My first bike trip, from Poland to the sea. Krakow-Split, part 2.

Hey guys. I’m finally ready for my second post about my trip. Briefly about me, last August I went on my first long (relatively) bike trip. I was traveling alone, just me, bike and bags 🙂 I wrote a short post after I covered the first 500 kilometers. I wrote it on the road, more to motivate myself. I didn’t yet have a full understanding of what was in store for me. Rather just feelings from the first few days.

Now it’s time to share my impressions in more detail after I have already finished the route. All in all I have traveled a little over 2000 km. Krakow-Budapest-Zagreb-Split. The plan was to ride around 80 km per day to make it to the finish line – I had a tight deadline to arrive in Split, Croatia. And at first I was afraid that fatigue would gradually set in. So I tried to ride a little bit more than average on daily basis in order to have less to ride in the second half. So the first half I rode an average of 70-110 km per day. As time showed, fatigue did not accumulate, but I had no time to relax. I mean from physical point of view it was fine, but maybe not from mental. And after about 800 km I caught myself thinking that I was riding a couple of days in a row and at the end of the day I looked at the counter of the remaining km. 10km to finish, 9, 7, 6.5, 6….. I just remember driving up to Budapest. I’d already entered the city and it seemed like the finish line was close, but I still had about 15km to go around the city. And there was such a strong headwind. I didn’t have much to ride that day, but each kilometer through Budapest seemed like an eternity.

But that’s when the turning point happened. First of all, since I had driven 110 kilometers the previous day instead of 80, the next day I arrived in Budapest at lunchtime instead of in the evening. I had a very good rest, walked around, slept in a great place. And analyzed the distance of the route. In general, after 800-900 km it was already possible to draw some conclusions. And I made sure that I overtook the schedule. If I overtook the schedule at first, then accordingly my daily norm of kilometers became less. Plus I was lucky with the weather. At first it rained almost every day, but it rained at night and very rarely during the day itself. Initially I had 2 days planned for those occasions when you can’t ride because of rain. But since that didn’t happen, I got the extra days! As a result my daily kilometerage for the second part of the route decreased to around 60-70 km. And it became the missing puzzle after which my trip became pure pleasure. Every day. I was just riding, looking around, not in a hurry. I literally enjoyed every hour. I came to the campground in advance. It was especially cool when sometimes there were campgrounds with a swimming pool. After driving in the heat, you arrive at 4-6 pm, set up your tent and just chill out. And I was not tired at all! Yes, the uphill climb is hard, often you are rolling the bike, not riding. But at the end of the day you are still full of energy. In general, I can say that I found the perfect balance between exercise and rest. And yes, I enjoyed it immensely. Wonderful views, awesome nature, amazing people. At first we wanted to organize a trip with friends, but it didn’t work out. And I’m so happy that I decided to do this trip alone. It was one definitely of the best experiences of my life. And I’m already thinking about the next trip🙂

Thanks for reading. I hope it wasn’t too boring and the photos will make you travel a bit, even if virtually. Or remind you of your trips 🚵

by hhh-1361