Saturday, September 26, 2020

Servus, Mädchen! / 269 km cycled in 3 days














 





I love cycling with my husband - but he never has time since he works so hard. And I love cycling with my best girl-friend, but she doesn't have time for cycling with me since she has young children. 

10 days ago I was watching weather forecast and I realized that the last three sunny & warm days in a row are predicted for this year so I decided in a moment - that this is time to pack my bike bag and hit the road. Alone. 

I chose this path: https://www.alpe-adria-radweg.com/  

The part that takes you from Slovenian mountains to Italian seaside. Total distance cycled: 269 km (after Italian sea I needed few additional km to reach the train that took me back home). 

I loved the cycling trip! I loved being so focused in the moment that nothing else really mattered.  

Once a group of Austrian cyclists (all men, a bit older then me) overpassed me and they kindly greeted: "Servus, Mädchen!"   (Hello, girl!). They made my day :)

When I got back to work I boasted to my coworkers. And my boss asked me: "But is it normal to go cycling such a long distance alone?". He instantly realized that the question wasn't politically correct so he corrected himself: "Is it usual to go cycling alone?"

I smiled inside - I am very used to not being normal and not being usual. In the best wild sense of the word. It felt good :) 



PS: in case you wondered. Yes, of course I went swimming into the Adriatic sea. It felt wonderful - the sea took away all the sweat. And prior to that the sweat took away the last piece of sadness over my infertility.... Life is what you make out of it.



7 comments:

  1. Dear Klara,
    You can be so proud of yourself! I love that you travelled by your own muscle power, reached the sea and went swimming there, too. In case you didn't know: you are an excellent role model <3!
    Have a lovely weekend!

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  2. Wow, I am very impressed!!! Well done, girl!
    NB: I think I have never felt "normal" in my life, and thinking back, that's often (not always, I know, but most of the time) quite nice :)
    <3 <3

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  3. dear Elaine and dear Kaymet, thank you <3

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  4. Brava, you! How fabulous. That is a tough climb over those mountains - it looks like the route you guys sent us on our drive back to Vittorio Veneto after we visited you. A lovely drive, a difficult cycle - though I bet it is fun on the downhill legs! But some stunning scenery, and gorgeous photos. And isn't doing it alone better than not doing it at all? Good for you for taking off and making it all the way to the Adriatic.

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  5. servus Mädchen! wow!!!!! Klara!!! You are so great!!! "I love cycling too. I wish I could cycle such a long distance somedays like you! I only did max 44 km (with pause ;-)). Did you sleep in a hotel or did you camping?

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    1. Dear TingTing, The first night I slept under the mountains, in a lovely Bed&Breakfast. I booked it only late in the afternoon when cycling - I don't book in advance since I don't know in advance how many kilometers I will manage. The second night I also tried to find B&B in Grado, but everything was booked out since it was sunny Saturday. So I went to 3* hotel.

      Dear Mali - exactly, it is much better doing it alone than not doing it at all!

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  6. Wow!! This is awesome. Thank you for sharing your pictures. Beautiful and empowering!

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