Ride Summary

Distance: 23 mi
Climbing: 2900 feet
Descending: similar
Difficulty: hard
Link to workout in Strava

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Link to photo gallery from this trip

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This disappointed look reflected the first unexpected difference between plans and reality

We looked at the numbers and today looked reasonably short on paper, but in practice it was rather hard and took us quite a long time.

We'd planned to catch an Uber back up the hill (the part of Croatia we were in for effectively the whole trip is 2000+ foot tall hills running straight down to the Adriatic Sea, and all roads to the sea are steep, and most commerce and people - and the highway - are right next to the sea). This plan was only needed since we'd failed to plan fully the day before, and try to find a place to stay up high instead of dropping down to the coast for the night. While the Uber app claimed it possible to rent an "XL" car that would have fit the bikes and us and our stuff, no such Uber was actually available after 20 minutes of trying, so we just sucked it up, and rode back up the big hill that had been so fun to bomb down yesterday.

The first climb wasn't bad; low traffic and consistent 7% grade from 0 to 1600 feet and we did it almost without stopping. When I ride at Lori's pace, I feel like I could just spin for hours; I suppose this is what is meant by a sustainable pace. My default pace is "ride as hard as I can until I fall over", which doesn't really serve me well in situations like a loaded tour or hot weather. Today, even at the sustainable pace, it was warm and sunny and kinda still and we were both sweating like whoa on the way up.

But, by the top of that first 6 paved mile climb we were on top of the world, and it had cooled down slightly and the breeze (aka air conditioning) had picked up. We ate Skittles and dried apples, and we turned right, onto a dirt road.

The dirt roads today were variable but mostly pretty challenging riding - usually either too rocky, too sandy, too steep, or a combination of those. Creeping down a what should have been a nice descent with one leg off the pedal, poised to step down when you lose traction is not really fun riding, nor is pushing a heavy bike up a steep road that was more big rocks than gravel. I wish Strava had a "slowest 5 mile time" type record since I probably hit that today while I walked my bike up 600' and 1.7 miles in 45 minutes, without really stopping. Boy, are my arms tired! (from wrestling with the heavy bike to keep going straight and stay upright.) In the end, both our bikes made it without any mechanical problems, which in this terrain was a solid win.

Welcome to Senj. Not pictured, though we didn't know it at the time of taking this photo: the house we were staying in, up a big hill just off the left side of the picture.

As we rode, there were some great views, and the final bomb into town was unexpectedly paved so we could go more than 5mph, and then there was beer and ice cream.

To finish off the afternoon, there was a rude little 400' climb in the baking sun (someone turned off that breeze!) up to the apartment, which was surprisingly cheap. and we discovered why: it is at the very upper and outer edge of town. Only a half mile as the crow flies into the town, but you can't walk that way and the way you can get there is just up a cliff. It's pretty to be at, but pretty annoying to get to, on bike or on foot.

Nonetheless, we made it. Definitely gonna need to be more cautious about the gravel situations from here on out! Dinner and a store stop and climing back up the big hill to the apartment leaves us ready for bed and an early start tomorrow so we can try to beat some of the weekend traffic on the beach road which we have decided to ride for 30 miles. But, at least it's all paved? And then we're taking a day off of the bikes on a beautiful island. So that's all right.