Graz to Lisbon by bike

 

SO lets start this post talking about what we have achieved on this cycling journey. The rough outline looks like this…3000 k, 5 countries, 36 days, sooo much altitude (google maps say about 20,000m) but I really can’t calculate it, oh and we also saw flamingos once. 

  When I say we, I want to draw attention to the fact that I did not go alone on this great adventure but had at my side (actually mostly in front, so I could be in the wind shadow), the greatest partner and boyfriend person I could have asked for. As with most couples, holidays can be a challenging time, this can be even more so on a bike trip… its true that while cycling the setting for an argument is not always available… riding in a streamlined fashion as is the safest, you cannot really argue that easily.. but you sure can annoy each other. Not only are you alone with one person for huge potions of every day, but you are also both getting considerably worn down by the natural elements around you, the beautiful sun that shines down is exhausting, wind and rain and all the other weather conditions add to your mood levels. You are both tired, you are both hungry, you are both exhausted.. and sometimes you are both wondering why the hell you are doing this. Take all these conditions and then throw in the extra joker card… say getting lost… not being able to find somewhere to get food… or perhaps something breaking down on your bike… The perfect storm can be born within you on any bike adventure. The tsunami of emotional and physical exhaustion crashing down and causing rifts between you. We faced plenty of these moments, but we weathered the storm pretty good. Our support for each other was really secure and strong, everytime I was feeling down, Tom was there to support and comfort me, and when he was getting furious at something from the road, I tried to make him laugh. I think only one or two times were we both in utter despair.. and it turns out that these moments were kind of the funniest ones in retrospect (but not at the time). 

Keep Pedalling 

We crossed 5 countries in this time, Slovenia, Italy, France, Spain and finally Portugal. We cycled pretty much every day of the trip, with a few break days here and there, sometimes it was difficult, sometimes so boring, sometimes it didn’t feel like a holiday at all, it was the same as most things in life, a lot of the reward is attained when you reach your goal and look back on it, seeing what you have accomplished and gone through. The strain and exhaustion are over but as you look back, it has a shine of glory, you did what you wanted, no matter that it was not easy. I remember a couple years ago, meeting a young guy who had cycled over the Himalayas, I was astonished, because he was small and didn’t look strong, his bike was not anything fancy. When I had asked him how he had done it he told me ‘just the way you cycle anywhere, one pedal after the other, you just keep pushing’, I always remembered him and the picture of simple dedication and patience that it gave me. When I was struggling with motivation on the trip, I thought about just putting one foot in front of the other, keep pedalling, there is always that moment afterwards where you have made it, you are there, you can stop, and the trip is over, the time for that is past. In the middle it seems it will never be over, but it will, just like life, its over at one point, it seems so long, but its really not, its just like the bike trip, keep pedalling, keep striving for whatever it is you want to do, even in small ways.

Our Bikes and equipment

Both me and Tom rode Kona bikes (thank you Mike so much for preparing those for us) (Kona means horse in Serbian, and apparently pussy in Portuguese), super reliable and tough bicycles, definitely the most fancy bike I have ever ridden on a long distance trip. Guess what?? Not even one flat tire, we rode through some really rough rocky areas, but we were so lucky to have very minimal repairs needed. The most damage I did to my bike was during desperate moments when I needed to pee. I am the kind of person where everything is absolutely urgent, when I need to eat, drink, sleep… by the time I realise a need for my body, it must be attended to almost immediately, this was one of the main irritating things that Tom had to endure. In the midst of my urgent dance to get off the bike to pee immediately, I dropped it twice… once scratching the frame.. which although it made me sad, had no serious consequences, the second time I messed up my front brake. Only realizing it on the next downhill. After some commotion and arguing between me and Tom upon discovering that I could no longer brake going downhill (the next day we would have a lot of downhill to ride) we discovered how to fix it, and it was not a problem. 

Most everything that you do to your bike can be fixed with a few simple things that you should for sure take with you,.

1. Cable ties are an invaluable friend to you on the road, when something is coming off your bike rack or your water bottle holder is slipping, you can easily adjust and tighten it without a big bike repair. 
2. The extra stretchy ties with hooks on the end. Toms rack from his bike came off during one part of the trip, the small metal piece holding it together broke, we were able to immediately repair this with one of these, pushing it back in place and attaching it with the stretchy material firmly to the bike again
3. Imbiss tool, number 15 wrench for pedals and wheels (the most important and often used tools) take with you a multi imbiss, for the brakes etc. 

My bag also got a bit ripped at one point and came off partially from the rack, because there was a lot of weight in it, it was dangerous to ride without fixing it, all our cable ties were used for other stuff. Looking for a solution by the garbage cans (there is good stuff in there sometimes), I found a random piece of string from an old fruit or onion bag, I fixed my bags by tying it as tight as I could, until the next day it held and then we could properly fix it. So if all else fails and without much at your disposal, you can sometimes look around and use what you can find. 

Myself and the journey

Now that I have done quite a few bike trips, I could seem like a seasoned and prepared cyclist, my confidence for sure has grown, but I still have so much to learn. One thing that I have been learning through these different travels is to cycle for myself and for what I need. I often feel that I need to kind of give a good performance, I feel nervous if we are not covering enough kilometres etc… sometimes you have to ask yourself why you allow this stress and pressure through. For me, my whole life, its been hard to let go of the idea of letting what you are doing at that moment take over everything and the need to impress or give others a cool or great impression of your actions. At one of our warm shower hosts (the cycling network, something like couch surfing), the host told me that he met lots of cyclists who were on a mission to prove something and were pushing themselves to a point far far beyond enjoyment and fun. He told me ‘enjoy it, you don’t have anything to prove to anyone’, this is something that I think I really grasped by towards the end of the trip. I stopped trying to always be super fast (not entirely, but at least a bit), I let go a bit more then before and enjoyed it as much as I could. Stressing is something that sometimes can push you to be a bit stronger, faster, or more determined, but there are so many things that we allow to bother and stress us that are not important. Its only stealing the enjoyment and the fun out of what you are doing. 

Another thing, in the beginning Tom was the one losing his temper, I stared at him with the cold and patronising expression as he flew into a rage over some mishap ‘on bike trips these things happen, I have learned that you have to stay cool no matter what’ I had told him with full assurance. Only the next day, I totally lost my shit over some small and stupid issue (ahh it was because we could not find internet anywhere the Italian villages and needed it to find somewhere to stay). In the middle of my temper fuelled outburst… Tom calmly reminds me of my award winning speech the other day… I had to admit.. its damn tough to keep your shit together in some of those moments. I also realised that no matter how many times you experience it, frustration is a hard and irritating emotion, it can push you off just that last centimetre of sanity that you were clinging to through your rough day. The last straws happen to abound in the day of a cyclist… you just gotta try your best to breathe, count to 10, and remember that its all a good story and nothing is that bad. 

Finally 

 5 and a half weeks is the longest cycling trip I have ever done, It was so long that the cycling got to be a daily routine. At the end of the 5 weeks I didn’t feel it was over, I could have continued. The moment of arriving in Lisbon was smooth and almost expected, on the other trips, I always felt a huge surge of emotions on the final sign showing you had made it to your destination, the truth is on all the other trips I had never been sure I would make it. This time it was a sweet satisfaction, but I had this feeling the whole time that of course we would eventually be in Lisbon, somehow, and we did. 

Thanks to everyone who hosted and helped us on our travel, and to all our friends who supported us. So many that I cannot name them all here (because I will leave someone out I am sure). You know who you are :)