Day Two – Real Hot

Riding long distance is a perfect way of doing tourism, the average speed of 12 – 15 miles an hour allows the rider to take in the sites, sounds and elements that is not afforded to passengers in a car or train, I suppose the same could be said of a sailboat, but I do not have much experience in those matters.   When embarking on a ride, wind and heat are critical to planning.   

If you’re dealing with a stiff wind, it’s always best to have it at your tail or at least over one shoulder when you are most tired.   Heat is a beast, best avoided by departing early or riding in the shade, hydration is essential, but heat is truly a nasty beast.   Today in Kamnik the temperature reached 37°C (for those keeping score that’s just shy of 100°F).   

Today’s ride to Bohinjsko Jezero was unique for its many road surfaces.   We pushed off from Kamnik on cobblestones at 6am, met up with Dmitri in a small village and fought rush hour traffic along stretches of asphalt, then we made are way from busted up concrete on highway service roads, to bike paths, then slalomed around tourist on sidewalks in Bled, experienced some unexpected gravel and finally enjoyed one of the nicest newly laid bike paths which descends the Sava Bohinjka valley to our lake destination.   

The heat was oppressive, but that made the jump into the lake much sweeter.   It turns out our tour guide had a lot of teenage memories camping at the lake, so in some sense it was truly a trip down memory lane.   The cool dip was short lived, because we had to catch a train to a town near Ljubljana.   Prior to arriving at the station, we did a mad dash around a food store to stuff our saddle bags with energy bars, isotonic drinks, and banana’s.   Pedaled with some urgency to the train station navigating traffic whilst munching on an ice cream treat arriving a full 4 minutes before the scheduled departure.  

It was at this moment that Tomaz and Dmitri informed us the Slovenian trains never run on time.   20 minutes later we boarded the first train and were pleasantly surprised with A/C and bike racks. The second train was less comfortable, but thestuffy heat induced a much-needed nap.   As we exited the train on the platform in Medvode, we silently questioned our sanity because the cool swim was distance memory and we faced 15 more milesnegotiation rush hour traffic back to the comfort of our AirBNBwith the cold outdoor Swedish bath.    All arrived safely and in time for a cool dip, followed by a relaxing massage from a pro who happens to be a Vrabec family relation.  

Today’s digits – Distance 77 (+) miles, 3,300 (+) feet elevation, 5 (+) hours of riding