This is translation of post I wrote in Croatian. I used Chat GPT which did a decent, but not a great job.
But I don’t think in English and it would be hard for me to write all this on my own. If I do get positive feedback I might continue to translate my posts. 😊Here are geographic relations between places mentioned in post.
Čakovec is town located in the north of Croatia in the Međimurje County, while Varaždin is about 15 kilometers southwest of Čakovec. A state road connects these two places with Sesvete via Novi Marof. The distance from Čakovec to Sesvete is approximately 80 km. From Sesvete to Marija Bistrica, the road leads through the pass on the eastern side of the Medvednica mountain. From there to Novi Marof, the terrain is undulating, covering a distance of about 30 km.
From Novi Marof, through the western side of the Kalnik mountain range, the road passes through Kipišće and descends passing couple of hills though, towards Vrbovec, which is about 40 km to the south. Čazma is around 40 km southeast of Vrbovec, while Sesvete are to the west. Komin is a place on the state road between Sesvete and Varaždin. Sveti Martin and Mursko Središće are places in the north of the Međimurje County, about 100 km away from Sesvete, which is practically on the outskirts of the Croatian capital, Zagreb.
For a while now, a good DUB mix from YT has been playing in the background, it would go well with a spliff, but I quit tobacco a long time ago, and I never really got into ganja anyway. It’s too late to crack open a beer, tomorrow is a workday. Maybe there’s still a grain or two of common sense left in this big head of mine. Because, what do I need this for?
I will come back to this, so I don’t scare you off with the first paragraph. 🤷🏽♂️🙂 I know you came for some biking and maybe a few photos. So, let’s start from the beginning.
It’s Saturday, March 23rd, it’s 3:30 a.m., the alarm on my phone is ringing. Even though a few hours ago I was wondering why I need this, I didn’t hesitate, after the standard five minutes snooze, I dragged myself out of bed and started putting on the clothes I had prepared. Layer of this, layer of that, shirt, pants, jacket, etc. At around four-something, I hop on the bike, turn on the navigation, and start riding. The night is warm, as the weather man would say, “unusual for this time of year.”
As I exit the city, I see blue lights flashing, still half asleep, I’m running through bad scenarios that might have unfolded, but I only see a police car behind some gray car and a few people talking. Okay, no casualties. I keep riding, from Čakovec towards Varaždin. Traffic is light, almost non-existent, I ride at a pace fast enough to reach a place not far from Varaždin around 4:20 a.m., where two roads merge. I arranged to meet Ksenija there.
Namely, at 8 a.m., a 200 km brevet starts from Sesvete, to which we decided to go by bike. We both have plans for some longer rides this season, so a little over 200 km at once will come in handy. Although Ksenija is preparing for a much, much longer one than I am. But if everything goes well, mine won’t be a walk in the park either.
We met, greeted each other, and continued south. Varaždin, classic, the first traffic light at the entrance is red, minimal cars. We keep riding, feeling the south wind in our faces. It’s not strong, just preparing us to know that it’s there and that it will be there, no matter where we go. 🙂 We climb two hills south of Varaždin, on the second one, after Novi Marof, the wind really hit us hard, and I was afraid the morning would be too tough. As it sometimes happens, when we descended into the valley, the wind calmed down, and we hardly felt it anymore.
The sun blazed through the clouds in the east, it’s twenty to six, the planet finally tilted towards the equinox, the day is longer than the night again. And dawn is always magical, especially if I’ve greeted it on a bike. We pedaled south across the plain, a thin layer of mist hung over the landscape, and I savored the scene. As we approached Sesvete, the wind started to pick up again. Somehow, traffic also intensified in parallel. Of course, even though Sesvete are a city on their own, realistically, they are part of Zagreb, which brings with it bad and torn-up roads, a bunch of traffic lights, heavy traffic, crossing over railway tracks, etc. 🤷🏽♂️
Nevertheless, we arrived at the meeting point in front of the shopping center around 7:30. Just in time to grab a coffee before the start. There were really a lot of cyclists. Somewhere I heard that around 150 of us started. I was very glad to witness that. It’s nice that so many people gather for this, albeit a slightly less popular discipline of cycling. I greeted many people I mostly met on brevets I’ve ridden so far. Again, we aroused wonder by arriving in Sesvete by bike. As if brevets longer than 200 km don’t exist? 🤷🏽♂️
Before we start, let me introduce you to the rest of the characters who will accompany me, besides Ksenija, throughout today’s story, in the order I met them this morning.
“Tom! White legs, long beard!” 😁 I yelled when I spotted him next to the car he was getting ready by. We waved at each other, and I continued on. We’ve known each other for a very long time and have had quite a few interesting rides together. 🙂
Next, I come across Dadek. I’ve known him for a very, very long time, first as photographers, and now in recent years, he’s returned to cycling. Although, I might be blaming the order a bit. Last year we rode Fleche together, and this was his first classic brevet, of only 200 km.
Last but not least, Siniša jumps into the frame, whom I met at my first brevet way back in 2015. He is, of course, the most famous Siniša among all brevet riders. 🙂. I met Ksenija, with whom I came here, at a brevet many years ago, and I’ve already described her once as the queen of brevet riders in Croatia and beyond. That hasn’t changed. 🙂
Well, the opening credits are over, we’ve had our coffee, it’s 8 o’clock. Although the organizer shouted that this isn’t a race and that we don’t all have to start right away, we all started right away. 🤷🏽♂️ Okay, except for me, Ksenija, Siniša, and a few other riders who weren’t in a rush and don’t mind riding alone. I was rummaging through my bag, packing things, so I really started almost last.
Alright, I had the route ahead of me, I won’t get lost. Soon I began to catch up with those who weren’t rushing, every now and then I met someone I didn’t notice at the start, exchanged a sentence or two in passing, and we already left Sesvete and slowly started climbing towards the Laz pass, followed by a descent towards Marija Bistrica, the first checkpoint of today.
I’ve climbed Laz several times before, more often from the north side. The last time I rode from the south, it was scorching hot and I was climbing very slowly. Today the weather was nice, and I rode the ascent a bit faster than I should’ve, because, you know, I already have about 100 km in my legs and probably (definitely 🙂) have nearly 300 more to go. But when there were so many rabbits on the road that needed catching. 😁
The pass came and went, the descent was okay, although I rode quite conservatively, braking earlier and turning more cautiously. I haven’t fully recovered since the crash in autumn… In Bistrica, we had a checkpoint in a café, the first of the day. Next to it, I bought a really tasty sandwich in the bakery.
Prosciutto, cheese, lettuce, spread, cornbread. Really, I haven’t stumbled upon something so delicious in a bakery for a long time. If I knew, I would’ve taken at least one more because the one in Vrbovec will disappoint me quite a bit. If you think I’m eating too early, it’s only about thirty kilometers from the start, so… The night before, I didn’t eat properly, I only had two bananas until Sesvete, and of course, the shopping center wasn’t open when we were there, so I had to quickly eat something substantial. I stayed at the checkpoint for about ten minutes, packed the rest of the sandwich in my bag for later. We had a short but sweet climb to the north, then immediately a fast descent into the valley towards Konjščina, from where we practically ironed the road, carried by the tailwind.
Well, I was ironing alone. It’s not that there weren’t groups I couldn’t keep up with, but I wanted to ride at a pace that suited me, not too fast or too slow. Just right. 🙂 Riding on the wind’s wings, I passed about twenty kilometers to Novi Marof at almost 30 km/h. I know it doesn’t look dramatically fast, but remember I’m riding a marathon, not a race, and I need to distribute my energy well, and it’s also a fact that the road in that direction is constantly ascending. And at the end of the day, almost never on these rides does a tailwind go unpunished. 🤷🏽♂️
In Novi Marof, the second checkpoint was at the Ključice restaurant, where time really stood still. At least in terms of the interior. I’m glad that us brevet riders brought them some business because the terrace was packed when I arrived. I left my 2€ for a fizzy drink. A little sweet alongside the water they kindly poured into my bidons was much appreciated. I stayed minimal, ate a bit more of that sandwich, said goodbye to Dadek who was just leaving when I arrived. Siniša and Ksenija went for coffee somewhere less crowded. I decided to continue on, to realistically the toughest part of today’s brevet. At least in terms of altitude profile.
Right after Marof, we had a climb to the pass over Kipišće, which on the west side crosses Kalnik and (quickly) descends into the valley on the south side. I didn’t push full throttle on the climb, with the pace I was turning the pedals, I felt like it would take me about fifteen minutes for those four kilometers. And that’s how it was. I descended on the other side, at the bottom of the descent was our third, photo checkpoint. From there, I turned south and for the first time felt, albeit relatively mild, the punishment for enjoying the tailwind to Marof.
Although I didn’t feel it at full strength, every now and then the wind sneaked through the hills and made its presence decently felt. Still, until the next little bump, I had the tractor’s assistance. You see, first, I overtook him, then he caught up with me on a short stretch and passed me, and started driving in front of me at a slightly nicer speed, around 32, 33 km/h. There was a slight smell of oil, but I won’t refuse a free draft. 😁 So, I nicely hitched a ride behind him until the next short but steep climb. Although Strava says it’s 2 km and 4%, actually the steepest part has a much higher gradient than that, but you know how it goes with averages. 🤷🏽♂️
Alright, as I started climbing, near the top of the hill, I saw the yellow jersey that Dadek was wearing, just like me, in fact. Our team jersey from last year’s Fleche. I caught up with him and waited a bit for us to continue together. But he preferred a slower pace, so I continued on my own. A few more hills, and I reached the “Happy Point” where riders were greeted with some drinks. I glanced at them, but I saw that some may have relaxed a bit too much, some were chugging beers from cans, and I spotted those familiar white legs that had started downhill just before I arrived.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not judging the crew who chugged a beer, to each their own. Not so long ago, I would’ve joined them. 🙂 I just didn’t feel like crowding, and I wanted to finish the brevet as soon as possible. Anyway, I’ll take a longer break in Vrbovec, which isn’t that far away. Shortly after the descent, I caught up with Tom, the owner of the white legs. 🙂 I asked him if he’s coming with me, and he said he’ll try. And so the two of us continued towards Vrbovec, me in front, him in my slipstream. The wind was felt more from the side as we traveled southeast. Still, every now and then, it nudged us on a bend when the terrain opened up to expose us from the side.
Here we are in Vrbovec. We got a little lost in the town to find a bar, appropriately named Birtija. (The Inn) 🙂 Luckily, Tom had been here once before, so he navigated us because our route led us to just another courtyard.
After confirming the control card, I went to a nearby bakery where I bought a sandwich that wasn’t even close to the one from Marija Bistrica, a piece of which I still had and ate first. 🙂 In the meantime, Dadek joined us, and we had coffee together, me and Tom, and a nice radler they mix in the inn.
I wasted all the time I saved at the previous checkpoints in Vrbovec. But practically, I finished the brevet, I could and should treat myself to a proper rest. And the guys didn’t mind either. 🙂 After about 50 minutes, the three of us continued towards the next checkpoint, in Čazma.
We rode quite fast because we were traveling more towards the east than the south, so the wind was helping us again. When we arrived in Čazma, it was around 2:30 p.m. We stayed a little longer than we thought because someone (and whose text you’re reading) 🙂 had to unload some excess cargo in the room where even the president goes alone. I hope. 😁 🤷🏽♂️
And from there, the wind’s revenge began. The last 50-odd kilometers of the brevet were supposed to be easy. Straight, towards Ivanić Grad and then along the Sava River. However, as we traveled westward, either northwest or southwest, we definitely felt the wind. I felt it a bit more because I was mostly at the front, but since the wind often hit us sideways, even the trio behind me wasn’t completely sheltered. Because, of course, we’re riding on open roads and we can’t arrange ourselves like the pros to shield ourselves from the wind. In case you’re wondering who the third person is, well, we picked up a colleague along the way, and our pace seemed to suit him.
I didn’t ask the guys to take turns at the front because that would soon drain their strength, and then I would have to ride even slower for them to keep up, so it didn’t make sense. We rode nicely past two more checkpoint photo spots, and to be honest, we were all eagerly awaiting Sesvete. Every now and then, I thought I’d rather tackle that 18% climb again than wrestle with the wind. But what can you do, I have to finish the brevet.
We entered Sesvete, the sun was setting behind the clouds in the west. It was around 5:45 p.m. To be honest, I hoped that by this time, I’d already be heading towards Međimurje, but okay. From Čazma, two more checkpoints, each taking a few minutes. Headwind, relatively slow companions, and all that adds up. I wanted to pull the slow companions along with me, they weren’t an excuse. And even if I were alone, maybe I would’ve arrived just a few minutes earlier, but it’s still better in company. 😊 On the other hand, I didn’t want to follow the faster riders, so as I arranged myself, that’s how it was. 🤷🏽♂️
We finished at Pivnica Keti (Pub Keti) because that was the brevet’s finish line. Many cyclists, and a few women cyclists, were already at the table replenishing calories they burned. I have to admit that the interior in the Pub wasn’t exactly inviting for frequent visits, but the food was tasty and plentiful. Tom chose the goulash out of the two offered dishes, while Dadek and I went for the breaded chicken with fries. Well, I didn’t even finish mine. Apparently, I didn’t burn enough energy. 😁
And now came the crucial decision! Would I return home by bike, as I had planned, or take the opportunity to go by car with either Dadek or Tom? The dilemma was, of course, due to the weather conditions. All three models I followed predicted the beginning of more or less heavy rain on the way back around 7 to 9 p.m. Different times, but all of them said that if I went by bike, I’d encounter rain, the only question was when.
With the rain, a significant drop in temperature was also forecasted, and the wind was expected to shift from the southwest to the north. Strait head-on. Usually, with this forecast, I would never have set off by bike alone, but Siniša and Ksenija said they were going, so there you go, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. 🤷🏽♂️🙂🤦♂️ Although I pondered for a while, looked at apps with radars, satellites, models, and in the end, I said, well, you know what, let’s not curse in public now. 🙂 I had my rain gear, if we’re lucky and the rain catches us late and isn’t too heavy, it’ll be good enough.
Night had already fallen when the three of us set off. Siniša navigated us to catch the road to Varaždin as quickly as possible. We navigated through traffic, still benefiting from the weakened, but southerly wind at our backs. The sky wasn’t completely overcast yet; the moon peeked through the clouds. I led our little column, and everything was fine until we reached Sveti Ivan Zelina. Traffic was thinning out, we were riding at a decent pace, and somehow I still hoped we’d manage a good portion of the journey without rain.
On the second climb, towards the center of Zelina, Siniša shouted to me that the app on his phone was informing him that rain was 25 km away from us. I told him to tell the app to mind its own business. 😁 After we descended from Zelina, Siniša took the lead, and somehow at that exact moment, the wind shifted and began blowing strongly from the north! Well, that didn’t smell good anymore. Our pace naturally dropped, and it started getting cold. First, we stopped at a bus stop to put on additional layers of clothing so we wouldn’t get too cold. I wanted to put on the lower part of my raincoat right away because besides protecting from rain, it also protects from wind.
We agreed to continue north until the first raindrops, and then to the first café. But at that moment, the first few drops of rain started falling. They rode a bit ahead, but I noticed with surprise that the red taillights of their bikes turned off the road into a fairly dark yard just a few meters away. It didn’t look like a café to me.
It turned out they had turned into someone’s gazebo to put on ALL the rain gear they had. I only had neoprene socks left to put on, and that was it. The lady whose yard we stumbled into kindly invited us into her kitchen to wait there until the rain passed. We thanked her, asked where the nearest café was. It turned out we had passed it, about 200, 300 meters to the south.
Just as we put everything on, we agreed to head north to the next café, which was only 3 km away, but just then, lightning tore through the sky, almost immediately followed by a loud thunder, and right after that, a heavy downpour started soaking the road. Okay, obviously, we won’t be heading north, but back to the café. 🤷🏽♂️
We parked our bikes right in front of the entrance so we could keep an eye on them, went inside, and received a lot of curious looks. We ordered something warm, something sweet, and started watching the weather apps. Siniša was more positive; it seemed to me that it would be wise to sit a little longer. Despite the awful music and the smoke from cigarettes… However, we were inside for over an hour. Everyone passed the time as best as they could. Ksenija dozed off, Siniša entertained himself with his apps, I managed to go through two short Italian lessons in the learning app, but we were becoming restless.
I still wasn’t keen on going; it seemed like the rain was still coming down too heavily, and we should wait a bit longer. On the other hand, Siniša was more optimistic and said that the rain to the north of us was easing up, and we could enter an area with less rain as we headed north. Since he had much more experience riding in all kinds of weather conditions, I didn’t want to argue, so I also set out into the darkness, into the rain. The first bad sign was when one of my gloves immediately fell into the water and became completely soaked. 🤦♂️ “What a great mistake to make,” Colonel would say. Who remembers him. 🙂
Actually, I made my first mistake early in the morning when I forgot my short, padded gloves, which caused my palms to hurt a lot, and those thin mechanic gloves I use when tinkering with a bike. They would have kept these thin gloves I had on dry much longer, but… I didn’t have them.
Anyway, the three of us set off, and shortly thereafter,another lightning bolt that illuminated the landscape around us wished us luck . Along with the thunder, of course, the rain and wind intensified… There was no turning back anymore; we silently fought against the wet road, rain pouring down in thick drops, and the north wind blowing quite strongly. One thing I remember is trying to avoid the rainworms on the road as much as I could. I don’t know if the others were as cautious. 🤷🏽♂️
Although there aren’t many kilometers from Komin to our final destinations, about sixty, I was sure it would take quite a while. Riding is slower in the dark anyway, adding bad weather, we struggled but still managed to make some progress. Breznica, Breznički Hum, the ascent towards Novi Marof, the descent down, it all slowly passed. Although I said we were almost done when we passed Marof, it wasn’t quite like that; the rain still poured down mercilessly, and I had long felt that everything had gotten wet, even water slowly trickling down the back of my legs. My feet were cold again, even my neoprene socks were already soaked. I was slowly losing feeling in my fingers…
We exited Marof, passed the new roundabout at the northern exit, Siniša dashed ahead in his rhythm, and for the first time in many, many years (except for that ride when I crashed), I decided to use a “joker call.” I told Ksenija that I would call my dear to come pick me up; she should just continue with Siniša.
I stopped at the bus stop, and as soon as I moved away from the rain and wind, I immediately felt less cold. However, it took me a few minutes to pull my frozen fingers out of the gloves, shake them enough to control them again, then take out my phone from the bag on the handlebars, and then the waterproof bag I bought for no particular reason in one of those stores with all sorts of knick-knacks…
“Hey, it’s me, sorry to wake you up, but I can’t go on, please come pick me up.” And I told her that I was below Varaždin Breg ascent and heading uphill. I put my phone back in all those bags and decided to continue. It was only 4 degrees above zero, and I would quickly get cold waiting there. I pedaled uphill, as fast as I could. As I climbed higher, I began to notice large snowflakes mixed with rain in the beam of my flashlight. Ah, just what I needed, I muttered to myself.
The climb ended fairly quickly, and I even warmed up a bit, but then came the descent towards Varaždin. I must have worn out about half of the new brake pads I enthusiastically put on a few days ago. And the bottom bracket bearings, too… If I had known, I would have left everything old to be washed in this downpour. Still, I managed to descend to the foothills without any issues, except for jamming some piece of metal into the rear rim while braking, which further wore down the brake pads. Of course, I had no intention of checking that now. I was expecting my joker soon, anyway. 🙂
I entered Zagrebačka Street, which leads into Varaždin from the south, and wouldn’t you know it, the rain stopped! Even the wind calmed down. Shortly afterward, I caught up with Siniša, who had stopped due to natural needs, so we continued on together. Almost at the exit from Varaždin, we reached Ksenija again. Once again, we had to wait at the same traffic light where Ksenija and I stood almost 20 hours earlier. I glanced at every car coming towards us, trying to recognize Vanja.
The kilometers passed, and soon the three of us bid farewell. Ksenija and Siniša turned towards Sveti Martin, and I continued towards Mursko Središće. Now I was starting to worry a little; had something happened? By now, we should have met up. I even stopped in front of a restaurant because a dark car stopped on the other side; I waited for the car to come to the parking lot; we looked at each other, and I realized it wasn’t her. I continued on and finally stopped at the next bus stop and decided to make the call.
Of course, first I had to thaw out my fingers again, which was really painful this time. They hurt and burned from the inside, almost to the bone. When I finally dug out my phone, I saw three missed calls. It turned out we missed each other in Varaždin. No one’s fault. I was hypothermic and wet, Vanja tired and just woken up. None of us were thinking straight, so it turned out that I was about forty minutes from the finish, and she was back in Novi Marof. 🤷🏽♂️
By the way, when I descended into Varaždin and the rain stopped, I felt sorry for waking up my dear. Of course, I couldn’t have known that it wasn’t raining there anymore, but I also couldn’t call her and say, “you know, I’ve changed my mind.” And so the two of us finally met about eight kilometers before Mursko Središće. Still, I was glad to have saved even that little bit because it was really cold, and I was completely soaked.
And then, when we were putting the bike in the car, we almost had a disaster. You see, since my fingers were numb, I asked my dear to stop recording the ride on the cycling computer. But since she wasn’t used to it, instead of pressing the check mark, she pressed X. If I hadn’t woken up half the village then, I never will. 🤦♂️ However, we managed it before the complete ride record, all 374.5 kilometers and 15:34:14 hours of pedaling, went into digital oblivion.
Showering, believe me, was both pleasant and painful as my extremities slowly warmed up. I slept until morning, covered with several layers of thick blankets, and even Teo the cat came to warm me up, snuggling at my feet.
So, you may wonder, what do I need all this for?
Well, sometimes I wonder too. Shouldn’t I, as I rapidly approach middle age, be wiser, more experienced, dare I say smarter? Shouldn’t I calm down, walk on Sunday mornings to the game/church, then to the tavern, and after lunch snooze in front of the TV?
Well, instead of an answer, here are a few verses from Ban’s Sušac Blues, just replace the boat with a bicycle and the sea with the road…
“The wind is stirring up the sea, I set sail on a boat alone
The wind rises and crashes upon me, I know its intention
It wants to test its strength, unleashing all its power upon me
But I’ve set out to where I want to go, and there I will surely come.”
Until the next (I hope not) rainy ride, I bid you farewell. I hope you found this episode of “More Old, More Foolish” interesting.
Leave me a comment (you can say I’ve gone mad, it’s okay 😁), you can recommend the text to someone who might be interested, you can go for a longer bike ride, whatever. Reach out.
And thank you for your attention. 😊
Odgovori