Slovania-Croatia Blog. June 3, 2008
A friendship flower! I LOVE SLOVENIA!!!
Check pics of Slovnia at:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9AauGbRi3aNU-¬ag=1
And rough cut of Croatia so far at:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9AauGbRi3aNVY¬ag=1
Slovenia has impressed me in endless ways. For such a small country it is packed with everything I could ever want—unreal natural wonders with 65% forest, great wine, epic riding and endless jaw dropping scenery and, most of all, some of the WARMEST, MOST GENUINE, FUN, REAL, OPEN AND ADVENTUREOUS PEOPLE! I LOVE IT HERE!
So I left off with my choosing to stay in my old town Kranj nest at Ursa and Luka’s pad, which was a great call. I was blessed to meet Ursa’s brother Blaz and we had an awesome connection from the first moment. He invited me rock climbing and Luka came along too. So it was the boys day on the rock and I’ll never forget it! They were patient, supportive (even too supportive with the chalk marks on the best hand holds) and even challenged me to lead a climb for the 3rd time in my entire life. We followed that up with a late night barbeque on the terrace of Ursa’s pad.
On a personal note, I had been struggling with the inspiration to get my video cameras rolling again and was getting quite frustrated. Luckily, with some support from friends, family and my new crew in Slovenia I’m feeling the film maker/host/producer mojo once again and have captured some great stuff for the world to see, feel and hear the magic of Slovenia and beyond!
The time finally came to hit the road and my first rider was a man named Leonard who I met only a moment at a bike race on my first day in Slovenia. Leonard shared with me that day that he had been dreaming and even preparing for of a worldwide bicycle trip for several years. So it was not very tough to convince him that we were mean to adventure together on the tandem.
Leonard met me in Kranj with the unique mix of excitement and fear of a little boy waiting in line for a scary roller coaster ride; our ride together was not far from one, especially emotionally for my boy Leonard. We had a scorching hot day for European standards with heats pumping at 33 degrees (95F) as we got a late start. But we were rolling along in no time with an endless stream of conversation going all the way to the capital of Ljubljana.
Leonard had only planned to join me for a few hours, but after a nice picnic lunch on a bench in the capital he was not going home in a hurry. He stayed on as we made our way towards ???. But what I did not know was the chaos going on in Leonard’s head as we pedaled further and further away from his “comfort zone” of family, work and wife. About 10km outside the city he was ready to call it quits—not from the heat, but from the fears that were coming up in him that he was very open to share with me.
I talked him into moving on an we had deep talks about his dreams, what was holding him back and it was some of them most intense tandem cycling conversations I’ve ever had. But as we talked and talked, and rolled an interview on the bike, and moved further away from the capital, he loosed up just a bit more. We finally made it to the town of ??? where he was planning to take a bus back home to his “nest”.
But as we were waiting for his bus to come we shared a beer and talked about the day. I knew he did not REALLY want to go home, but I also knew he had a wife and 4 kids so I was not going to get in the way of his responsibilities. But as Leonard heard me lining up a free camping spot at the local school and going about the business of international bike touring, he knew he had to stay with his “mentor”. It probably helped that a local guy Mathius joined our table who was celebrating his birthday and bought him his 2nd beer, which loosened him up just enough to order some pizzas, have some laughs and eventually make our way to the local high school where we were told of some epic free camping for the night.
--------------It’s 1:30 in the morning here in Croatia and pretty dead tired from a massive media campaign my buddy Svemir organized for me. We are up early to hit the road so I’ll wrap it up here sooner than later and write some more when I catch up with myself For now, here’s the “nutshell version…” check the pics of Slovenia for an idea of how awesome that place is and how amazing the people are. Very much at the top of my list of favorite places on earth. And Croatia is feeling like it’s gonna be just as awesome!
Sooooo, after Leonard I was blessed to ride with two sisters Sonja and Vesna, who are good friends of my Austrian rider and good friend Helene. I’ll write more later, but these two are now my sisters and we shared some of the most amazing times together.
I hit up the capital for some media work and a last night of good times with my Slovenia crew and was blessed to party down with a group of 9 amazing souls at my apartment I treated myself to for the night, followed by dancing to disco music till 6AM. It was amazing.
We made an attempt for the border to Croatia a bit late but I got a chance to ride with a great Slovenian guy Sloka to the border before it got dark. Luckily, my Slovenia Sistas were right behind me in a station wagon support vehicle to take to safely to our final destination—the “Peace Pedalers Flower Power Party” at Svemir’s house in the capital of Croatia, Zagreb.
We were greeted with warm hugs and mucho respect from Svemir’s soulful crew of friends and we were up till about 1:30AM sharing, eating and enjoying. As if it could not get any better, the next day was perfect weather and a huge bicycling event to a clear lake that did not seem like it belonged in the capital—it was lovely! We were met by a team of great people, the media to do a major story on us, and all sorts of big smiles all day.
Today we were up early to go on the “Good Morning Croatia” national TV show. So in one day Peace Pedalers were seen by hundreds of thousands of people and we’re ready to go greet them in a few hours as Svemir has cleared his schedule, as well as our friend Goga, for 4-5 days in the south on the islands and beaches, ridin, swimin, eatin, filmin and lovin it! Can’t wait!
Wish I could write more, and hope to do so soon, but it’s now 2:43AM and gotta hit the hay and great ready to rock.
A friendship flower! I LOVE SLOVENIA!!!
Check pics of Slovnia at:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9AauGbRi3aNU-¬ag=1
And rough cut of Croatia so far at:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9AauGbRi3aNVY¬ag=1
Slovenia has impressed me in endless ways. For such a small country it is packed with everything I could ever want—unreal natural wonders with 65% forest, great wine, epic riding and endless jaw dropping scenery and, most of all, some of the WARMEST, MOST GENUINE, FUN, REAL, OPEN AND ADVENTUREOUS PEOPLE! I LOVE IT HERE!
So I left off with my choosing to stay in my old town Kranj nest at Ursa and Luka’s pad, which was a great call. I was blessed to meet Ursa’s brother Blaz and we had an awesome connection from the first moment. He invited me rock climbing and Luka came along too. So it was the boys day on the rock and I’ll never forget it! They were patient, supportive (even too supportive with the chalk marks on the best hand holds) and even challenged me to lead a climb for the 3rd time in my entire life. We followed that up with a late night barbeque on the terrace of Ursa’s pad.
On a personal note, I had been struggling with the inspiration to get my video cameras rolling again and was getting quite frustrated. Luckily, with some support from friends, family and my new crew in Slovenia I’m feeling the film maker/host/producer mojo once again and have captured some great stuff for the world to see, feel and hear the magic of Slovenia and beyond!
The time finally came to hit the road and my first rider was a man named Leonard who I met only a moment at a bike race on my first day in Slovenia. Leonard shared with me that day that he had been dreaming and even preparing for of a worldwide bicycle trip for several years. So it was not very tough to convince him that we were mean to adventure together on the tandem.
Leonard met me in Kranj with the unique mix of excitement and fear of a little boy waiting in line for a scary roller coaster ride; our ride together was not far from one, especially emotionally for my boy Leonard. We had a scorching hot day for European standards with heats pumping at 33 degrees (95F) as we got a late start. But we were rolling along in no time with an endless stream of conversation going all the way to the capital of Ljubljana.
Leonard had only planned to join me for a few hours, but after a nice picnic lunch on a bench in the capital he was not going home in a hurry. He stayed on as we made our way towards ???. But what I did not know was the chaos going on in Leonard’s head as we pedaled further and further away from his “comfort zone” of family, work and wife. About 10km outside the city he was ready to call it quits—not from the heat, but from the fears that were coming up in him that he was very open to share with me.
I talked him into moving on an we had deep talks about his dreams, what was holding him back and it was some of them most intense tandem cycling conversations I’ve ever had. But as we talked and talked, and rolled an interview on the bike, and moved further away from the capital, he loosed up just a bit more. We finally made it to the town of ??? where he was planning to take a bus back home to his “nest”.
But as we were waiting for his bus to come we shared a beer and talked about the day. I knew he did not REALLY want to go home, but I also knew he had a wife and 4 kids so I was not going to get in the way of his responsibilities. But as Leonard heard me lining up a free camping spot at the local school and going about the business of international bike touring, he knew he had to stay with his “mentor”. It probably helped that a local guy Mathius joined our table who was celebrating his birthday and bought him his 2nd beer, which loosened him up just enough to order some pizzas, have some laughs and eventually make our way to the local high school where we were told of some epic free camping for the night.
--------------It’s 1:30 in the morning here in Croatia and pretty dead tired from a massive media campaign my buddy Svemir organized for me. We are up early to hit the road so I’ll wrap it up here sooner than later and write some more when I catch up with myself For now, here’s the “nutshell version…” check the pics of Slovenia for an idea of how awesome that place is and how amazing the people are. Very much at the top of my list of favorite places on earth. And Croatia is feeling like it’s gonna be just as awesome!
Sooooo, after Leonard I was blessed to ride with two sisters Sonja and Vesna, who are good friends of my Austrian rider and good friend Helene. I’ll write more later, but these two are now my sisters and we shared some of the most amazing times together.
I hit up the capital for some media work and a last night of good times with my Slovenia crew and was blessed to party down with a group of 9 amazing souls at my apartment I treated myself to for the night, followed by dancing to disco music till 6AM. It was amazing.
We made an attempt for the border to Croatia a bit late but I got a chance to ride with a great Slovenian guy Sloka to the border before it got dark. Luckily, my Slovenia Sistas were right behind me in a station wagon support vehicle to take to safely to our final destination—the “Peace Pedalers Flower Power Party” at Svemir’s house in the capital of Croatia, Zagreb.
We were greeted with warm hugs and mucho respect from Svemir’s soulful crew of friends and we were up till about 1:30AM sharing, eating and enjoying. As if it could not get any better, the next day was perfect weather and a huge bicycling event to a clear lake that did not seem like it belonged in the capital—it was lovely! We were met by a team of great people, the media to do a major story on us, and all sorts of big smiles all day.
Today we were up early to go on the “Good Morning Croatia” national TV show. So in one day Peace Pedalers were seen by hundreds of thousands of people and we’re ready to go greet them in a few hours as Svemir has cleared his schedule, as well as our friend Goga, for 4-5 days in the south on the islands and beaches, ridin, swimin, eatin, filmin and lovin it! Can’t wait!
Wish I could write more, and hope to do so soon, but it’s now 2:43AM and gotta hit the hay and great ready to rock.
Epic scenery leaving Kranj w/ Leonard
Life is good!
The transfer of riders to Sonja and Vesna
The party Svemir had set up for me, Vesna, Sonja and his crew
My brother Svemir I met 6 years ago in Nepal
Another day in the office ;)
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