Slovenia

Cycling and coffee were made for each other. Having a nice warm americano or frothy cappuccino is a fine reward after a hard ride. These complementary goods are even better when your ride happens to take you through Slovenia and into Italy on a spring day. However, on this adventure the coffee cup made more of an impact than the liquid held inside.

Last June my wife and I went to Slovenia for a few days of riding and site seeing. I knew next to nothing about this destination even though I had unknowingly seen images of lake Bled on my televisions screen saver. I heard it was beautiful and home to Primoz Roglic and Tadej Pogacar but that was about it. Even though I did not see any famous cyclist, Slovenia lived up to its reputation and exceeded my expectations.

This journey started with a day in Ljubljana exploring the streets and eateries. The next day we hopped on a bus for a short ride to the picturesque town of Bled. This town is famous for its turquois lake surrounding an island with a 17^th century church at its center (a favorite choice for TV screen savers). Bled is in the Alps and comers with views of enormous mountains, fairytale-like forests, and amazing cycling routes.

We stayed at a cozy bed and breakfast on the edge of town called ALP Pension https://www.alp-penzion.com/en/ and loved it. The location was outside of the busy tourist areas, the breakfast was perfect, there was an outdoor patio with a self-serve bar, and they even had a nice collection of city bikes for guest use. These bikes worked great for exploring the town and riding to restaurants, but we rented proper road bikes from Polka Dot Cycling (https://polkadot.si/kontaktirajte-nas/ ) for our long days in the saddle. Polka Dot has a fleet of new Scott road, mountain, and E-bikes. We went for the Scott Addict 10 equipped with Shimano Ultegra and electronic shifting. 

The bike rental operator recommended a few popular routes for us. We found that in Slovenia Komoot was more popular than Strava so at the advice of the rental company, I downloaded Komoot and used it for navigation. For the first day we selected a 100 km route from Bled to a small lake in Italy called Lago Inferiore di Fusine. This route was simply stunning. The first 30 km went though a forest on service roads with very little traffic. The rest of the ride was on dedicated biking roads.

After reaching the remote Italian lake, we stopped for lunch at a restaurant in a cabin that overlooked the lake. The restaurant was cozy, the food was nice and the coffee acceptable, but my fondest memory of this dining experience was the coffee cup. Printed on the side read:

YESTERDAY
NOW
TOMORROW

That simple message struck me. In that moment I wasn’t stuck in my head reliving past failures or worrying about my parental responsibilities or work. I was focused on the present. That is the gift of cycling. After a long ride I often experience a moment of peace when I am in an endorphin bubble that protects me from the outside world streaking past like an elapsed time video. I may be aware of tiredness and fatigue, but my anxieties are outside the bubble, at least for a moment.

The next day our cycling adventure was cut short due to knee tendonitis that made even walking painful. (I will make a future post discussing this injury as it impacted my whole summer but was cured by a simple leg exercise.) Despite that Slovenia did not disappoint us. The scenery, food, and high-quality cycling routes made for a memorable biking vacation. 

Slovenia is a popular tourist destination for good reason, especially for the outdoor enthusiast. I hope this brief summary inspires you to explore and to experience your own 'now'!