Circuit Ride Recycled – Part 1

Given the complete lack of posts here since last July, you might be thinking that I’ve hung up my cycling shoes for good. But you’d be wrong. Yes, my mission to circumcycle the Czech Republic has been on hold for far too long now, but I’m looking forward to completing the job this summer.

I haven’t been entirely idle on the Circuit Rider front. I’ve been answering plenty of cycling-related queries, and I’ve even met up with a few people in Prague through the blog. If you do have any questions about cycling in this part of the world, I’d be very pleased to hear them. You can e-mail me via my profile.

To get the blog rolling again, I've decided to re-publish six of my favourite posts, one from each of the six previous stages of my ride along the Czech border. It’s a re-hash, I know, but I’m hoping it will get me back in the circuit-riding mood as well as sending out a message that this project is still a going concern.

I’m calling this series Circuit Ride Recycled, and it starts with a post from the rain-sodden Stage 1 on of my trip, which I rode three years ago almost to the day. It’s only the second day of my journey, and things are already going awry...

Migration to Bikemap.net

I'm in the process of transferring the routes of the first three stages of my circumnavigation of the Czech Republic to Bikemap.net, where they will be on display to the world and his bicycle.

Five fave photos

Winter is upon us in Prague. This morning there was frost glistening on the rooftop outside my flat. A smattering of snow is forecast for the weekend. I’m planning to keep cycling as much as I can in and around Prague throughout the winter. However, I won’t be able to resume my ride around the Czech border until next spring, and that seems an awfully long way off at the moment. To console myself, I’ve been looking back at the photos of my travels earlier in the year. It occurred to me to put together some of my favourite snaps that hadn’t made into any previous posts. So here they are.

Trees cowering from the wind

The forty-nine steps and other thrilling tales

Stage 1, day 4 (Monday, 17 May 2010)  
Králíky to Náchod (98 km)

I peek nervously out of the window first thing on Monday morning. The rain has stopped. My clothes and boots have (almost) dried out overnight. So far, so good. The weather forecast on breakfast TV is not too bad, although they’re showing footage of catastrophic flooding in areas I’ve been cycling through over the past couple of days. I’m feeling much refreshed after a good night’s sleep. At breakfast a fine cup of tea with fresh milk cements my decision. The owner of the hotel is just going into a monologue on the bleak future of “the whites” in Europe when my wife rings from Prague. I tell her I’ve decided to keep going. She doesn’t sound overly impressed.

From Golden Mountains, through the Golden Mountains to the Golden Swan

Stage 1, day 3 (Sunday, 16 May 2010)
Zlaté hory to Králíky (111 km)

I'm up and over another climb. This should be the easy bit: the descent into the Polish town of Lądek-Zdrój. But it's not. The driving rain obscures my vision. There's a hairpin ahead. I squeeze the brake levers, but nothing happens; I'm still hurtling into the turn. I squeeze harder, and harder still. When the rain-sodden brakes do finally bite I'm already into the bend and my rear wheel skates outwards across the wet and potholed surface. I control the skid and keep going. A driver overtakes me. Couldn't he wait for a wider section? Can't he see how the wind is blowing me all over the road? My wind-chilled hands begin to sting. My boots slowly fill up with water. Wasn't this trip supposed to be fun?

Ups and downs

Stage 1, day 2 (Saturday, 15 May 2010):
Opava to Zlaté hory (104 km)

I'm wrecked. I'm still only half way up this climb, but there's steam rising off my back, snot streaming out of my nose and I'm gasping for air. It's been gloomy all day, but it's even darker now as I enter the misty forest and dusk starts to fall. I round the last of three hairpins and grind to a halt. Serves me right for blogging on about loving the hills. Idiot. And then a thought occurs to me. That camera of mine has a video function. Maybe if I film myself it will take my mind off the pain. Perhaps some of the visitors to my blog will even enjoy watching me suffering like this. It's time for Circuit Rider CZ to go multimedia.

Days like this

Stage 1, day 1 (Friday, 14 May 2010): 
Bohumín to Opava (50 km)

Bohumín railway station, 3.25 pm, Friday. Here at last, after months of planning and blogging about planning. The rain is pelting down - not quite what I'd envisaged. A guy in a white vest is leaning out of a window in the building opposite and staring down at me. I feel self-conscious dressed in my wet-weather cycling gear and taking an arm's length photo of myself with the station sign behind me. Still, I've got to have a record of the official start. Line it up, smile, click.

Official start, Bohumín railway station

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

This is my 50th post. It's also my most important one so far, as I'm using it to pay several debts of gratitude.

I'm coming home

Looks like my attempt at audio blogging on the go failed. Never mind, I'll try again when I get home - in about 3 hours! Yes, I'm on the train back to Prague after a hypothermia-inducing, white-knuckle ride down from the Eagle Mountains in the pouring rain. Stage 1 completed! Am feeling drained but ever so slightly elated. Pictured: possibly the wettest pair of boots in the Czech Republic.

Audio postcard from Eagle Mountains.

Hope this gets through to the blog ok. I've never tried audio blogging before, so apologies for any roughness at the edges.

The show goes on

I've decided to continue. The rain has stopped, the forecast is not too bad, and I feel refreshed after a good night's sleep and a hearty breakfast. The photo shows Kraliky, where Hitler gave a speech to the then majority German population in 1938. Today I head north to Nachod along the border with Poland. On the way I'll be visiting several WWII fortifications. In the evening I plan to get the train home to Prague, with stage 1 of my journey completed.

Full teeth

This is going to be short, as I'm exhausted. When Czechs have had enough of something, they say, "I have full teeth". Well, my teeth are full of the relentless wind and driving rain I had to endure this afternoon. One motorist felt so sorry for me, he offered me a lift. I declined, but was sorely tempted to accept. If it's like this again tomorrow, I will curtail stage 1 and complete it later. There's no point continuing in such foul weather. No decision yet though; now it's time to meditate quietly over a pint of the excellent local brew.

Shelter from the storm

It's lunchtime and I'm in a restaurant in Javornik. As I look up at its impressive castle (pictured) I can see the rain coming down at 45 degrees outside. This morning I had a cold NW wind to battle against. This afternoon I head into the hills, turning south through Poland for a while. There's a long climb back into CZ, then it's downhill and downwind all the way to my overnight stop: Kraliky

Bon appetit from Zlate hory

A day of ups and downs, literally and figuratively. Two punctures in the morning, flooded trails in the afternoon, all rounded off by a killer climb after 100 km on the road. No rain today, but deluge forecast for tomorrow. Ho hum. Big feed on chicken in beer batter well deserved!

Day 2 dawns...

...and it's still overcast, but not raining. Thanks to Keith (see comment under last post) and my wife Jitka (love u) for much needed encouragement. Today looks interesting - Osoblaha salient and on to Zlate hory.

Opava

Made it to Opava as planned. In the end the cycling gods smiled on me and called off the rain shortly after I left Bohumin. Let's hope they are feeling equally magnanimous tomorrow.

Official start!

Bohumin in the rain.

Rain, rain, go away

And so it did come to pass, on the eve of my trip, that a rain cloud did descend upon the whole country. I knew that dress rehearsal went too smoothly. I'm getting nostalgic flashbacks to soggy holidays in Wales when I was a youngster.

Never mind, it's only water. At least I'll get a chance to test out my kinky rainlegs.

Final preparations now in progress. The bike is loaded up with luggage and I'm loaded up with porridge. I've double-wrapped everything (except the porridge) in plastic bags in an effort to keep out the water. In a couple of hours I'll head off for the railway station. Hopefully my next post will be from my mobile at the official start in Bohumín.

Stage 1 here I come!

At long last - after months of blathering on about my trip - I'm about to set off. It's time to kick aside the keyboard and get riding.

My bike and I are booked on the 11.26 a.m. Pendolino train from Prague to Ostrava this Friday. From there I'll cycle to the official start point of stage 1 in Bohumín and continue to my first overnight stop in Opava. If all goes to plan, I'll reach Náchod by Monday evening and catch a train home from there.

I'll be blogging "on the go" from my mobile phone, so you'll be able to track my progress by tuning in to the blog over the weekend. After I get back I'll be writing up the trip on a day-by-day basis.

Roll on Friday!

Stage 1 route summary

I'm ready at last to unveil stage 1 of my route around the Czech Republic, which starts in the northern Moravian town of Bohumín. The first section is fairly flat and gentle, passing through Opava and around the Osoblaha salient. It then goes around the back of the Jeseníky Mountains and ramps up steeply through the Rychlebské (Golden) Mountains into Poland. Once back on the Czech side of the border, I'll turn north into the Orlické (Eagle) Mountains before dropping into the finish town of Náchod. World War II is a recurring feature of this stage. The eastern section takes in a number of towns that were badly damaged during the German retreat in 1945, and the western part features a series of border defences that failed to stop Germany invading Czechoslovakia in 1939.