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