Start 08:30am End 7:30pm – 11hrs ride time including breaks
185k ridden
1500m climbing
Exhaustion
Vrhnika – I got going at 8:30 after an extra hour in bed, and breakfast where I met my friendly Belgain again. I made it 400 yds up the road, and then straight into a Lidl where I met my friendly Dane Mathias (from day 2). Orange juice, and a couple of iced cappuccino things went straignt down 🙂
I did not eat well the night before. I had a pizza at 6pm then rode 6 hard hours. Breakfast the next day was ok but my legs were empty for the following 3 hrs… Just 60k. It’s OK on the flat, but the route is rolling and I was rubbish on the hills at the moment…. Lots of riders out – I like it here
Everything was building up – Bike weight, sore knee, lack of food, fatigue and exhaustion.
I’d had some good big days, but a small one in Italy probably put me back to having to chase, and I was getting more and more tired. In despair, I decided to grab an early night, more food, a good sleep and then start early ie on the road at 5-6, done by 9 in the evening. I decided to see where I was by 6pm, then make a decision.
There were lots of hotels in Zagreb ahead, but then not a lot moving on from there
In the mean time I grabbed more steak and chips for lunch, and then had a good petrol station stop and a sit down, with another iced cappuccino thing and a coke. As I got going I started to feel a lot better – constantly munching fake Lidl m&ms from my feed bag helped a lot.
However it was 4 pm by then.
I made my decision, and booked a hotel south of Zagreb, getting there by 7pm – an early night with lots of food. After discussing where to leave my bike, I planned an early start and lots more eating
I need to carry stuff in my jersey pockets instead of leaving it on the rear bag for an emergency – this ride is one long emergency )
Finally, my Garmin 800 died. It ran out of power while I was using it. I plugged my usb battery in, it starts, but the Garmin freezes. Shit. Nothing I do makes a difference, so its factory reset time in the evening. Shame my routes are in the Garmin so I lose those too.
Its lucky I have a spare Garmin 800 with me 🙂
6 months ago someone on the facebook page mentioned ‘aircraft have 2 GPSs – just saying…’ I took that to heart and bought the missus’s garmin 800 along as a spare. Good job I did.
I still know where I am going
Slovenia wins the Country of the ride, so far
A Pirate takes on The Transcontinental Race, again... 