Before the ride: Dubrovnik / EACL conferance
This was my first time bringing a bike on a plane, and disassembling was easier than expected. I followed this video recommended by a friend and borrowed his bike travel bag. The only thing that went wrong was that I didn’t put a spacer between the brake pads and, of course, the brakes closed. I pushed apart the pistons and tried to adjust the space with the lever, but my front brake was still barely workable. Oh well.
The conference’s highlights were sunsets, beautiful old Dubrovnik town, and the conference cat! 😻
On the last day, we put our stuff and bike cases on a bus that goes through Omiš and arranged with the driver that my dad picks them up. Perks of biking in Croatia!
NP Mljet
Lucy and I originally planned to bike to Dubrovnik ▶️ Ston ▶️ Prapratno [36 mi / 3431ft el. gain], then take a ferry to Sobra and bike to NP Mljet [another 20mi / 2000ft el. gain]. Then we would eventually return to Prapratno and bike to Korčula Town and that day would take 64mi / 6300ft el. gain.
However, as the trip approached, the SLC snow storms were not stopping and I was super undertrained. So, we decided to take a catamaran to NP Mljet and spend a day there biking with another friend, and go to Korčula by catamaran.
Korčula - Vela Luka
The first day of “serious biking”. We went from Korčula Town to Vela Luka. Initially, we planned to take a catamaran in Vela Luka, but learned [in Croatia] that only one catamaran service (Krilo) allows bikes and that one sails only from Korčula Town. A very nice bus driver took our bikes on a bus and we went back to Korčula Town and took a morning catamaran to Hvar. Advantage: we could leave our stuff in the town since we were coming back.
I loved passing through small inland towns that I’d probably never visit if I haven’t biked through them. The strech down the coast from the top of the hill was beautiful and so much fun. Would be even more fun if my brakes worked 100%.
Hvar - Stari Grad - Hvar
Short, hilly, amazing views, not a busy road. We couldn’t have asked for more. We planned to go to Brač after Hvar and also bike from Split to Omiš, but forecasted heavy rain for the rest of our trip made us go back to Split and my dad picked us there. I wish we started biking earlier to better use the good weather.
