If I asked you to draw a tree, you’d probably go one of two ways. Short trunk, triangle/cone up top, a la the Christmas tree. Or you’d go for the long trunk and a bushy crown, a la most deciduous trees. And my new single favorite tree (not to be confused with my favorite type of tree, the redwood, tall and mighty like me), the
Maybe it’s not quite accurate to say that Bangkok exceeded expectations because I’m not really sure that I had expectations to begin with. What I did have was a few comments from friends saying you only need a couple days, a wildly exaggerated depiction of the city from a couple of movies, and a completely erroneous idea that because it is a developing country and
…or more like multiple bangs. The first many of which were my face, ribs, ass (anything but my feet basically) hitting my surf board, or for the sake of expediency, missing the board entirely and crashing straight into the waves. For 7 days, save a hangover pause for the surf camp crew on New Year’s Day (though I wasn’t actually hungover and went for a
So, as of Thursday, Dec 21st, I am on vacation. Until Nov 1st, 2024. Not bad, right? My sabbatical has now officially started. Before shutting down my laptop for the last time (upon which I immediately had a mini panic attack that I was essentially unreachable and probably left a bird’s nest full of loose ends behind), I was asked / advised by a friend
End on a (literal) low point Because my day ended when I picked up Vera from the airport, I completely forgot about the blog. Oops. Anyway. The last day was kinda great. The first 55km or so were a slight uphill, with the last 45km a descent of about 1100 meters or 3500 feet. The descent was awesome, snaking its way through canyons, over saddles
The best Today was, in general, awesome. Easily the most beautiful stretch of road, almost exclusively through untouched forest on relatively empty roads. I also had better legs and unsurprisingly was in a better mood. It started almost straight off the bat with a 20km climb to cross from Kosovo into Montenegro. It started in a dense deciduous forest on the front of this wall
First, the cycling Compared to day one, the metrics returned to normal, meaning same power numbers as before, but at a 30 bpm discount on the heart rate. At least until I bonked after 95km, just in time to start a 25km climb, then the power fell off a cliff. Joy. Otherwise, it was lovely. Mostly rural, rolling hills mixing between agriculture and untouched forest.
A cool combo in Skopje About five minutes after I got to my hotel last night, a call to prayer sounded. Cue the flashbacks to my time in Kuwait and the less-than-fond memories there (nothing to do with Islam, but the call to prayer takes me back instantly). But this time, it was different - probably because I could hear the thumping bass of what
Adventure time So, round three. You could say bike touring is becoming a part of the annual routine, if you consider three years running to constitute a routine. I can certainly say it feels that way to me, partially because I have looked forward to my next tour since last year, and partially because Vera is great and is happy to have me out of
A sparkling end The ride Last year, after nearly a month on the bike, my rear wheel blew up, and I couldn‘t get it replaced. This meant my tour ended very anti-climactically, pushing my bike home from the train station. Thankfully, this year I got the triumphant ending I wanted: (My friends are the best. This tour wasn‘t my first, and wasn‘t the
