Croatia Cycling: Day 6

Day 6: Krka National Park
Distance: 37.8km
Elev Gain: 289m

Boom, QOM!

Itinerary Description

Krka National Park’s landscape is a wonderland of fantastic karst formations, travertine waterfalls, cliffs, caves, and chasms. In addition to its scenic beauty, the park also contains numerous important cultural and historic landmarks. The ruins of five fortresses dating from the 14th century line the banks of the Krka River, including Kljucica, the largest and best preserved fortress in the park. We spend our last day cycling through the park, exploring its waterways and complex history dating back to late 10th century and the first Croatian kings. In the afternoon we drive to the medieval walled town of Trogir, unique among Dalmatian towns for its abundant Romanesque and Renaissance architecture, which thrived under Venetian rule.  After exploring the maze of stone streets in the old town, we share a farewell dinner and celebrate our cycling adventure.

What I Will Really Remember

(1) #GlutenIntensive
We had the best prosciutto & cheese ever! It was so good that I had forgotten to take a #foodporn photo. You'll just have to trust me that it was that good and settle for a random photo of prosciutto from the Internet.

A long long time ago, a guide once told me that it is virtually impossible to find a group who doesn't have dietary restrictions. This holds true in this group with vegetarians, non-diary and/or gluten-intolerance. Coined by one of the guys in the group, #glutenintensive was born. That's my kind of diet while cycling!

(2) Cycling Buddy
When joining a cycling group, you never know what pace the other riders are. I still remember the first night of introductions like it was yesterday. It seems like everyone was a super cyclist based on what they said. We even had an ex-pro cyclist among us. I refrained from making any commentary on my own riding abilities because it's really irrelevant once we start riding. The smartest rider is the one who rides at his or her own appropriate pace for the planned distance given the number of days.

I got lucky to have M in this group. Some days he motivates me and other days I motive him to push harder. Today, we visited a monastery at the bottom of the hill. We had the option to ride our bikes or in the van. When I saw M getting off his bike to take the van option, I convinced (or heckled) him into riding with me. As we descended multiple switchbacks, I was laughing all the way because I know M was cursing me out. In hindsight, we were both glad to have conquered it, and I even got a QOM (Queen of the Mountain) on Strava! B@@M!

(3) Time to Set Sail
Today, we say goodbye to half of our group. As they depart the tour, the rest of us continue on to the extension part of the tour. While it has been a good week, I am secretly happy that we won't be cramped into the van at the maximum capacity anymore. What's even better is that there will be less driving as we will be sailing in a catamaran next week! Happy dance!

Huck Finn, our catamaran for the next week!