The bicycle ride is underway!
magyar ajkuaknak: olvassatok lejebb egy kicsit...
day 0 - wednesday 14 june
last day to pack or buy anything that i need. last minute checks. bought wierd little tent for the hard times. parents came by with some goodies for the road. then big panick: the train leaves at 23:25 NOT 23:55! pack all of my belongings for the trip in 10 minutes flat. edit accompanies me by bike to the train station. a pleasant surprise: kristof and zsoka where there already to see me off, and just a few minutes later kisreka shows up. zsoka also has some podarichki for the road. fortunately i can put my bike in the sleeping compartment with me, which of course provides the bulgarian sleeping train official with a bit of extra pocket money. budapest is speeds away from me. kattogva kattog es elveszetten elvisz.
day 1 - thursday 15 june
i arrive in beograd at 7 in the morning, already homesick, and who was there to meet me at the station but milan boric! (from Yugo Cycling Campaign) he came out just to meet me before work at 8, and to make sure i could transfer fine on to bulgaria. good thing he came too, cause i had a small fright: the bulgarian conductor told me it was fine to keep my stuff in the compartment and continue in that wagon on towards the bulgarian border. he would lock the cabin for me, and i should be ready to go in an hour. but then the train just left, and i was wondering: is this already the end of the trip? my bicycle and most of my luggage taken by a train trickster? milan and i chased after the train (about half a kilometer) to some train yard, and found it sitting there, with someone in it, who confirmed that it would continue to sofia in an hour. whew!
i train all day long, get to the border about 5 pm bulgarian time, and then start to cycle: first stretch is dmitrovgrad (Serbia) - Sofia (Bulgaria), 60 km. then another 15 km at least in sofia to get to the za zemiata office. my first real use of the new bike, nicely fixed up by gyurka. it rode well, although at one spot the chain became extremely tightly stuck, and i had to ask someone in a nearby village to extricate it for me. my observation of his extrication job led me to believe i could have done it myself. so i learned something. i am very tired from this first day of cycling, at night before sleep i just am nearly going to faint. am i ready for this trip?
day 2 - friday 16 june
but it seems i can recover quickly. feel good, and already at 14:00 have first meeting with traffic division at the municipality, together with eli and vanya from Za Zemiata (ZZ) - my main bulgarian partners. just twenty minutes before the meeting the guide arrived to the ZZ office! and it looks really great! this first meeting also turned out really well, the two gentlemen we talked to were very responsive, seemed highly appreciative of the guide, and agreed with us that the traffic is a problem and needs to be dealt with. they said they would study the guide, and be happy to work with ZZ in the future. so from what we could see, a real success! my presentation of the guide to them also went well, only after rehearsing on the way to their building.
in the evening there was an open air event at a bar in a park in sofia, called "lotki" or boats. we screened several movies, budapest critical mass, different cycling films and what not. quite a lot of people there and everyone seemed to enjoy it. plus some contacts made for ZZ
sharp sofia a super start
day 3 saturday 17 june
didnt succeed to copy the dvd films for ZZ due to technical incompetency and a general lack of know-how. this will have to be done some other way, some other how. sit and write these lines, and then (it is already after four pm now) i should get on the road, as i want to get somewhere near to dupnica if possible, so that i will have an easier ride on sunday. (blagoevgrad morning municipality is the goal).
eli, vanya and delyan have all been very helpful and i have had a great time with them.
HU: akartam volna ugyanannyit irni magyarul mint angolul, csak az a baj hogy most mar mennem kene ha nem akarok sotetedes egy 20 km-es tekeres utan. szoval, nagyon jo volt eddig. sikerult vonattal eljutni a bolgar-szerb hatarhoz. budapesten a keletibe mentek kisreka, zsoka, kristof, es persze az edit is, hogy bucsuzzanak tolem. nem gondoltam volna, de orultem neki nagyon. es belgradban is, amikor 1 oras varakozasi idom volt az allomason, elem jott a milan borics, ismerosom es bicajos arc, hogy minden rendben van-e. nagyon jo fej.
volt egy 60 kilometeres tekeres a hatartol szofiaig, ami technikailag nem volt teljesen zokkenomentesen, de azert iszonyatos faradtan megerkeztem a bolgar fovarsoba, talalkoztam za zemiatasokkal, es kipihentem magam. masnap a fovarosi kozlekedesi osztalyban volt egy megbeszeles, es nagyon jol sikerult! atvettek az utmutatot es mondtak hogy szivesen egyuttdolgnak a za zemiatasokkal. az este a vetitesek meg buli, az is jol sikerult.
ughogy jol kezdodott minden, es most mar el kene mennem tovabb. a ZZ-es nagyon jo fejek. az idojaras most mar tokeletes, bolgar kavet iszok es bulgarul is cseveghetek, bar egy kicsit hangolni kene meg ezt a nyelvi eszkozom. roviden talalkoztam tervel-lel, meg nehany mas ismerosommel.
megyek tovabb: JU
day 0 - wednesday 14 june
last day to pack or buy anything that i need. last minute checks. bought wierd little tent for the hard times. parents came by with some goodies for the road. then big panick: the train leaves at 23:25 NOT 23:55! pack all of my belongings for the trip in 10 minutes flat. edit accompanies me by bike to the train station. a pleasant surprise: kristof and zsoka where there already to see me off, and just a few minutes later kisreka shows up. zsoka also has some podarichki for the road. fortunately i can put my bike in the sleeping compartment with me, which of course provides the bulgarian sleeping train official with a bit of extra pocket money. budapest is speeds away from me. kattogva kattog es elveszetten elvisz.
day 1 - thursday 15 june
i arrive in beograd at 7 in the morning, already homesick, and who was there to meet me at the station but milan boric! (from Yugo Cycling Campaign) he came out just to meet me before work at 8, and to make sure i could transfer fine on to bulgaria. good thing he came too, cause i had a small fright: the bulgarian conductor told me it was fine to keep my stuff in the compartment and continue in that wagon on towards the bulgarian border. he would lock the cabin for me, and i should be ready to go in an hour. but then the train just left, and i was wondering: is this already the end of the trip? my bicycle and most of my luggage taken by a train trickster? milan and i chased after the train (about half a kilometer) to some train yard, and found it sitting there, with someone in it, who confirmed that it would continue to sofia in an hour. whew!
i train all day long, get to the border about 5 pm bulgarian time, and then start to cycle: first stretch is dmitrovgrad (Serbia) - Sofia (Bulgaria), 60 km. then another 15 km at least in sofia to get to the za zemiata office. my first real use of the new bike, nicely fixed up by gyurka. it rode well, although at one spot the chain became extremely tightly stuck, and i had to ask someone in a nearby village to extricate it for me. my observation of his extrication job led me to believe i could have done it myself. so i learned something. i am very tired from this first day of cycling, at night before sleep i just am nearly going to faint. am i ready for this trip?
day 2 - friday 16 june
but it seems i can recover quickly. feel good, and already at 14:00 have first meeting with traffic division at the municipality, together with eli and vanya from Za Zemiata (ZZ) - my main bulgarian partners. just twenty minutes before the meeting the guide arrived to the ZZ office! and it looks really great! this first meeting also turned out really well, the two gentlemen we talked to were very responsive, seemed highly appreciative of the guide, and agreed with us that the traffic is a problem and needs to be dealt with. they said they would study the guide, and be happy to work with ZZ in the future. so from what we could see, a real success! my presentation of the guide to them also went well, only after rehearsing on the way to their building.
in the evening there was an open air event at a bar in a park in sofia, called "lotki" or boats. we screened several movies, budapest critical mass, different cycling films and what not. quite a lot of people there and everyone seemed to enjoy it. plus some contacts made for ZZ
sharp sofia a super start
day 3 saturday 17 june
didnt succeed to copy the dvd films for ZZ due to technical incompetency and a general lack of know-how. this will have to be done some other way, some other how. sit and write these lines, and then (it is already after four pm now) i should get on the road, as i want to get somewhere near to dupnica if possible, so that i will have an easier ride on sunday. (blagoevgrad morning municipality is the goal).
eli, vanya and delyan have all been very helpful and i have had a great time with them.
HU: akartam volna ugyanannyit irni magyarul mint angolul, csak az a baj hogy most mar mennem kene ha nem akarok sotetedes egy 20 km-es tekeres utan. szoval, nagyon jo volt eddig. sikerult vonattal eljutni a bolgar-szerb hatarhoz. budapesten a keletibe mentek kisreka, zsoka, kristof, es persze az edit is, hogy bucsuzzanak tolem. nem gondoltam volna, de orultem neki nagyon. es belgradban is, amikor 1 oras varakozasi idom volt az allomason, elem jott a milan borics, ismerosom es bicajos arc, hogy minden rendben van-e. nagyon jo fej.
volt egy 60 kilometeres tekeres a hatartol szofiaig, ami technikailag nem volt teljesen zokkenomentesen, de azert iszonyatos faradtan megerkeztem a bolgar fovarsoba, talalkoztam za zemiatasokkal, es kipihentem magam. masnap a fovarosi kozlekedesi osztalyban volt egy megbeszeles, es nagyon jol sikerult! atvettek az utmutatot es mondtak hogy szivesen egyuttdolgnak a za zemiatasokkal. az este a vetitesek meg buli, az is jol sikerult.
ughogy jol kezdodott minden, es most mar el kene mennem tovabb. a ZZ-es nagyon jo fejek. az idojaras most mar tokeletes, bolgar kavet iszok es bulgarul is cseveghetek, bar egy kicsit hangolni kene meg ezt a nyelvi eszkozom. roviden talalkoztam tervel-lel, meg nehany mas ismerosommel.
megyek tovabb: JU
posted by somewhere over yonder @ 3:53 PM
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