XC Rides

Mtb Mostar, Velež

Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Mountain: Velež, Brasina peak
Length: 43,5 km
Elevation gain: 1850 m
Maximum elevation:  1897 m
Technical difficulty: 3/5
Download GPS Track: Mostar Velež_cyclotrail
Date of ride: 14.04.2018.
Suitable for E-bike: Yes

Mostar, and mountain Velež are my first mountain biking experience in BiH and introduction is very interesting. In Slavic myhtology Veles, Volos or Voloh is god of earth, water and underground. He is often connected with dragons, cattle, musicians, magic, fortune and deceptions and is Perun’s main antagonist. Their rivalry is one of the main myths in Slavic mythology.

Before I went from Zagreb to town Ploče  I made contact with Đani over social media. I’ve read some of his text on internet about biking, explored some of his routes that he drove, so i knew that he could give me very good informations where to ride in BiH. Finally we met in person in Croatia at the end of 2017. while we rode on Babina Gomila (one of hills near Neretva Valley). At the time all mountains in BiH were covered in snow, so I had to be patient and wait for snow to melt down. And then on april, I got invitation from Đani to visit mountain Velež with his friend Darko. I didn’t know much about route, I just knew that there was one way road up and down to the peak Brasina in combination of paved and unpaved road.

At the day of ride I was a little late so we rode later than we planned. Due to my delay and potential snowdrifts we shortened our ascent and started our climb at 9th km of gpx file. Later that showed as a good call, because at higher elevations there were still substantial amount of snow, and took us quite time to cross them.

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National Park Krka

Country: Croatia
Region: NP Krka
Length: 70 km
Elevation gain: 1350 m
Maximum elevation:  226 m
Technical difficulty: 2/5
Download GPS Track: NP Krka
Date of ride: 02.04.2018.
Suitable for E-bike: Yes

Krka national park is one of the eight national parks in Croatia named after river Krka and situated along its middle lower course.  Due to its special position and the mosaic distribution of various types of habitats, it is characterized by exceptionally rich and varied flora and fauna. After NP Plitvice, NP Krka is the second most visited national park in Croatia. Considering that it was Easter Monday, and that my girlfriend went to France, and that it was to far to travel back home to Nova Gradiška (to visit my parents) from Ploče, the only logical solution was to visit NP Krka, and the next day to see island Čiovo (which will be described in near future:). I booked my apartment in Skorići, which is placed 1,5 km north from Skradin town. I stayed at apartment and my hosts were very nice people who had just started renting, and entering the business so they treated my like a guest, not like a tourist.
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Dubrovnik – Srđ

Country: Croatia
City/Hill: Dubrovnik/Srđ
Length: 21,3 km
Elevation gain: 495 m
Maximum elevation: 425 m
Tehnical difficulty: 2/5
Download GPS Track: Dubrovnik Srđ
Date of ride: 05.05.2018
Suitable for E-bike: Yes

When I was young, my parents worked in Dubrovnik during summer and they used to take me with them, so I lived there for three years during summer periods. As you see, beside biking and sightseeing I had another motives to visit this ancient town. While I was traveling from Ploče to Dubrovnik I tried to remember some streets, shops, old market and beach where I used to play with my sister. For me, this route is not very attractive, and I think that the beauties that you will see while walking on streets in the old town exceeds the scenes from this route, but Dubrovnik is very crowded during whole year, so this cycling route is perfect escape from crowded spaces and great opportunity to see Dubrovnik from above. You can get there by car, but that is not my cup of tea, and I always appreciate the view more if I make some effort to get to the top.

This time I decided to go on on hill called Srđ that is positioned behind of walled city Dubrovnik. Srđ is part of Dinaric Alps and at it top has large cross and defensive structure built by French during Napoleonic wars.

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