_blank">fortified church</a>” in Biertan. These facilities were built in the 1300’s by imported labor from Germany, called “Saxons”. The church is undergoing renovation, but at a very slow pace.<br />
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We stopped in the town of Agnita before lunch. Where in countries like Germany and Austria, it seemed that each village was quaint with cobble stone town centers, this is not the case with Romania. The towns reminded me of run down villages that you might find in Mexico with many improvement projects (water, sewers, roads, etc.) started but no oblivious signs of completion in the near future. Most of the projects look abandoned ½ through. We grabbed a pasty and coke before heading on to lunch.<br />
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Following lunch the asphalt road turned to gravel for about 12 km, it was the first time on this trip that I wish that I had a mountain bike with fat tires rather than my road bike with skinny tires. But we trundled on bouncing over the gravel and trying to avoid the pot holes.<br />
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With a couple of miles to before the campsite, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpathian_Mountains" target="_blank">Carpathian mountain range</a> came into view. Tomorrow we’re going to climb them and we’re all looking forward to the challenge.<br />
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That’s it for now, Happy Riding<br />
<br />
Brian<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783952963606267497.post-76135341335484860292013-08-09T19:52:00.003+02:002013-08-13T20:23:17.551+02:00A wonderful day<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Wonderful day, but busy traffic leaving town for the first 9 km. Felt like we were caught in the early morning rush hour traffic. After 9 km we turned off on a more quiet secondary road where we still encountered trucks and cars, but at least with less frequency.<br />
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The scenery while we were on the secondary roads was pretty nice with fields laid out in front of us and rolling mountains in the background. The small cities were difficult to navigate with traffic darting out in front of us and cutting us off every which way.<br />
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We also hit a lot of road construction that was very dicey for the us on the bikes. We found a picturesque town square ringed with cafes where we had coffee and Cokes.<br />
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We arrived at the campground about 2PM where we found most of the other riders in the swimming pool cooling off from the hot day. The rest of the day was spent in and out of the pool and lounging in the shade by the trees and napping in the hammock. Just a wonderful way to spend the afternoon.<br />
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That’s it for now,<br />
<br />
Brian<br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783952963606267497.post-82774257951411920852013-08-08T15:54:00.001+02:002013-08-08T15:54:33.300+02:00Tires<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I've been getting some questions regrading the type of tires that I'm running on the bike and how many flats I've gotten so far.<br />
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As you may know, we've been traveling over some rough roads and many times on gravel for long distances. The tour company recommended a minimum of 35 mm tires. 35 mm refers to the width of the tire. The configuration of my bike limits me to 25 mm maximum, so it was either buy a new bike or take a risk and run it with the widest tires possible. I chose to risk it.<br />
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My bike shop recommenced <a href="http://forum.slowtwitch.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=2650392" target="_blank">Maxxis RE-FUSE 700x25C</a> so I bought 3 tires. The rear tire needed to be replaced any way, so installed it and that was 1,800 miles ago. Despite the rough riding, the tires still are in pretty good shape. I think that they will complete the tour.<br />
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On the front I have a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv79yBRCtBw" target="_blank">700x23 Continental GatorSkin</a> tire. I installed it while touring last summer. Despite having about 2,500 miles at the time, the tire still looked great so I didn't replace it, but I threw the two remaining Maxxis RE-FUSE tires into my bags just in case I need them while on tour.<br />
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My guess is that I'll be returning home without needing to change the tires, but we'll see. I need to complete 8 more days in Romania, 7 days in Bulgaria and 3 in Turkey (about 750 miles).<br />
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Happy Biking,<br />
<br />
Brian<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783952963606267497.post-84996723972645260582013-08-08T09:00:00.000+02:002013-08-08T09:00:02.628+02:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl7iPYmHqqikyJ5Cj6jIrmRrAwUAt1ePxGnEypDpu0cFEI4N4pw0CxMD4_ts634cKuVkIIvrEJJJa6IY4GVjOFQj4cNDhgydtpJCiDDg4cFhFvZjzFzJYXexLKBgHTqBlNg6ZvOUCHI90/s1600/transfag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl7iPYmHqqikyJ5Cj6jIrmRrAwUAt1ePxGnEypDpu0cFEI4N4pw0CxMD4_ts634cKuVkIIvrEJJJa6IY4GVjOFQj4cNDhgydtpJCiDDg4cFhFvZjzFzJYXexLKBgHTqBlNg6ZvOUCHI90/s1600/transfag.jpg" /></a>There is much anticipation about a ride in a couple of days (Sunday Aug 11th). The ride will be up winding road called the "Transfagarasan Highway" which Top Gear has dubbed; "<a href="http://vimeo.com/8010978" target="_blank">The Best Road in the World</a>".<br />
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Of course they drove on the road with super sports cars and we'll be peddling up it with our bikes, but it will be a challenge and possibly the most difficult road that I have ever biked. I just can't wait.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783952963606267497.post-1691643677348141512013-08-07T20:20:00.001+02:002013-08-07T20:20:24.177+02:00Where in the heck is Alba Iulia?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Today was a day to start getting back into climbing shape. Wonderful cool start. About 60 degrees F to begin with and staying below 70 until 2 1/2 hours into the ride. Almost all the climbing was done under perfect conditions. The total feet gained was almost 4000 feet. The midpoint of the ride was also the top of the climb and where the lunch stop was.<br />
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After lunch it was a great swooping downhill with hairpin switchbacks in tree covered roads. The road surface varied greatly from smooth, almost new asphalt, to bone shaking pothole pitted beat up road.<br />
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As we descended into Alba Iulia the temperature had heated up and we were facing headwinds, but after awhile we were to our <a href="http://www.hotelparc.ro/" target="_blank">hotel</a>. A very nice place. Tomorrow we'll explore the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alba_Iulia" target="_blank">town</a> a bit.<br />
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Happy Biking,<br />
<br />
Brian<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783952963606267497.post-81424619868727119272013-08-06T16:45:00.000+02:002013-08-07T14:33:58.442+02:00Bopping into Brad<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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With entry into Romanian the timezone changed by an hour so we needed wake up an hour earlier. It was nice and cool this morning with many of the riders wearing jackets. After the past several days of fighting the traffic and the winds, the quiet winding roads with ascending rolling grades was invigorating.<br />
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Thirty km was the coffee stop before lunch. A small cafe with a general store attached. We lingered a bit longer that usual, having a second cup as other riders joins us and we devoured snacks from the general store.<br />
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As you can tell from reading this blog, we have a pretty simple daily routine; get up and have breakfast; bike some and have coffee and snacks; bike to lunch; have more afternoon snacks; arrive in camp; shower up and look for ice cream and something cold to drink. Not a bad way of spending a vacation as we travel through wonderful communities and experience wonderful views and interact on a personal basis with the local folks. I think that biking really allows us to be a bit closer to experiencing a country more than just about any other way short of walking.<br />
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Well gotta go. It's getting late and we have one more day of riding before a rest day on the 8th.<br />
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Happy Biking,<br />
<br />
Brian<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783952963606267497.post-58496773676038843942013-08-06T15:17:00.003+02:002013-08-06T16:47:52.529+02:00Hungary to Romaina<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It was a short hop from our campgrounds to the Hungary boarder with Romaina. It was the first time on this trip that we had a boarder crossing that guards were present. We needed out passports to enter.<br />
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Once past the crossing we were placed on a very busy two lane road that had large trucks rushing past us at 60 MPH+ only inches away. The slipstream had us alternately sucked toward the trucks, then pushed away as they sped by us. If the trucks weren't pushing us around, the head and crosswinds were. So you can say that our introduction to Romania was not the most welcoming.<br />
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About 30 Km into the ride we pulled into a small town that was able to change the Hungarian money into Romanian money and also had an ATM to get fresh Romanian money. We also had a cup of coffee before heading off on a more quiet road to lunch which was at the 61 Km mark.<br />
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Since the day was less than 100 Km, that placed us at past the ½ way mark.<br />
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As the day progressed we ran into many small towns, some with small cafes some without. We also came across several horse drawn farm carts as you will see in the photos below. Kinda surprising to see horses still being used in this fashion.<br />
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We pulled into a cafe about 12 km from the end for some cokes just to cool off before finishing up the ride. It had started to get pretty warm and the cool drinks went down pretty quickly.<br />
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Tonight's stop is at a motel where we're camping on the back lawn near the brook and not too far away from the chickens and pigs. A pretty nice setup anyway.<br />
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That's about it for today. Happy Biking,<br />
<br />
Brian<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783952963606267497.post-74464991866473339022013-08-04T18:04:00.001+02:002013-08-08T15:19:44.813+02:00Hot with Head Winds<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The temperature has been creeping up the past couple of days. Check the Garmin plot below to see the temperature over the course of the day. The winds that have been so friendly the past couple of days has turned a bit unfriendly today with headwinds and crosswinds much of the day, slowing our cruising speed down to 15 MPH from 17-18 MPH that we were were traveling recently.<br />
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The road conditions were mixed as well. With some wonderful smooth conditions and some roads terribly broken up with the bikes jumping from pot hole to pot hole.<br />
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But we arrived OK, and the campground has WiFi, showers and shade, very nice.<br />
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We'll gotta go, Happy Biking,<br />
<br />
Brian<br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783952963606267497.post-67491826593559114482013-08-03T17:12:00.003+02:002013-08-03T21:07:16.832+02:00Out of Budapest<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We reluctantly left Budapest today. More days in this grand city would have been great. We took the evening boat cruise the first evening there and toured city on foot Friday.<br />
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The morning exit from the city along the busy city streets. We departed convoy style all 25 or so in one group all wearing out our safety vests for the first 20 kilometers or so. Not since Paris have we seen such a huge expanse of suburbia from a major city with the same lousy road that I described in my last blog (link).<br />
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As we moved out into the more rural areas, the traffic decreased and the roads improved and the fun really began. We started to move along at a nice steady clip of 17-18 Miles per hour through some very beautiful flat country with farms on each side and many fields of sunflowers.<br />
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I'm biking with two sets of computer on my handle bars. On the left hand side I have my Garmin set up to readout in kilometers to match the map directions and on the right hand side, my cycle computer set up in as miles to match the setting that I used to prepare for this ride. <br />
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We'll it's time for dinner, gotta go, Happy Biking,<br />
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Brian<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1