My Last Ride Of 2007

Proof that the sun did shine on Sunday, December 30, in Prague. This frozen pond is a short distance from my house in Černý Vůl.

I didn't make it.

My distance goal for 2007 was 3,000 kilometers. That was based on the 2,400 kilometers I cycled in 2006. Since I was planning on doing a lot of winter riding in 2007, 3,000 kilometers seemed realistic.

It wasn't.

I lost a lot of time to illness, and some to vacation, and I just didn't seem to have as much free time to hop on my bike, what with a 7-year-old running around, the pleasant demands of family life, and moving into a new house.

I had great fun, nevertheless.

In the end, I cycled 1,932.5 kilometers in 2007.

My last ride was Sunday, December 30, a rather mild winter's day in Prague, around 5 Celsius, or 40 Fahrenheit.


Some locals take advantage of the decent weather to play hockey and just have a little fun on a frozen pond near the village of Únětice.

And believe it or not, through some freak meterological phenomenon, the sun actually shone for a few hours. It was quite something to see that bright glowing orb in the sky again.

I cycled from my house in the village of Černý Vůl, down to Roztoky and one of my favorite restaurants in Prague, Koliba, back to Černý Vůl, and then through Statenice and onto Tuchoměřice, before turning around and heading home.

It was just a chance to enjoy the decent weather and get a bit of exercise.

I also got a chance to try out some cool biking stuff I received from Daisy's father, Paul, and his wife, Allison, for Christmas -- some Pedro's Chainj Chain Lube, some Gu Energy Gel, and some fun tire-valve tops that actually have bottle caps from American beer glued to them.

Since I seem to write as much about beer as about biking on the blog, I thought they were a perfect fit!

Stay tuned to this space for a look back at the highlights of 2007, and some cycling resolutions for 2008.

Thanks to everyone for reading in 2007, and for posting comments and sending me e-mails. It's been a fantastic experience.

Happy New Year to you all!

RIDE STATS
Length of ride: 21 kilometers
Average speed: 17.2 kph
Maximum speed: 35.9 kph
Time on the bike: 1.11.48
Distance ridden in 2007: 1,932.5 kilometers



The grill restaurant Koliba in Roztoky. I should put together a blog slide show of photos of Koliba, taken in all the seasons. What stays constant is that this is one of the coolest restaurants around, especially on a warm summer's night.

Cold Feet Over Winter Riding

I don't like riding in cold weather.

Yeah, I've got all the gear -- shoe covers and lobster-claw gloves, thermal cycling tights, a helmet cover, a balaclava, and all that. It's just that no matter how warmly you dress, at some point some part of you is going to be cold. Or when you stop for a short rest, the sweat pouring down your back starts to freeze.

I don't like being cold.

It's scary, but I'm starting to understand why old people migrate to Florida and Arizona. It always seemed like a joke before.

On my last ride here in Prague, on December 24, ice formed on my eyelashes, for god's sake. That's just not right.

As my friend Rob (he of the 6,000 kilometers in 2007) said in a text-message to me from out on the trail on December 22: "I froze my water bottle!"

Nevertheless, I did don my gay apparel and head out on the trail on Christmas Eve for a short ride, just to get my blood flowing and endorphins singing. It was around 30 degrees Fahrenheit (around minus 2 Celsius).


I took this frozen trail from the top of the hill in Statenice to Velké Přílepy.

The route itself was not of particular note -- a 20k ride from my house in Černý Vůl, a tiny village about eight kilometers northwest of Prague, meandering through some nearby villages such as Statenice and Velké Přílepy, on my way to (no surprise here) Okoř, and then home via Tuchoměřice.

Regular readers of this blog know that Okoř is one of my favorite cycling destinations. It's got a dramatic crumbling Gothic castle, a good restaurant in the village, and lovely country roads leading you there.

I highly recommend a pedal out there. From Prague city center, it's about 45 kilometers round-trip.

My ride on Christmas Eve day was cold, but oddly not as lonely as I would have guessed. I passed one other bundled-up cyclist on the road through Tuchoměřice, and saw two cyclists pausing for a breather and a chat in the field below Okoř castle.

I guess Rob and I aren't the only crazy ones out there.

The problem with riding in the winter in Prague is not only the cold, but the lack of sun. I've lived in many cold places in my life (for example, 15 years in Syracuse, New York, the snowiest metropolitan city in the United States), but while it's cold, the sun also makes frequent appearances.

In Prague, we routinely suffer from a meteorological phenomenon known as inversion, which blots out any trace of the sun for weeks at a time. It's psychologically debilitating.

There's a good explanation of inversion on the Radio Praha web page by Jan Moravcik of the Hydro-Meteorological Institute in Prague: "In meteorology, the term 'inversion' literally refers to a reversal of normal temperature patterns in the lower atmosphere. In wintertime, temperature inversion occurs when cold air close to the ground is trapped by a layer of warmer air. As the inversion continues, air becomes stagnant and pollution becomes trapped close to the ground."


Here's a picture that perfectly illustrates inversion. This was taken from the top floor of a building at the top of Wenceslaus Square in central Prague. Normally from this vantage point, there's a lovely view of Prague castle and St. Vitus Cathedral on the top left. They've disappeared, along with the sun and any desire to live.

As the article notes, it could be sunny, warmish and beautiful in the Czech mountains, while in the city it feels like it's twilight at midday. It's awful. Now I know what causes it, but I've never heard an explanation for why Prague suffers from it so much. I'd never heard of inversion until I came to Prague.

I guess I should pat myself on my (sweaty) back just for going out at all in this kind of weather. Ugh.

RIDE STATS
Length of ride: 20 kilometers
Average speed: 16.3 kph
Maximum speed: 39.8 kph
Time on the bike: 00.59.27
Distance ridden so far in 2007: 1,911.5 kilometers


I came across this Christmas scene out in the woods near Velké Přílepy. It also shows the inversion clouds pretty well.


Interesting graffiti on an old building in Velké Přílepy. I rather like the creature on the left. I don't know what it is, or what it means, but I like it.


Fog frozen on treetops on a ridgeline above some Czech country cottages on the road between Statenice and Tuchoměřice, with an airplane caught in the clouds as it prepares to land at Prague's main airport.


Lilypads of ice on the banks of the creek that flows beside Okoř castle.


Bird tracks in the snow (as if I needed to tell you).

Cycling In Prague -- The View From Outside

I'm rather proud of this picture, taken by Pauline, of my muddy bike at the end of our ride. I was almost as dirty.

The coal smoke hangs heavy in the air in Černý Vůl and stings the eyes and the nostrils. The sun is seldom seen, the temperature hovers around 0 Celsius (32 Fahrenheit), and thick morning frost covers grass and car windows. The cats spend their days asleep atop the radiators, and it's pitch black dark by 4:30 p.m.

I didn't get a chance to ride this past weekend. I was just too busy. Granted, conditions weren't ideal, but that wasn't the reason. Honestly.

I am still trying to reach 2,000 kilometers for the year (rather pitiful compared with Rob's 6,000), so every missed day means something at this stage. I hope to break the magic mark around the holidays, when I have a few days off from work. Here's hoping the weather's not too miserable.

In the meantime, I wanted to direct your attention to the cycling blog of Pauline Lim and Ulandt Kim. Specifically, to their posting about pedaling in Prague.

As you may remember, Pauline and Ulandt are from Boston. Before embarking on their recent cycling vacation in Prague, they contacted me for some cycling advice, having come across my blog in their research.

We even managed to get out together for a group ride while they were here. It was great fun to show them one of my favorite rides -- to the castle ruins at Okoř, about 20 kilometers outside of Prague. (You can find our entire route on Google Earth here.)


Pauline and Grant and the castle's cat at the ruins in Okoř.

You can read my account of our ride by clicking here or get Pauline and Ulandt's "director's cut" by clicking here.

You can read Pauline and Ulandt's account of their entire adventure cycling around Prague by clicking here. Their blog is full of wonderful details and photos (they've let me share a few of them for this post). I always find it interesting to read or hear what others think of Prague after their first visit. I've lived here so long -- since 1995 -- that some of the luster has inevitably worn off, although I'm still a big fan.

I've driven, ridden, cycled and walked past the Charles Bridge with its view up to St. Vitus Cathedral and the conglomeration of government buildings known as the "castle" at least 1,000 times. And it's still impossible for me not to gawk as if I was seeing it for the first time. And at nighttime, wow. It's simply breathtaking. Take a walk across the 650-year-old Charles Bridge after dark and name me a city view that can compare.

In fact, Pauline and Ulandt have some great pictures of that very view. Check out their blog and enjoy.


One of the crumbling towers of castle Okoř rises above the treeline on the picturesque road leading into the village.


I love this picture. Outside Okoř, Ulandt tries to outrun the rain clouds. The weather would soon turn ugly. (I'm still trying to figure out what he keeps in that huge backpack, though!)

No Country For Tan Men

This lovely, forgotten hay bale and vista greets cyclists who make it to the top of Mud Hill.

I wore my sunglasses while riding with Stewart on Saturday (December 8).

Let me repeat that.

I wore my sunglasses while riding with Stewart on Saturday.

Yes, the sun actually shone in Prague. The sky was blue. There were puffy white clouds. The sun felt warm against your skin. There were shadows. Yes, shadows!

It was a glorious day for cycling, something you can't say too often in December in Prague.

Indeed, a bright day in winter in Prague is as rare as a sincere smile from a shop clerk in this sun-forsaken city. Wait, we don't even get insincere smiles from shop clerks here.

Most of the time, in Prague in winter, the clouds are low and gray and it's cold and raining. It looks like it's getting dark, yet it's midday.

I think Cormac McCarthy described a typical Prague winter day best in his powerful post-apocalyptic novel "The Road" -- "days more gray each one than what had gone before. Like the onset of some cold glaucoma dimming away the world." That's what this morning's drive to work felt like, anyway. A few pages later, he describes "watching the ashen daylight congeal over the land."

I hadn't realized McCarthy had spent time doing research in the Czech Republic.


I don't think the budget for holiday decorations is very large in the village of Únětice.

Saturday, however, was sunny. I hopped on my bike in my new cycling gear -- breathable jersey and jacket, shoe covers, and gloves -- and headed over to Stewart's fancy new house in Roztoky.

From there, we just winged it, heading basically along a similar route we'd taken a month or so ago, which took us in the direction of Úholičky. Between Roztoky and Úholičky, however, we encountered Mud Hill, a long, steep, slippery, rutted and altogether treacherous ascent.







I made it about three-quarters of the way up before my tires, caked with mud, refused to grip the earth any longer and spun in place. I was forced to dismount.

Behind me, however, Stewart, pedaling sure and steady, somehow managed not only to pass me but to reach the summit without stopping. I was forced to walk my bike the rest of the way to the top.

From there, it was a long downhill into Úholičky and a quick beer at a neighborhood pub before heading toward Velké Přílepy, then back up the hill toward Roztoky.

We parted ways where the road forks one way to Roztoky and the other to Únětice. (Click here to see the entire route in Google Earth.)

It was a short ride, to be sure, but it involved a few of my favorite things (an appropriate thought, as we head toward Christmas) -- sun, beer, and good conversation with my good friend.

RIDE STATS
Length of ride: 24 kilometers
Average speed: 12.5 kph (too much talking and not enough pedaling)
Maximum speed: 39.7 kph
Time on the bike: 1.52.37
Distance ridden so far in 2007: 1,891.5 kilometers


Stewart and I on a clifftop overlooking the Vltava River (below), near Roztoky.




Stewart points out the route to the nearest pub.


I really like this shot. While we were having a beer, sitting outside, I looked up and Stewart was looking down and checking his phone, and he and his hood and his beard made for an interesting composition.


Muddy bikes await their riders.


These shadows are proof that the sun actually shone on Saturday.


The sun sets behind some cattails in Únětice.

Lim & Kim Visit Prague On A Whim

Bostonians Pauline Lim and Ulandt Kim, astride their folding Bike Fridays, soak in the Gothic atmosphere at the 14th-century castle ruins in Okoř.

You know you've had a good ride when you feel compelled to take pictures of your mud-caked bike at the end of the day. Of course, it wasn't just the bike. Shoes and socks and shins and my shiny new red jacket were all mud-splattered.

It didn't help that my front fender came loose during the trip and had to be removed. Every turn of the wheel covered me in spray until I resembled a large Jackson Pollock canvas painted with mud and rain.

I wasn't alone in my madness, however.

I was riding with Pauline Lim and Ulandt Kim. They're from Boston and were visiting Prague for a week or so after snagging a great deal on air fare and hotel. They're enthusiastic and experienced cyclists, and had contacted me by e-mail a few weeks ago about biking in Prague after coming across my blog while surfing the net.

We spoke on the phone after they arrived, and they seemed like great folks. Once again, I'm blown away by the power of this humble blog, and grateful for the chances I've had to meet up this year with fellow cyclists, like Costas and Carlo.

In the end, I took a day off from work, on Tuesday (December 4), and met Pauline and Ulandt for a ride.

No need to rent bikes, however. They'd brought theirs with them. They own two very cool folding Bike Friday bikes, made in Eugene, Oregon. The bikes take just a few minutes to assemble once they're removed from their hard-shell suitcase.

I was curious to see how these bikes performed on Prague's cruel, mountainous, unforgiving terrain.

The bikes look slightly weird, what with their tiny, 20-inch (50-centimeter) tires and smallish frames, but they really seem to ride well, even through some serious muck, and Pauline and Ulandt had no trouble keeping up with me. In fact, it was I who needed to worry about keeping up.

These guys are serious cyclists in serious shape. I think Ulandt used to be a triathlete. Both of them regularly take 100- to 200-kilometer rides, sometimes much longer.

I didn't know this before I agreed to meet them, or I might have chickened out.

We met at Hradčanská metro station in Prague 6. I gave them a choice of three possible routes -- a ride out to the lovely castle ruins at Okoř, a personal favorite route of mine; a trip toward the Hill of Doom and through Divoká Šárka park; or what I like to call the Bakerloo Run, which takes riders through some interesting cityscapes before entering a beautiful park and ending with a ride along the Vltava River.

Not surprisingly, they chose Okoř.

We left Hradčanská and headed for Stromovka Park. We crossed the river near Troja chateau and headed north, before crossing back across the river via one of the cool little ferries that transport cyclists and pedestrians for 20 CZK each way. The ferries are even part of Prague's public transport system, but I'm always still a little amazed that my annual transport pass is accepted.


A quick trip on the ferry takes cyclists and their cycles across the Vltava.

We then took the usual route to Okoř, through Roztoky, Unetice, Statenice and Lichoceves. It's about 25 kilometers to Okoř one-way. (Click here to see the entire route on Google Earth.)

The temperature was pretty mild, around 45 degrees Fahrenheit (7 Celsius), but the blue skies and sunshine I'd seen when the curtain went up on the day seemed to exit stage left as soon as we climbed on our bikes. We slogged through mud puddles and muck and endured spitting rain and a stiff headwind before finally arriving in Okor for some sightseeing and lunch at Family Hotel Okor & Restaurant. If you haven't been there, check it out -- it's like you've suddenly been transported to a charming local inn in the French countryside.

We pedaled around the 14th-century castle ruins, snapped a few photos, and had lunch. I learned that Stephanie and Ulandt are pretty fascinating folks. Ulandt is a microbiologist turned carpenter, while Pauline works as an artist, secretary and singer. I enjoyed their company.

After lunch and a beer (OK, I'm the only one who drank a beer), it was back on our bikes for the ride home, this time taking a slight detour through Tuchoměřice, which is celebrating its 700th anniversary.

I was wearing my new cycling jersey for the first time, along with my new jacket, and I have to admit that I think I now understand the benefit of these clothes. I had been sweating my usual copious amounts by time we reached Okoř, and my jersey was pretty wet.

By the time we saddled up again, though, my shirt was pretty much dry, and I felt ready for a long ride. I know for sure that if I'd been wearing the cotton shirts I usually put on for riding, they'd still have been soaked through.


On our way back into Prague, the dark clouds parted and some spectacular blue sky appeared.

That's exactly what happened when Rob and I attempted our centuries back in October. My cotton mock turtlenecks were sopping wet by the time we stopped for lunch, and they never dried out. I was wet and cold the entire trip.

I'm a believer now.

Funny, though. I had just received a big order of bike clothes, and among the new stuff was a pair of warm lobster-claw gloves and some shoe covers -- but I decided not to wear either of them because the day seemed so mild. Boy, was I wrong. My fingers and toes were numb by the time we finished on Tuesday. I've got to remember to at least carry them in my pack.

I never did get to ride a Bike Friday. I'd wanted to, but forgot amid the hubbub at Hradčanská as I parted ways with Pauline and Ulandt.

It was great riding with those guys, though. If they were searching for a classic Czech cycling experience -- castle ruins, country roads, and crappy weather -- they got it!

RIDE STATS
Length of ride: 50 kilometers
Average speed: 16.4 kph
Maximum speed: 41.4 kph
Time on the bike: 2.59.23
Distance ridden so far in 2007: 1,867.5 kilometers


Brown coal is still frequently used for heating in the Czech Repubic, especially in homes out in the country. The stinky smoke belches thick and brown out of numerous chimneys, and if the winds aren't right, clouds of it can hang low in the valleys.


The Czech country roads can, at times, be a cycling paradise.

Tired Of Bad Weather

This photograph pretty much sums up Saturday's ride.

About halfway through my short ride on Saturday (December 1), I suddenly realized that I had managed to complete one of the goals I had set out for myself when I first started this blog, back in February -- to ride in every month of the year.

I will take some pride in that accomplishment, since my other main goal for 2007 -- riding 3,000 kilometers -- will not be realized. I had some bad luck with illness this year, which kept me off the bike for quite a few weeks, and I also managed to take a few vacations that involved more swimming and sunbathing and eating and drinking than cycling and sweating. But who's complaining?

OK, me. I'll complain about the Prague weather, again.

Because it gets dark at 4 p.m. nowadays, my riding is now confined to the weekend, when I'm not working. So I was looking forward to heading out on Saturday, for the exercise, as well as to give my new cold-weather biking gear a tryout. I'd ordered it from Bike Nashbar, and it finally arrived last week.

I felt like I was suiting up to go deep-sea diving.

I was wearing my padded cycle shorts; some thermal long-legged biking tights over top; my new Terramar Activeweight Crew Neck Base Layer Top, "constructed from ribbed 100% polyester EC2 fabric"; my new Illuminite Switchback Invertor Jacket, "crafted from breathable MicroWeave fabric with a Teflon HT coating"; my new Nashbar Sweatvac Headband; my new Louis Garneau Magma lobster-claw gloves; and my new Pearl Izumi AmFIB Shoe Covers.

Three problems.

1. It turns out that it really wasn't that cold out -- around 7 Celsius, or 45 Fahrenheit, so I was probably a bit overdressed for conditions.

2. The weather was, in a word, disgusting. Low, dirty clouds, damp, dark, a little windy, muddy and wet with spitting rain. Even in the middle of the day, there was barely enough daylight to read a newspaper by.

3. I had a splitting headache from drinking the night before, which became like a drum of death inside my head every time I attempted even the mildest climb and my heart would begin to beat a little faster.

All in all, it wasn't the most pleasant ride of 2007.

But who's complaining?

I headed out from my home in Černý Vůl, to Statenice, up the big, long climb to Lichoceves, to Okoř (where else?), up a smaller climb that leads to Noutonice, and from there to Velké Přílepy, then on to Úholičky, up another decent climb to the highway that leads to Roztoky, and from there turning right onto the road that heads steeply down (hurrah!) into Únětice, and back home.

(You can find a detailed map of my route by clicking here. You can click on the "View in Google Earth" button to import it the map for a very cool 3-D flyover.)

I must admit that, despite my assertion that every ride in Prague is invariably filled with interesting sights and sounds and smells, this particular ride was an exception. Sure, I got to gaze once again at the dramatic remains of ancient Okor castle, which never gets old. Admittedly, however, I've seen the ruins now dozens of times, and written about them almost as many times on this blog, so they don't really count.

It was one of those rides where what sticks in my mind is mostly the mud and trash and tires I either rode through or rode past. (I did listen to the new album by Maximo Park, "Earthly Pleasures," on my iPod. It's great.)

As for my clothes, I can say that I was definitely comfortable on this ride, although my base layer was kinda itchy, and when I got home, it was covered in large, dark patches of sweat, as if I'd been wearing cotton. I guess I thought it would be dry, what with all the wicking that's supposedly to be going on. And my jacket was also damp inside, though it, too, is supposed to breathe.

My gloves were great, though -- too warm, really, for such a mild day.

And my shoe covers also kept my toes cozy, although it took a Herculean effort to wedge my size 14 sneakers into them, despite having ordered the XXL (the biggest they have). My heel sticks out the back, and they won't zip up properly, but they're as good a fit as I'm ever going to find, I'm afraid.

My base layer is also pretty tight (it's also an XXL), and an Endura Vapour Long-Sleeve Jersey ("made of 100% polyester with amazing wicking capability for increased comfort on long rides") that I also ordered but which I didn't wear on Saturday is also a snug fit in an XXL.

Sure, I'm a big guy, but I'm not a freak, and I'm in decent shape. How do us tall men find biking clothes that will fit us?

I guess I should be glad just to have gotten out at all, since I wasn't able to today (which of course began with blue skies and sunshine). I just know that Prague is capable of so much more.

RIDE STATS
Length of ride: 21 kilometers
Average speed: 15.3 kph
Maximum speed: 43.9 kph
Distance ridden so far in 2007: 1,817.5 kilometers


The ruins of Okoř castle silhouetted against the dirty sky.


I really like these massive stones set into a wall on a building on the grounds of Okoř castle.