# Biking in the Balkans



## bigbill (Feb 15, 2005)

Here we go, lets see how the bandwidth works out. We rolled out of the port city of Tivat and headed uphill towards a pass to take us to Kotor. At the top of the pass, we decided to head further up towards another pass at 1000m. We never reached the top, the one lane road just got too scary with tour buses. The view was incredible at 900m when we turned around. The cattle here are truly free range, they range and crap all over the roads. The pictured pair were what I saw rounding a corner at 28mph. We regrouped in Kotor and had a nice lunch within the walled city. I was the only person not riding a Bianchi. We all had campy. The trip back to Tivat was around a peninsula that was relatively flat.


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

Toto, I don't think we are in Hawaii anymore!


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## bigbill (Feb 15, 2005)

*Balkan 2*

Here we go again. The bandwidth sucked so I changed locations. Here are more. This is the second day of riding. We did a short ride that wasn't that challenging. Day one ended up with 38 miles and 3400 feet of climbing so we needed a recovery. And a big meal. The only non-meal picture is of the Our Lady of the Rock Church located in Boka Bay. For dinner, we stopped at a local place for a nice steak. We had the local wine which was very good with food, not that spectacular on it's own. Kind of true with a lot of Italian wines as well. I had a salad called a chopka. It is a bunch of chopped up stuff with cheese on top. The steak was marinated, grilled, and topped with gorganzola cheese. The peas looking stuff was more of a relish, but very good. Nothing was bad about this meal. The last picture is me relaxing in casa bigbill. Those are tires on top of the tv.


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## bigbill (Feb 15, 2005)

*Balkans 3*

Things have changed about my riding. For the past fifteen years or so, my riding companions have been racers or people who could race if they wanted to. Now I ride with recreational cyclists. Not really that bad, just slower. On the climbs I can go at my normal pace and use the regroup time to take pictures. 

Day three of riding was with a beginning rider. To reach the city from the ship required a water taxi. Here is a shot of Emma on the taxi. A road sign, a picture of the perimeter road, and a village along the bay. The car in the picture is a Lada. Basically a piece of crap built by communists. The driver's seat was held up by a 2X4 and the passenger seat was a wooden box. If you get hit by a car here, you need emergency treatment followed up by a tetanus shot for the rusty car that hit you.


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## bigbill (Feb 15, 2005)

*Geocaching the Balkans*

A new friend on the ship told me about geocaching. It is basically orienteering with a GPS to find a hidden object using way points. The hidden object is usually a waterproof cylinder with a log book and other stuff inside. You sign the logbook and go to a website to log your find on line. I think I have a new hobby that I can do with my seven year old when I get back to the US. The object we were looking for was located on the mountain directly behind the city of Tivat. Maps showed a road so used our bikes to get as far as possible before hiding them in the woods and continuing on foot. We both were wearing MTB shoes so it was ok. After about a mile on a rocky goat trail, we found the cache. 

Here are some shots from the search.
This was the "road" we used to reach the top. The mountain was a strategic point in WW1, so there were numerous ruins from the Austro-Hungarian forces. View of the walled city of Kotor. 

I will make another post for the rest.


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## bigbill (Feb 15, 2005)

*Last ones*

More from the geocache ride. Here I am in my RBR kit. The ridgeline shot shows the road that we hiked to reach the geocache. I had my Garmin in my jersey pocket and the last 300 yards had a 40% grade. More ruins. On the water taxi back to the ship, the skies opened up. It was a great visit.


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## Mapei (Feb 3, 2004)

Great photos. Great adventure. The food looked good, too.


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## Guest (May 30, 2007)

Damnit!

I'm sitting in an airport. I can read the words, but no pictures.

Comments from me tonight after I get home and after the hockey game!


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## undies (Oct 13, 2005)

Wow, looks great! Some of those shots make the place look like sort of an affordable Lake Como. 

What is the arrangement for keeping your bike on the ship? Can anyone do it, or just occifers?


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## Scot_Gore (Jan 25, 2002)

Great Stuff Bill

You're going to make it me create a whole new list of locations in Photo Post Sticky for the next two years aren't you!!!!!

Maybe I should make a new category called "bigbill's global adventure" 

Scot


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## bigrider (Jun 27, 2002)

Really cool shots. I guess a 12/27 or a triple is almost a requirement over there. Keep up the posts.


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## MarkS (Feb 3, 2004)

Great report. Thanks for posting.


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## il sogno (Jul 15, 2002)

Great pics. Looks like the Balkan equivalent of "two scoop rice" plate lunches.


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## Guest (May 31, 2007)

Bill,

Wonderful.

Reminds me of one of the best things about RBR, seeing the pictures from other parts of the world and living vicariously.

Give us more, Please.

I think one o'them Bianchis has a brooks saddle on it!!


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## bigbill (Feb 15, 2005)

toomanybikes said:


> Bill,
> 
> Wonderful.
> 
> ...



Two of the three Bianchis leaning up against the wall with my bike have Brooks saddles. One of them, the one in the water taxi rain picture, has a green Brooks. There is a bike shop in Florence that was clearing out their inventory of Liquigas Bianchis. Apparently Bianchi did a production run of Liquigas logo frames before the sponsors changed. In the fashion centered world of Italian cyclists, these bikes would be the equivalent of baseball fan wearing a pinstripe shirt with a Boston emblem. For the guys on the ship, they were great buys. 

I usually take pictures of my bike, but it was difficult in this country. My bike is Yoohoo brown and tends to fade against the background. A celeste green bike really stands out. The non celeste Bianchi is titanium.


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## bigbill (Feb 15, 2005)

Scot_Gore said:


> Great Stuff Bill
> 
> You're going to make it me create a whole new list of locations in Photo Post Sticky for the next two years aren't you!!!!!
> 
> ...


If you want to work ahead, my future rides will be in Atlantic coast Spain, Majorca, mainland Italy, hopefully Sweden, and hopefully France before I leave the Med this fall. On the way west, I will get to ride in the DC area, Norfolk, San Diego, and finally my new home in Poulsbo, Washington.


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## philippec (Jun 16, 2002)

Great pictures -- I'm making a mental note to make sure to schedule a trip down to the Montenegran fjords in the near future!


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## bigbill (Feb 15, 2005)

undies said:


> Wow, looks great! Some of those shots make the place look like sort of an affordable Lake Como.
> 
> What is the arrangement for keeping your bike on the ship? Can anyone do it, or just occifers?


Anyone can keep a bike on the ship. I am fortunate to have a large office and stateroom to keep mine. One of the guys made me some hooks to hang my bike in my office. I am going to plastic coat the hooks before I hang a bike. I also have a large storage room where the guys can keep their bikes between rides. We have a nice cycling community here, some people have pumps, others have tools, while others have the know-how to fix each others bikes. I do tuneups and have the tools to do everything except a headset. We have a full machine shop with cnc machines so most repairs can happen. The only scarce items are tires and tubes. I brought two spare sets of tires, but only two spare tubes. Flats aren't that frequent, but tubes are like Marlboros over here.


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## CFBlue (Jun 28, 1999)

Bill, great to see the ride report!!! I was jealous of your riding in Hawaii. Now I'm celeste with envy. I almost wish I had gone into the Navy all those years ago if it means getting to ride in places like that!!


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## YuriB (Mar 24, 2005)

i do miss yer hawaii pics but it looks like the balkans will make a nice replacement. keep em coming.


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## c_davis_jr (Mar 28, 2004)

great pics. would be interesting to own a castle on an island enveloped by mountains...


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## bigbill (Feb 15, 2005)

c_davis_jr said:


> great pics. would be interesting to own a castle on an island enveloped by mountains...



Sure, but you wouldn't be able to get cable tv or pizza delivery.


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## wayneanneli (Jul 8, 2004)

How did I ever miss this thread? Great stuff Bill. The food looks delicious too. How often are you allowed to go riding? What about the other guys you ride with, can they do just as often?


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## bigbill (Feb 15, 2005)

wayneanneli said:


> How did I ever miss this thread? Great stuff Bill. The food looks delicious too. How often are you allowed to go riding? What about the other guys you ride with, can they do just as often?


I am back in Italy now. I ride 3-4 times a week. I am stationed on a ship on the island of Santo Stephano which has no riding. There is a goat trail that some people use to ride MTBs and jog, but no road cycling. To ride, I have to catch a water taxi to Sardinia or the island of LaMaddelena. LaMadd was where the Giro started this year. The riding there is limited and involves doing laps to turn some miles. The riding on Sardinia is unlimited. I rode 38 miles yesterday from Palau to Porto Cervo and back. The downside was the 3000 feet of climbing and fierce headwind on the way back. Supposedly the wind dies off as we approach summer. There are people on the ship who ride, but sometimes I have a hard time riding with them. Most of them are new cyclists who are off the back most of the time. They also all ride compact cranksets with 12-25 cassettes on the climbs. I ride a standard crankset so I don't have the same lower gears. When I climb, I have to get on with it, I can't hang back with them without exploding my knees. 

The Italians are very courteous to cyclists. The roads are narrow but so are the cars. The trucks will hang back and wait for a gap to pass. You have to be a citizen of the road and help the trucks out occassionally by allowing them to pass even if you have to stop. I like to think I am building "truck Karma". Cyclists also have the right of way. If a driver hits a cyclist, the driver is at fault.


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## Chase15.5 (Feb 17, 2005)

bigbill said:


> Sure, but you wouldn't be able to get cable tv or pizza delivery.


and what about high tide?


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## SantaCruz (Mar 22, 2002)

bigbill said:


> I am back in Italy now. I ride 3-4 times a week. I am stationed on a ship on the island of Santo Stephano which has no riding.


Sorry that I don't know your situation! What kind of USN ship is stationed on an Italian island? I was on a USN supply ship (in the mid 1970's) that reprovisioned the 6th fleet while at sea and we went into many ports to take on fresh produce, etc -- but nothing like what you are obviously experiencing. Back then you would likely have been told "request denied" and then laughed off the boat if you had asked to take a bicycle on an 8 month cruise.


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