Oct 5, 2022

Stage 26 of 36, day 31 of 43: 110.8 km, 2601m climb, 5:16 Moving, 7:43 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
Albania	688.2	9749
Greece	75.5	2099
Total	2336.7	30,402

It seemed like a normal day but turned into one of the most amazing of the tour. Breakfast was kind of small, in a large basement dining room of the hotel in Përmet. At 8 when we started, it was 8°C, nice and cool. I started with short sleeves and right from the start it just felt great. We rode in a pace line, although there was little wind. After 10-15 km it was Bob, Sigi, Anita and I out in front. We cruised up and down, loving the views, the cool air, sunny weather, and very little traffic, in short, perfect cycling conditions.

It wasn’t long before we came to the Albania/Greece border. It was the quietest manned border I’ve ever seen. It took about 5 minutes, then we rode 200m through noman’s land, then another 5 minutes and we headed off into Greece. No other customers except a couple of dogs laying in the road.

Right away, we started climbing again, but with no traffic, cool temperatures and fitness from a month of riding, it felt great.

We continued on, and then our route had a side trip, a few kilometers out and back, to a great viewpoint of the famous Vikos Gorge. It’s the world’s “deepest gorge relative to its width”, and pretty impressive. We drank Vikos lemonade which granted us access to the owner’s special garden with a superb view.

We rode back to the main road, then had a pretty long climb up 500m or so, then a downhill/level section to the town of Monodendri. We passed our hotel with the trucks parked and bikes littered around. But we had a mission: there was another optional out and back add-on to another Vikos Gorge viewpoint, this one rumored to be even better.

So Bob and I did another 400m climb, eventually topping out around 1300m elevation, parked our bikes and walked 150m to the view point. It was absolutely amazing, the most scenic thing we’ve seen yet on the whole trip. The depth here is 1000m or more and the drop is vertical below the viewpoint. It’s hard to capture on pictures but come here and check it out.

Finally, after we hiked back, we just had to go downhill. At this point we had climbed about 2600m/8500′ for the day, so 7-8 km of fast downhill sounded just about right.

We pulled up to the hotel, had massive amounts of snacks and soup, Bob replaced a tire that had a nasty looking gash in the sidewall, had showers, then it was already 6pm [Greece is in the next time zone so we lost an hour during the day] – time for dinner. Tom had not been able to stomach the climb to the viewpoint, so he took it upon himself to check out the town with an eye to our constant quest for craft beer.

We were excited by his report and walked over to the Hotel Arktouros thinking we’d try every one of the available craft beers, made nearby in Ioannina. We sat down, looked at the excellent dinner menu and thought we had found heaven. Three of us ordered IPA, one draft ale. The owner brought the beers but told us it was the end of the season and these were the last of the IPAs. But they came with nice snacks. We called him back for a second round and he warned us he was also out of several others. Anyway, we made do, and had a great dinner too. Bob and I shared a delicious salad of tomatoes, croutons, capers and feta, and we both had different types of ravioli, the other guys opted for pizza which they loved.

While we were eating, Niek texted to say he had to fly back to Holland the next day and asked where we were so he could hang out for one more night. This was a shock, but his dad had recently had a stroke so he was somewhat prepared for this happening. Soon, he joined the party and we had another round with him, then all walked back together. It is a shame to be losing Niek – I met him in Quito in 2019 when we did half the Andes Trail together. We’ll probably meet again on some crazy bike trip.

Tomorrow should be an easy day, only 1700m climbing in 85 km – what could go wrong?

Oct 4, 2022

Stage 25 of 36, day 30 of 43: 123.5 km, 1185m climb, 5:16 Moving, 5:50 Total,  57.5 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	653.2	9247
Total	2225.9	27,801

Today started out pretty normally, although I didn’t sleep well last night. We had a big breakfast in the hotel at 7, then started riding at 8. The weather seemed perfect for riding, cool temperatures, blue skies and no threat of rain.

The wind was against us most of the day but it was quite light and not a problem. We headed out of town, retracing our route from two days ago for the first 15 km.

Then we turned away from the coast and started the one big climb for the day. It wasn’t bad, climbing 450m in 10 km or so.

The grade was inconsistent but I guess that makes for a less boring climb. It was a beautiful little road with only light traffic. I didn’t feel powerful and did not feel like climbing fast, but felt good at the top. The descent was scenic but not all that fast. It only lasted 5 km and then I was down in a long, wide valley, headed gently uphill, into a light headwind.

After 15 km or so, sure enough, there was lunch at the promised abandoned gas station. It was pretty early but I was just hungry enough to eat a regular lunch.

It was relaxing to sit down, but soon time to go. I wasn’t worried about the headwind or my speed so took off by myself when I was ready. I followed the big road, generally with a nice shoulder, for another 20 km or so, then turned off on a smaller road going up a large side canyon.

I ran into Carien and Louis at a café past the bridge, but had just stopped and decided to keep going. Another 10 km more, I found Sigi and Anita eating nice small ripe grapes they picked on the side of the road. I joined them and ate a bunch. Then noticed we had only 17 km more to go. They switched off leading while I just cruised behind and we got to Përmet quickly.

A couple of the guys had already arrived and were sitting outside while the staff worked on hotel rooms. Soon we were sorted and elevatored our bikes to the storage area on the 4th floor. I got an amazing room, or rather suite, to share with Bob. He gets the big queen bed this time since I had one for the last two nights. We have a giant balcony shared by several rooms to dry laundry. When I came out of the shower there was good news from my latest Covid test: negative again. We did have one more positive rider this morning, I think that is five now. We are nowhere near out of the woods Covid-wise. Still only one rider is actually sick and unable to ride.

I picked out a place for dinner – it looked almost too perfect on google. Rated 4.9, 30 meters away and had a wide variety of Albanian traditional dishes at low prices. At 6, four of us checked it out and it was true. We ordered two dishes each (each turned out to be massive), with water as all four of us had trouble sleeping after so much alcohol the previous afternoon. Then Peter ordered a big Paulaner beer, justifying it, “The first beer after riding is free, so this still counts as an AFD [alcohol free day]”. We teased him about it then each followed suit. The dinner was truly great and we were able to get rid of all our Albanian leks except for about 500 ($4) which we put into an ice-cream fund. We strolled to a market and had some suspense while the cashier added each ice cream. Could we afford it? Yes, only 300, so Peter and Tom had enough for coffee in the morning. It was a great ending to a really fun day. Tomorrow, on to Greece, our final country.

Oct 3, 2022

Day 29 of 43: 11.7 km, 170m climb, 0:42 Moving, 3:29 Total, 55.6 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	529.7	8062
Total	2102.4	26,616

Rest days on these tours are just so great. Especially after such a big ride – climbing over 2600m in a day takes a toll on your leg muscles. The hotel here in Ksamil puts on a great breakfast – we ate late, slow and large. At 9, Bob, Niek and I rode 5 km to the famous Butrint National Park. We ended up spending three hours wandering all over, marveling at the ancient ruins, checking out the excellent museum and loving the peaceful, shaded paths and low crowd factor. There is an Acropolis, a very well preserved Greek theater, and many other interesting buildings (ruins) from various eras. Well worth visiting if you have a day to kill here.

We rode back and checked out a small island we had spied on the map. It’s only about 100m off shore and we concocted a plan to buy beer and tie it to ourselves to swim over and have a party.

It looked doable but in the end we just bought beer and lunch provisions and had a party on our spacious balcony instead. I posted on our tour WhatsApp group and after a couple of hours, just as Bob and I finished the last of our beers, Peter and Tom showed up with more. It was a jolly time, relaxed in the shade, trading stories.

That lasted from 2-5 then we headed out to dinner at 6. We had independently found a fantastic seafood restaurant and had a wonderful dinner there, again with a beautiful sunset view.

Ice cream for dessert from the market on the way home capped off a very relaxing and fun day. Tomorrow, back to work, for our final full day in Albania.

Oct 2, 2022

Stage 24 of 36, day 28 of 43: 125.1 km, 2650m climb, 6:43 Moving, 7:29 Total,  80.5 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	518.0	7892
Total	2090.7	26,446

Stage 24, maybe on paper the hardest of the tour, is finished. That means we’ve hit the two thirds mark of the tour. I was not really looking forward to a day with so much climbing, and the rain showers during the night didn’t help. It looked promising in the morning though, and I left my tent out until the last minute but it was still wet when I packed it.

We all took off at 8am, heading along the coast, then inland up a valley that slowly got steeper.

Soon we were climbing for real, long sections of 10+%. This first climb was 1000m in 16 km – a mental game. I took it easy, didn’t push too hard, stopped a few times and as I got close to the top, was in thick fog. It was chilly but we were working really hard. My Garmin registered 17% a couple of times, and lots of time over 13%. Wet from sweat and fog drips, I got to the top to find a stunning view down the other side to the sea. The fog was lifting and settling so the view kept changing.

Soon I put on a jacket and headed down. I stopped pretty soon because I saw a bunker right next to the road and was dying to actually go inside one and check it out. It was smaller than I expected, kind of lame really. I still can’t believe they built over 170,000 of these in 8 years in the 70s. But the modern paint jobs are good.

I continued down – the descent was fast, mostly straight sections with just a few hairpins you had to brake for. There were a couple of long into the wind switchbacks where I could only go 40 and two with the wind where I cruised at over 70 and hit 80.5 once. Bob J is a super rider and caught up to me on this section – he’s seriously fast. But it didn’t fully deliver. Before we got anywhere near sea level, it was back to 10% climbs, now in the hot sun.

The rest of the day kind of went that way. Lots of long climbs interspersed with short but fast descents. But the scenery! Maybe it’s partly because of the weather: the first time in a week or more that rain wasn’t imminent and forecast to dump. The world just plain looks better when the weather is great. Several times, when descending at high speed, I would be torn from just wanting to stare at the gorgeous sea and islands and shoreline with the super-azure water to having to watch the road. I also liked saying hi to people. One guy called out from his house, “Where are you from?”. I answered, “USA”. “Oh very good!” was the response. This was a big improvement from two days ago when a guy leaned out of a car window and said, “I will kill you” to Bob M.

We rode by a castle, had lunch about halfway, it went on and on, and finally the 9th and final climb that my Garmin identified was done. From there it was downhill or level with a nice tail wind, except the last 5 km which had a bonus climb not seen by the Garmin. Harry and I whooshed into town and there was Henk, waving us into the hotel parking lot.

There were maybe 10 people there already. We had a huge variety of snacks prepared by Diana and Caroline. Simply awesome. I immediately bought us beers from the hotel and everyone ate and talked about the amazing day. We agreed it was the most scenic and one of the most fun ever. Of course if it had been raining or the wind had been reversed it would’ve been a different story.

After shower and laundry, I lay down for a minute but soon it was time for dinner. Google showed a large number of good looking restaurants within walking distance. But Sigi and Anita had already checked and almost all were closed. The season really does end September 30 I guess. Five of us went out to the Island Restaurant which was known to be open, and of course found the staff and many riders there. We had a great dinner, huge, inexpensive and tasty. Best pizza on the whole trip so far, made by what looked like a 16 year old boy in a very professional looking full size pizza oven. Liz had a grilled fish, both Bobs and Carien all liked their food and beer.

When we got back to the hotel we had to climb and descend the two flights of stairs a couple of times, locking up bikes and getting water. So we were laughing about who was failing the stairs test – taking the elevator due to sore legs from riding. Now it’s time for another massive sleep. Good night.

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.