Oct 1, 2022

Stage 23 of 36, day 27 of 43: 93.1 km, 553m climb, 3:36 Moving, 3:42 Total,  54.8 kph max

Country	Distance	Climbing
Slovenia	352.2	5149
Italy	29.3	346
Croatia	950.9	11,430
Bosnia & Herzegovina	211.0	1444
Montenegro	29.3	185
Albania	392.9	5242
Total	1965.6	23,796

The second night at the campground in Berat wasn’t as good as the first. We had rain on and off and the dogs and other animals seemed louder. But still I slept 6 hours total and started packing up at 6:30. It was raining a little at breakfast and packing wet tents is never fun. But that’s life. And we had banana pancakes. The thick black clouds were dramatic, and it rained right before we left at 8, but then stopped so I started out jacket-less.

The road out of town was smooth and maybe slightly downhill and we had a tailwind so the pack I was in cruised at 37-39. The pavement was wet and dirty so I got speckled with mud but the kilometers passed quickly.

It rained a bit a couple of times but I didn’t bother stopping and changing clothes – once you’re wet you just keep going. Lunch was supposed to be just after a bridge at 60 km and the bridge came just after a long construction zone, muddy, bumpy and slow. The bridge itself was pretty crazy, broken, barely passable by motorcycles, not by cars, but fine for gravel bikes. I waited for the others when I got back to the pavement but no one came. And there was no sign of the lunch truck so I continued on.

Soon I was getting near the end, riding through the beach resort town of Vlorë. I don’t know if this is for real but we always talk about the Albanian Riviera – this is it. Simo caught me 5 km from the campground. He has Covid and it was a big effort for him to do the whole ride – tough guy. We finished together to find no one and no trucks at the campsite. I bought us drinks and we sat outside in the nice breeze watching the water, glad the riding was over. It was only 11:40am.

More riders finished and it turned out lunch was at the 80 km mark but many skipped it. Ype told me the delays of shopping and the slow roads made it impossible to get there in time. Tom, Peter and I walked down the beach (rocky but pretty other than the trash) to a restaurant Tom swore was open. But every place was closed. We did find a store that was open, but no power, just as at our campground. We bought some more drinks and snacks and ate by the water.

Eventually the trucks arrived with our baggage, the firetruck with our tents last. We had cold showers, washed clothes, set up tents and relaxed chatting for a couple of hours. These shorter days are really nice for relaxing longer after the ride is done.

After some reading, it was time for dinner, another excellent meal, giant, tasty and fun. Now time to sleep for a long time!

Sept 29-30, 2022

Stage 20 of 36, day 25 of 43: 137.5 km, 1555m climb, 6:06 Moving, 6:53 Total,  62.8 kph max

Stage 21e of 36, day 26 of 43: 102.6 km, 1688m climb, 4:47 Moving, 5:50 Total,  60.4 kph max

Country	Distance	Climbing
Slovenia	352.2	5149
Italy	29.3	346
Croatia	950.9	11,430
Bosnia & Herzegovina	211.0	1444
Montenegro	29.3	185
Albania	299.8	4689
Total	1872.5	23,243

We had the option today of getting another one of our skipped stages back. There were two options but nobody took the hard one (136 km, 3352m/10,997′). After a hopeful breakfast under almost clear skies, most of us left at 8 with the weather quickly crapping out. We headed out of town, up a valley – the plan was to ride 50 km to the town of Çorovodë, have lunch, and return. The road rolled up and down, it drizzled a bit, but the real rain held off until we were maybe 3/4 of the way to Çorovodë. Just as I was about to stop for a jacket and food, I ran into the fast group, doing the same. We all continued in rain which petered out as we got close to the end. We passed Ype and Henk setting up lunch, and continued to the end of the track.

Çorovodë had some touristy places; our track ended up some switchbacks at a nice viewpoint. A local was playing guitar there with a big smile and three high school age girls were really cute and forward trying out their English with me.

I cruised down to lunch and ate well. The sun came out, went away, then came out for good. We had our first actual good weather in days for the return ride to Berat. I was surprised at how much prettier everything was in bright sun – the villages and countryside looked great.

I had a fun race with two big rock trucks on the descent, then before I knew it I was back. The shower at least started out warm today, and the beer was still cold and good. I sat in the garden with several riders writing this. I love how we can do these rides now and not really get tired and be fine for more riding the next day.

As of tomorrow we are back on schedule. We have three more stages in Albania plus a rest day, then we cross into our final country, Greece, on October 5.

Sept 29, 2022

Stage 20 of 36, day 25 of 43: 137.4 km, 1555m climb, 6:06 moving, 6:53 total, 63.7 kph max

The camp WiFi died once a dozen people arrived so this will be short. We left Tirana a day early and rode 137 km to the town of Berat. The first 15 km were in town, urban combat cycling. I was leading and it was nerve-wracking but I think everyone made it through ok.

Then we were out in the country and a big climb started around 30 km. Little traffic, good views, sprinkles of rain, all good.

The descent was fun then I stopped for banana ingestion before continuing to lunch at 87 km. Eating was great, then we continued. I saw I was about to be hit by a big storm and sure enough it started pouring. I took shelter in a friendly auto repair shop until it reduced. Then went ahead 500m and met Bob, Bob, Carien and Louis in an abandoned gas station. Soon we left in sprinkling rain which stopped and then the road even dried.

After 10 more km we did a final climb to the local famous castle, didn’t stop, then I blasted down a cobblestone road which was rough and took out a couple of riders. It was quick to camp and we set up tents in a pomegranate orchard with turkeys wandering around.

Beer and many snacks were consumed, along with Caroline’s Albanian rice soup. Then a cold shower and the sun 🌞 came out so I could dry things like my bike shorts. Not an easy day but a good one.

Sept 28, 2022

Stage 19e of 36, day 24 of 43: 59.8 km, 1446m climb, 3:28 Moving, 4:16 Total,  63.5 kph max

Country	Distance	Climbing
Slovenia	352.2	5149
Italy	29.3	346
Croatia	950.9	11,430
Bosnia & Herzegovina	211.0	1444
Montenegro	29.3	185
Albania	59.8	1446
Total	1632.5	20,000

If we had been able to stick to the schedule, today would’ve been the day we cycled to Tirana, the capital of Albania. Instead, we had been here for two nights but not cycled at all. So Wilbert, our fearless leader, sent out a couple of options for riding. Besides doing nothing, one was to downtown and back. The other two went up a long climb above town, one going over a ridge and out to a small town, and the other going up to the hotel at the top of the cable car. I chose this last one. The cable car route itself looked pretty great, climbing 800m in 4.6 km – the highest cable car in all the Balkans.

But no, it’s a cycling trip. After a Bike Dreams breakfast, Niek, Bob and I set out in a group after most of the others had left. We took the “dirt” option which avoided lots of crowded city riding. The 2 km section of dirt wasn’t that bad although a little muddy. It rained a little as we were getting ready but not on the ride.

We cruised around and connected with our bus route from yesterday briefly. Then up up up.

The grade wasn’t bad, under 10%, until we got to the final turnoff just below 800m. We had snacks and headed up the narrow one-lane paved road. It was steeper, up to 13 or 14%. But it was varied and the view down was great. Luckily there were few cars. Soon we were up on top and parked by a bunch of Bike Dreams bikes. We went inside and had a drink at the bar, then after everyone else left, we spent some time out at the viewing area looking down far to Tirana. The mini-golf course looked tempting but the weather was a bit cold and we gave it a miss.

We put on more clothes for the descent but they weren’t really needed. I said good-bye to Bob and Niek at the junction when they turned off to go explore the other route. I retraced my steps back to town, a gorgeous fun descent, and was back at the hotel quickly. 2:28 to climb up vs 1:16 to go down – there’s a fair amount of climbing on the descent too. I scored a Strava KOM on the dirt descent segment too. I had some snacks and wrote this up and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.

Dinner was a little difficult at first. Our neighborhood just isn’t where people stay. But none of us wanted a taxi mission. Four of us walked to a couple of restaurants to see what we could find. One very local place looked a little iffy but the friendly owner spoke English and I thought we were good. It turned out they only had pork, Greek salad and corn bread. I would’ve been ok with the salad and bread but two of the others also don’t eat pork and they all wanted French fries. So we bailed to a place called “Fast Food”, it ended up with 9 of us. Bob and I each had veggie pizzas that were big and good for 350 lek each ($2.90). No beer but we had already had sunset beers. Also no French fries except for the chicken sandwich Tom had. He swears that he watched old French fries being pulled out of a jar of water and added to his sandwich. We’re not 100% sure about that though. Anita gave us all Turkish Delight for dessert and all was good. Tomorrow we leave Tirana and continue the tour.

Sept 27, 2022

We had a whole rest day to spend in Tirana. Bob and I had a nice breakfast in the hotel then taxied downtown. It’s about a half hour drive but wasn’t expensive (under $9).

We looked around the main square, went in an old mosque, then walked over to Grand Park, a large and beautiful park. It wasn’t raining but the ground was wet and muddy.

Back in town we checked out the Resurrection of Christ Orthodox Cathedral which was pretty cool. Then on recommendation from a couple of our trip members we happened to meet, we went all through the House of Leaves. It used to be a clinic but was taken over by the State Security guys (Sigurimi). It’s a fascinating and very sad museum of taking paranoia about “The Enemy” way too far.

We needed a break but then it started raining so we walked over to the Bunk Art 2 museum, which is underground in an actual bunker and is large and depressing. It uses video and covers some of the same stuff as the House of Leaves and in the end, we had to escape.

We headed off to a nice restaurant nearby and had a good lunch for very little money. Tasty except the wine was kind of … (I said ‘Niek would send this back’). We didn’t stay too long since it was getting late and we wanted to go to Bunk Art 1, the craziest museum, built in a 5-storey massive underground bunker where Hoxha and his buddies would go in case of nuclear attack. Was he paranoid much?

The ticket lady said they kind of start closing around 5 so we stayed, wandering the corridors until 5:15. The place is amazing. First we walked through the special apartment where Hoxha and his wife would stay in the event of actually using the bunker.

All in all, it was quite an education. I left really feeling sorry for Albania as a country. I can’t tell if Hoxha and his cronies actually believed the BS that they were doing the right thing for their country and socialism is great. I’d like to hope so. In that case they were tragically wrong wrong wrong. If not they were simply terrible people.

We had a little excitement taking a taxi back downtown. The guy was not an actual taxi driver and made a call as soon as we got in. He then detoured up a hill and stopped “just for a minute”. We bailed not wanting to find out what he was up to. Maybe nothing but we took the bus instead. Downtown it was pouring so we jogged over to a restaurant I picked and had a nice filling dinner. The waiter called a taxi for us and the drive back took about 25 minutes. He spoke good English and it was great to be able to discuss what socialism is and whether or not Albania currently is run by a dictator [his opinion is yes].

Back at the hotel, everyone was there except for a few guys out drinking. It was great to hear how well the second shift had done and how they made it from Kotor to Tirana today – some by bus and some with Ype, but in 5 hours instead of the over 8 it took us yesterday. Hopes are high for some riding tomorrow.

Sept 26, 2022

Last night as we were getting ready to sleep, we got the news that the 19th, 20th and 21st stages had been cancelled due to weather (rain). Predictions for locations on our route were for 150mm (6″) per day. Instead we would ride in the vans to Tirana, Albania. All through the night it rained hard but just before 7 in the morning it let up for us to ride over to the campsite with our bags.

We had breakfast and Wilbert gave us the plan: take 17 of the riders to Tirana, then come back for the other 8 in a second shift. When I had looked late at night it was a bit over 4 hours one way, but in the morning it was saying 5+. It ended up taking over 8 hours. We packed up and the decision of who goes was settled by registration order, that is, signing up for the trip earlier is better. We piled bikes and bags in and took off in rain at 8:45.

After a while the rain let up, then started massively again. We stopped for a snack, then continued. Finally we got to the border and immediately we could see there was a problem. A long line of vehicles, end not visible, not moving. At all. While it wasn’t raining too much I walked up the line, over the border, but it ended up taking 90 minutes or so – no explanation, just slow.

We drove on, through periods of massive rain, I passed out for a while, then we stopped for a snack. Tom and Graham and Peter and I just had beers, then back in the van for more fun.

I passed out some more then woke up in a traffic jam in the suburbs of Tirana. It took forever but we finally arrived at the Hotel New York which turned out to be a pretty great place. Beer is cheap, the rooms are nice, it’s not crowded and they will even bring in food. First, Bike Dreams provided a bunch of snacks which was great, then we ordered dinner. My pizza came pretty quickly and was surprisingly good. Others were also impressed with their dinners, especially in weight per cost.

We have a rest day tomorrow and rain is predicted to stay strong all day. There is a plan to get everyone else here tomorrow, then we all have a rest day the next day.

Sept 25, 2022

Stage 18 of 36, day 21 of 43: 84.7 km, 1125m climb, 3:48 Moving, 4:36 Total,  64.4 kph max

Country	Distance	Climbing
Slovenia	352.2	5149
Italy	29.3	346
Croatia	950.9	11,430
Bosnia & Herzegovina	211.0	1444
Montenegro	29.3	185
Total	1572.7	18,554

Today marked the halfway point of the Balkan Boulevard tour in terms of ride stages, 18 out of 36. We crossed into our 5th country, Montenegro, number 64 for me. The weather forecasts have been the exact opposite of what you want to see: huge rain, coming inevitably. But even with a pretty late start today, we ended up only having a few small showers to ride through.

Then we headed south with a fair amount of up and down. We had some roads with lots of traffic and some without any. One really nice section was up high, around 350m, with masses of cypress trees around and a good view down to the sea.

We came to Ype and Henk just setting up for lunch at the 50 km mark. Even though it felt like every minute of non-raining time we wasted at lunch would be traded for riding in the rain later, it was great to stop and refuel.

Soon after lunch we came to the border. Getting out of Croatia took a few minutes, then maybe 2 km of no-mans land, then a similar wait to get into Montenegro. Arriving by road is nice and we haven’t had any South American style border crossing woes.

There were two small climbs but mostly fast cruising along the coastline, in and out of little bays, dodging people walking, riding or driving. As we got closer and closer to the goal, the speed crept up. Soon we were averaging 32, then 34, then 36. Blasting along in a tight line at nearly 40 kph was just great.

We pulled into the campsite, a bit short of Kotor itself. Bob and I had booked an apartment nearby due to the weather. We rode over (about 400m) and checked in. It’s a modern, nice place, very inexpensive, I guess because they close for the end of the season in two days. We got our keys and then rode back for lots of snacks and hot leek soup and drinks. Somehow on cool days I just don’t drink enough, so I had lots of orange juice, peanuts, along with cheese-bread, sour gummies, pretzels and the soup. A full meal is just what’s needed after these rides.

Back at the apartment we had showers and regretted having no dirty clothes to wash in our washing machine! I was on dinner duty so had to be back at camp at 5:30. After a couple of hours it was time to go and still, amazingly, not raining much.

Dinner tonight started with pasta salad with avocado and pineapple and basil. The main course was rice with a quite spicy sauce with lots of smoked tofu and veggies, flavored with lemongrass. Each plate had two big prawns on top. Dessert was cake with whipped cream and pomegranate. Choice of red or white wine (white FTW this time).

After dinner Wilbert described the ride tomorrow (wet and long) and then Chris gave the marmot presentation. He sang a Swiss song that was very well received, then passed the marmot on to Graham for having the nicest smile of anyone. Nice job!

Then I helped wash a million dishes and utensils and it was time to ride the 400m “home”. Unfortunately the rain kicked up to torrential and we just couldn’t stomach it. I suggested we try it naked since the human body is inherently waterproof but Bob rejected the idea. We hung around and then, during a lull, went for it. It was super dark and rainy and as soon as we arrived it started dumping even more. Now we have to make a judgement call: is relaxing in warm, dry comfort, listening to rain all night worth $26 each? We could’ve spent the night making sure nothing touches the tent walls and trying to not go out to pee. I think we did the right thing.

Sept 24, 2022

Even though it was a rest day, Niek, Bob and I were first in to breakfast when it opened at 6:59am. It was sumptuous and delicious, best yet on the trip. We ate massively then caught an uber to the old town. Our plan was to see the sights before it got too crowded, especially the famous walk around the old town walls.

It worked pretty well and was cool and uncrowded as we entered and climbed up to the wall. The view was great as we slowly made our way around the whole perimeter.

After a full circumnavigation, we walked through the Rector’s Palace, checked out a couple of museums, then headed up to the cable car up Mt Srd.

We had a good look around, then explored the Homeland War Museum, then started down, hiking the rocky trail back to town.

Once we were back down, Bob and I had lunch at a small restaurant then he wanted more museums and I wanted to relax. So I walked back to the hotel, gave my bike some love in the garage, then hung out for a couple of hours until it was time to plan out dinner. I found a place nearby and at 6:30 the three of us, plus our new Danish rider, Per, walked over and had a very nice dinner with wine, in the open air.

We walked back and then made another ice cream stop to try and use up all our kunas. I still have 20 left (about $2.50) so I can have another ice cream or drink during the ride to Montenegro tomorrow – we won’t cross the border until lunch time or so.

I love rest days, especially in great places like this. From here we have 2 nights in Montenegro, a night in Albania, then we arrive in the capital of Albania, Tirana, for our next rest day. Unfortunately the weather is forecast to be really wet during those days, but we’ve survived that before.

Sept 23, 2022

Stage 17 of 36, day 19 of 43: 146.4 km, 699m climb, 6:24 Moving, 7:52 Total,  62.4 kph max

Country	Distance	Climbing
Slovenia	352.2	5149
Italy	29.3	346
Croatia	896.5	10,490
Bosnia & Herzegovina	211.0	1444
Total	1489.0	17,629

Well, today was a tough but very fun day. We had two options, gravel and paved, and I’d say about half the people raised their hands at breakfast when asked if they were taking gravel. But in the end, nobody actually did the whole gravel track, and just a few of us did most of it. We left Mostar just before 8am, on a busy road with no shoulder. But soon we were cranking along on mostly empty roads in the cool morning air. I rode with the Dutch team to the gravel turn-off, then caught up with Bob and then the two routes converged and diverged a few times so we rode with various people.

Around 42 km, there was a decisive split, where the gravel got serious and many people tried a few meters and gave up. Bob and I continued, and that section ended up being about 20 km long, consistently climbing, on a very rocky railroad bed without the rails, but with all the rocks you could ever want. We went through 12 tunnels, and over half of them required a headlight. Luckily I had one, not great but just good enough so that the two of us could ride every tunnel.

There were many deep road cuts and a few amazing rickety old bridges that were somewhat scary and if they had failed (as it looked like they would at any time), we would die. But we kept going. Bob bloodied himself massively on some kind of pricker bush, I was stung by a bee and stabbed in the foot by a branch that my wheel kicked up. Rocks were flying everywhere. We laughed a lot though, and it was actually really fun, once we resigned ourselves to going no more than 13 kph.

After a really long time, we came to a paved road, and then just had to pass it and stick with the rocks for another several km, then finally onto a paved road, then just a few more km to lunch. We assumed we would be dead last due to taking SO long climbing all that way, but no, all the fast guys who took the road were still there when we arrived. We ate long and hard, and a couple more gravel-heads arrived. Then it was time to go. We still were not half way, so had a LONG way to go.

After a short, steep climb, we got back on the rail path and cruised a really long way. 70 km, 80 km, 90 km, 100 km, 110 km, etc, repeat until done. Around 135 km we topped out on a hill and then cruised down to the Croatia border. We got out of Bosnia pretty easily, then after a 250m no-man’s land, the line to get into Croatia was pretty long. So we just coasted down past all the cars to the front and pushed in and were through quickly.

Then we had a great descent, steep and fun, to Dubrovnik. After a final 5 km through town we arrived at the hotel to find Caroline had made smoothies for everyone. She is awesome. We got our room, and took perfect awesome showers, did laundry, and even took a rest for a few minutes.

But soon it was 5:30 and time to go out with our craft beer-loving friends. We walked 1.5 km along the harbor to a nice place I had found online. We had decent IPA and other beers, then Niek, Bob, Liz and I decided a real dinner was required. Now. So we walked back, tried one place then settled on a pizzeria that was pretty good. An ice-cream stop on the way home and we were all set.

What a day! The most adventurous of the tour by far, but will it be beat later on?

Sept 22, 2022

Stage 16 of 36, day 18 of 43: 48.2 km, 425m climb, 2:03 Moving, 2:55 Total,  55.7 kph max

Country	Distance	Climbing
Slovenia	352.2	5149
Italy	29.3	346
Croatia	882.4	10,417
Bosnia & Herzegovina	78.7	818
Total	1342.6	16,930

Today was a super mellow ride, scenic and nice. For the first time on the tour though, it was actually not warm at breakfast.

By the time we started riding at 8, everyone was standing around carefully in the sun, and no one was in short sleeves. I even brought out my full-fingered gloves for the first part of the day.

After cruising through town for a while, we slowly climbed a bit, then had a fun descent to a deep, shadowed valley. It was cool, definitely below 10C. We were on a sort of main road to Mostar but the traffic was light. Around 20 km we turned off and headed up some side roads, warmer. We had seen that it was an out-and-back to something but didn’t know what. Then I saw a sign “Dervish House 2 km”.

Sure enough, we rolled up to Tekija u Blagaju which is an old monastery-type place built under a giant overhanging limestone cliff. We paid the entry fee even though so far in Bosnia, the satisfaction to entry fee ratio has been low. They had a nice souvenir shop and bathroom, but we weren’t allowed in the house itself (our shorts were too short). We took some photos, but the angle was much better below in the free zone.

We rolled away soon, now dressed in short sleeves and fingerless gloves. Good thing too since Rob’s route soon had us taking a detour up a pretty steep climb on a tiny “road” that measured 19.2% at the steepest. That will warm you up. Then a nice descent and we were getting close to Mostar.

We arrived in town at the hotel before noon and Bike Dreams had set up lunch outside, across the street. We ate, relaxed a few minutes then checked in. The hotel is new and nice. We had showers, then somehow we both fell fast asleep for a while. After a nap we worked out a plan with the rest of the “Craft Beer Lovers” WhatsApp group to meet at a local craft beer garden at 3pm. We headed over and the place was great.

All in all it was a really great day and I’m looking forward to more riding tomorrow. We still have two more days of good weather predicted. Good night!