Lost in the Hills

Today I wanted to ride the bike, and nothing short of a rainstorm was going to stop me. I wanted to explore the hills southeast of Presov, so I put the bike in the car and drove to Dulova Ves. I headed up the road into a stiff cold headwind through Sigord and Zlata Bana. Both of these towns have billboards and advertisements implying that they are major tourist destinations, but in mid-March there's absolutely nothing happening. The road wasn't bad - I was telling myself that the 700x25 tires would have been fine when I got to the far side of Zlata Bana and the pavement ended as the road went up a 12% grade. A local in a tractor gave me an odd look as I struggled up the road - he was the last person I'd see for the next hour. I reached the 'pass' of Puste Pole (666m) and stopped for a break.


The view would have been nice on a sunny day



and a sign implied that there were actually groomed ski trails up here (but no snow on the trails today).



The road continued to deteriorate as it rolled through the woods, with potholes and patches of ice and snow along the sides.



At the next intersection, I misread a broken sign and ignored a gate that obviously indicated that I was on a side road. After about a 2.5km descent the road suddenly ended in a mudhole. Nothing to do but ride back up and take the other branch. Eventually signs directed me to the world-famous Dubnik opal mine (we'll take the tour someday) and the town of Cervenica where I finally saw people again. After a banana break, I headed back towards Presov through a couple of small towns where the Roma children ran out to cheer me on. Nice to have a fan club. Total ride: about 27 miles, a couple of thousand feet of climbing and a total of about 30 cars (both directions).