Prague to Benesov, 40.5 miles (65 km), 4h 25 minutes, 2504 feet (763 m) of elevation gain (climbing).
I was woefully (and I mean WOEFULLY) unprepared.
If you have read my other blog (60 Pounds by 60 Years), you know that I lost 70 pounds last year and that I was working out as part of that weight loss journey. I now know why I did that.....Fate wanted me to survive our bike tour through The Czech Republic. Overweight me would not have survived...
My biggest mistake in being so clueless about what to expect on this bicycle tour was letting my husband just plan it with little input and assuming he'd stick to my "must be a flat ride" requirement. He let other factors take precedence. It started out that way in Prague...
His goal was to find two tours that we could do, back-to-back, because the cost to get us and the bike over to Europe from the US was significant. He wanted a situation where we could begin a second bicycle tour in the same place the first bicycle tour ended. We started out with deciding to do a nice flat ride along the Danube River, which started in Passau, Germany. After that was decided, he went on a mission to find another tour we could do that ended in Passau. He found one, but the difficulty was "moderate..." which was significantly downplayed (or not mentioned) to me.
I really should know better after being in a relationship with this man for 40 years this year. When we first started doing this bicycle tour thing, back in 2014, he planned a tour for us and two other couples in the states that we went on in 2015, This tour started in Pittsburgh, PA and ended in Washington, DC. It followed two trails: The Allegheny GAP and the C&O Canal paths. What he neglected to tell any of us was that we would have two and a half days of a gentle incline as we climbed up to the continental divide. By day two we were all really to do him some serious bodily harm, as we had to climb up from the trail at the end of each day, after a day of constant pedaling, to find our hotel. His argument was that it was a rail trail, so the climb was barely noticeable... uh yeah... right.
Therefore, I know now that the description "moderate," at least to me, is effing challenging. I was later informed by the tour representative that this Czech Republic tour was "one of the most challenging of their tours." This was especially true for us as we did not have any electric assist on our bike. Not only that, the route through the Czech Republic had every imaginable cycling surface there was, from smooth, pristine pavements to rutted tracks in a field. And the HILLS! I should have gotten a clue when the tour rep saw our bike and was surprised it wasn't an e-bike. I was not overly pleased with my husband, when our nice flat ride along the river in Prague turned into a seemingly endless climb up a hilly road in the forest. In fact, there were several hilly climbs. It was warm and muggy, and I didn't eat enough calories that morning, so I was out of energy very early and feeling a bit discouraged.
I have to digress a bit about my attitude. This usually happens to me on these tours. I refuse to believe something may be overly challenging, don't psyche myself up for it, and then get whacked upside my head with the difficulty I'm facing, and wind up needing to complain and bitch a bit. I usually get over it. In other words, I'm typically human, unlike my husband who insists he's having fun as the sweat is dripping off of him and he's panting away from having to push the bicycle up yet another steep hill that is far too steep for our 60+ year old legs to climb.
We did initially start out trying to ride the bike up the steeper climbs but realized we were needlessly tiring ourselves by not walking it up when it got hard. Why expend needless energy to prove a useless point when you still have miles and miles to ride?
We took quite a few breaks that first day. Mostly to relieve ourselves but one time we ended up taking a break at a bus stop (because it had a bench inside a little alcove), halfway up a climb, on a pretty deserted back country road, and smeared peanut butter from individual packets on some protein bars to give us some more energy. It wasn't really hot, but the air was heavy and humid. I was sweaty, panting, discouraged and thinking "wtf have I signed up for???" Yeah. that first day was bad.
On a high note, I must say that I had the best burger, HANDS DOWN, during our entire three-week tour that first day. It was the bright spot in that first day. And we ate outside every chance we could. This was at the Florian Restaurant in Jílové u Prahy. This place was a recommended stop by the tour company for lunch that day and it did not let us down.
One thing I remembered from our last European cycling tour was the lack of public toilets/water closets. It was no different this time. Unless you go into a restaurant and purchase something, they are very scarce. I think we came across three that were free of charge and open to the public during our whole three weeks of cycling. Otherwise, we had to go into a restaurant or pay the 50 cents or one Euro to use a facility in a touristy area. I had purchased a silicone funnel to use for when I was using 'nature' for that purpose but quickly decided that it was easier and quicker to forego that option. You just have to find a bush, have the husband keep watch and do your business. I mention this only because people often ask 'how that works' when you are on a bike for three or four hours. When we were cycling in The Netherlands, I asked for some advice in my Facebook cycling group and the Dutch people spoke up and said "we find a Dutch bush...." That seemed to be the consensus. So, I used bushes, the "Toi Toi" portable toilets we came across, public restrooms when we could and did actually buy a cappuccino in a bar one morning so I could use the toilet/water closet.
One of early challenges in the tour which somewhat continued throughout our three weeks of cycling was getting used to using the GPS cycling app recommended by the tour companies, which works well when you are moving and zoomed in. If you stop, it has no idea which way you are facing, so neither do you, and sometimes it re-orients the direction you are facing. Also, if you are zoomed out too far, it's hard to interpret which way a turn can face. Many times we started riding, only to realize we had to do a u-turn. This became less frequent as we got used to it.
Day one was going pretty smoothly until we hit our first snag at Zboreny Kostelec (literal translation: demolished church). Our GPS told us to cross this pedestrian bridge over the river. It was right next to this castle. There was a huge construction fence across the entrance, and it seemed it was blocked off due to construction. We studied the map and found another way across the river a few miles away in the center of town the app was trying to keep us from having to ride through. Okay.....I'm an accountant, and by nature I'm a rule follower, so when I can't follow instructions as written, it bothers me. It ended up being no big thing, just extra distance to our ride.
Later that day, about 10 miles out from the hotel, we stopped at Konopiste Castle. I stayed with the bike while my husband toured it. I was pooped, chilly and really not in the mood to stress out about leaving the bike. Also, there was no way to really secure our bike to anything that we could see and too many people around. I was very anxious as it was our first day and we didn't have a feel for bike security yet. I was fine with staying with the bike and resting, really, and I got to see the castle the next day, as our route to Tabor took us back by it, so we stopped on the way out. This photo is from the next day when we stopped there on our way to Tabor.
We finally got to Benesov where I discovered that not all hotels have 24/7 reception. I was literally over that day by the time we arrived and feeling overwhelmed, sweaty, and tired. I just wanted the check-in process to be easy, our luggage to be there and I wanted a shower... bad. It wasn't easy. The entrance to the hotel was locked and the foyer looked dark. It was ridiculously easy to figure out that there was a call button for reception, but my brain was on vacation that moment. We finally got someone through the call box, and they unlocked the door and we checked in.
Later that day, we walked around Benesov, enjoying the old buildings and interesting architecture, and I enjoyed an amazing penne pasta dish that night with zero guilt.
The bed was hard, the pillows were flat, so flat I dug out my travel pillow, but I was loving my own duvet with no top sheet, which is unlike what we have in the US. I slept hard...
Check out our tour photos on the Instagram account 7th_decade_redhead.
If you would like to read more about our three week-long bicycle tour starting in Prague, Czech Republic and ending in Budapest, Hungary, here are the links to our entire adventure:
Day Zero in Prague (Weather or not I wanted to)
Day One.... The Hills are Alive .... and I am not
Day Two....Vistas and Grocery Stores (and an angry cashier)
Day Three.... Are we Hiking or Cycling? (Today it was hard to tell....)
Day Four.....My Favorite Place on the Entire Tour (and a nod to the Beer of Kings along the way)
Day Four and a Half (I couldn't do it justice in one post)
Day 5 ...... Will This Day Ever End???
Day Six... Pausing in Passau (AKA This is the way we wash our clothes.....I think....)
Day Seven - Off down the Danube (If we'd only had that meeting.....)
Day Eight - We needed a day like today.....
Day Ten Cycling the Danube - Cloudy With a Shot of Melk
Day Eleven Cycling the Danube... A rare short mileage day!
Day Twelve Cycling the Danube - Aahhhh Vienna!!!
Day 13 - Our Day in Vienna (It's not supposed to be this HOT)
Day 14: Vienna to Petronell-Carnuntum (Apparently, I can speak some Italian.....)
Day 15 Petronell-Carnuntum, Austria to Bratislava, Slovakia (Rain and broken Chain...)
Day 16 Bratislava, Slovakia to Gyor, Hungary (There's a snake in the grass....)
Day 18: Komarno, Slovakia to Esztergom, Hungary (A tense tummy and a tense moment......)
Day 19: Esztergom to Budapest, Hungary (A long ride for the last day)
Day 20: A Day in Budapest (We had to see the last of the "Stevens/Stephens")
