Having completed four stages and about to begin my fifth tomorrow morning, I’ve begun to recognize a pattern which recurs in the rest internval:
1) Relief — for safely finishing a stage and reaching the destination
2) Euphoria — probably endorphin related (though, could also be beer induced)
3) Lethargy — need to get one or two nights of good sleep to recover
4) Loneliness — a form of homesickness begins to creep in; find myself craving familiar music and spending time in restaurants trying to overhear English conversations
5) Excitement — Legs get antsy; it’s time to get back on the road
Start: Skidziń, Poland End: Krakow, Poland Distance: 86.7km Elevation Gain: 2287ft Elevation Loss: 2369ft Time: 6h20m Reading Material:Red Cavalry and Other Stories – Isaac Babel Audio Material: Fresh Air; The World in Words; Sound Opinions (Roger Ebert episode); You Think It’s Like This but Really It’s Like This – mirah
Description
A fitting day to bid bye to the official EuroVelo routes. Ran into two undesirable route features not described on the maps: 1) stairs, and 2) a true death hill. Going down stairs is actually pretty feasible. But going up more than three stairs requires unpacking the bike (or, possibly, more upper body weight workouts). To navigate the water and railways just east of Oświęcim, I already had to pull a 2km long ‘S’ shape and then ran into the flight of stairs leading to the bridge over a damn blocking my escape. I lost about 10minutes unpacking and repacking.
The death hill was worse. Previously, I ran into a steep, unpaved hill that required dismounting. That hill was short, maybe 100ft and easily conquered. Today, I had to face .8km of extremely steep, unpaved, gravely ascent. The 45min ordeal gave me a good chance to practice my pushing technique: you have to get down really low and use your entire lower body to push the book. If only bike shoes had better traction! Luckily, the sun thunderstorms didn’t start until after I crested and the rain was nice and cool.
Lunch was somewhere near Frywald from a small store with an ice cream Popsicle and homemade jelly doughnut (!). I always assumed the jelly doughnut was a North American invention. (Mainly due to Bob & Doug McKenzie’s ethnographic study on the Canadian male). But, actually Poland gets the credit. They call them pączki and they date from the time of August III. Something to due with preparing for Lent and either using up unneeded ingredients or just having a blowout Fat Day. Either way, I got to eat a jelly doughnut for lunch and count it as local cuisine.
Arrived in Krakow in the late afternoon. Warm welcome from the staff at my short-term apartment rental with a special look-see at the laundry machine which is going to get a workout. Had enough time to walk down to Main Market Square after dinner. I’ll spend the next five days in Krakow resting, touristing and planning the next leg to Kiev.
Start: Pszczyna, Poland End: Skidziń, Poland Distance: 23.8km Elevation Gain: 311ft Elevation Loss: 358ft Time: 1h39m Reading Material:A History of the Jews – Paul Johnson Audio Material: Diaen Rehm Friday News Roundups
Description
Super short day. Some wide and bumpy unpaved roads lacing small ponds and then I arrived at a beautiful farmhouse and orchard about 7km from Auschwitz II. It is claimed that the farmhouse provided assistance to escapees from Auschwitz but I can’t find any way to confirm. However, it is extremely peaceful and is a nice place to catch up on email and reading in the garden.
Start: Cieszyn, Poland End: Pszczyna, Poland Distance: 66.5km Elevation Gain: 2043ft Elevation Loss: 2135ft Time: 6h16m Reading Material:The Czechs and the Lands of the Bohemian Crown – Hugh Agnew Audio Material:Cure for Pain – Morphine; 99% Invisible
Description
The EuroVelo routes I have been following pretty much since Dresden have been excellent. They are very good at avoiding large roads/cars and mixing in interesting places and scenery. Sometimes the route planners take circuitous routes or include unpaved tracks in attempts to avoid short stretches of busy road. Usually, I follow the route but today the loops got a bit crazy and I cut some corners and nearly 40k from the official route. By avoiding side trips to Skoczów and Bielsko-Biala, I found myself all the way to Pszczyna.
Oświęcim (aka Auschwitz) is only 30km east and I probably could have made it today but since I already have prearranged reservations at both Oświęcim and Krakow, I opted for an early evening in Pszczyna. Tomorrow I’m headed to a farmhouse with room rentals on the outskirts of Oświęcim. I’ll spend the next day exploring the area and doing the full Auschwitz tour and then on to Krakow the day after. East of Krakow, the EuroVelo routes become more imaginary so I’ll need to conjure some of my own.
Start: Nový Jičín, Czech Republic End: Cieszyn, Poland Distance: 78.7km Elevation Gain: 3562ft Elevation Loss: 3526ft Time: 7h25m Reading Material:The Czechs and the Lands of the Bohemian Crown – Hugh Agnew Audio Material: EconTalk; All Hail West Texas (in honor of recently announced reissue) and Sweden – The Mountain Goats; Bullseye; The World in Words
Description
Here’s how you know you’re in for a tough day: ski lifts. They look pretty and the local houses nearby that are decked out as ski lodges are cozy but it also means that you’re going to be climbing. I had flashbacks to one of my “favorite” rides back home, the Six Gap Vermont Death Ride which crests the Middlebury Snow Bowl ski mountain of college racing fame. Today was nowhere near as crazy as that ride, but 3000+ climbing with 80lbs of gear and a 40lb bike still isn’t easy.
Had an impromptu lunch of what I can only describe as uncooked Spätzle. A woman had a little stand on the side of the road selling homemade food items. I am completely incapable of riding past homemade food. She first offered a large pie (appealing but probably too big) and then these bags of noodles. She offered a taste, so it seemed fine to eat them raw as is. A full bag served as lunch.
I hadn’t planned on it, but made good time and crossed over into Poland. I stopped at Cieszyn in Poland, a literal border town with the city split in two after WWI with the Czech half being called Český Těšín and Poland getting the larger part as Cieszyn. The old town square is pretty but Cieszyn hasn’t done as well as Olomouc protecting the core and there are cars all over making it less appealing for walking. However, there is a centrally located Kaufland Supermarket letting me load up on essentials (post-ride Mountain Dew; bar soap and actual shampoo; border crossing ritual ATM and mobile phone store for new sim card).
