April 21st: Zagreb, Croatia - Celje, Slovenia
- Grant Cameron-Smith
- Apr 22
- 3 min read
845m climbing, 102km
1710km done so far!!
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Now for the update!
Listening to Grant’s recording for today was interesting as he was coughing and wheezing so much, he could barely talk.
“As soon as I’m on the bike, I can breathe and I’m fine,” was the answer that I got when I asked if he was ok and if they needed another rest day.
Needless to say, they managed a massive climb into Celje in Slovenia, after leaving Zagreb very early in the morning.
Last night, they ordered margarita pizzas in anticipation of an early breakfast and everything being closed for the holidays. Some innovative reheating in a frying pan this morning meant that breakfast was at least warm too. Carbo loading at its finest!
Getting out of Zagreb was quite uneventful but riding in Croatia was mainly on the road and often on crumbling verges relying on the very courteous and safety conscious drivers as they made their way towards Slovenia on a warm day with blue skies and gorgeous scenery.
Unfortunately, the headwind had to make itself known and when the climbing really got tough towards the end of the day, the last 30 km were made particularly tough by having to deal with the wind too.
Grant keeps saying that Julian is cycling like a champ – his legs are strong, and his technical abilities have improved so much that he confidently leads the way on most days with youthful enthusiasm and energy.
Knowing about the continued scarcity of rural coffee stops today and in anticipation of this being the case, both riders left with five litres of water each (an extra five kilograms), knowing that the temperatures were going to be much warmer and the climbing would require a lot of extra hydration, they managed to finish all of it before arriving at their destination.
Once they had crossed the border into Slovenia, the mountainous scenery was breathtaking, and frequent stops were necessary to photograph castles and churches in magnificent natural settings whilst enjoying the wonderful spring blooms and yellow canola fields.
Both Crazybikeguys are in awe of Slovenia’s natural beauty, the exceptional friendliness of everyone they have encountered and the willingness of the people to interact with them and find out where they are from and the kindness and courteousness of drivers and other cyclists they have met.
Yesterday, after stopping at a bus shelter for a drink and an energy bar, a police patrol car drove by and slowed down, but continued on their way.
A few minutes later they reappeared, stopped and asked Grant and Julian where they were from – the flag is a giveaway, but they obviously did not recognize it and were surprised that these two were from South Africa. They then asked for their passports, upon being given Australian passports, confusion ensued, and they disappeared to their car with the documents and after what seemed like ages, came back with the passports and told them all was ok.
They informed them that they worked for the border patrol unit and obviously with the proximity to the border, they were merely doing their jobs! Julian’s only comment was that they were VERY serious!
Another interesting observation was that the roads and smaller streets here are nameless, so satellite navigation becomes very interesting as there are no names to reference, just instructions to turn right or left now.
Both Julian and Grant were exhausted by the end of the day and feeling like they have been battered by the headwind and the constant burn in their legs. I think an extra rest day is calling before the more mountainous trails in Italy arrive!
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