Kranj to Lake Bled

We learned yesterday that Marko's luggage had arrived and had been delivered to tonight's hotel.  So now everyone is totally equipped.  Only took 4 days, Air France.

Have I mentioned that Slovenia is a gorgeous country?  Forgive me for saying it again.  At some point I think I will just be inured to yet another picturesque church atop a hillside framed by mountains in the background and clear blue skies.  We are going through very pastoral areas, where there hardly seem as if there are any people, yet there always seem to be a significantly large church in the vicinity.  Makes you wonder how they fill them up on Sunday!

A word on the demographics of the group of 19-20 of us.  Only one is from outside the U.S. (from Colombia).  For the others the riders are clustered around Massachusetts and Colorado, with a smattering from New York City, Cleveland (though previously from Needham), Kansas City, Augusta, Georgia and Palo Alto.  Quite a number of lawyers, several doctors and a bunch of folks connected to the energy industry.  Three women, the rest men.  It really is a nice group - quite congenial.  And the tour operators are uniformly terrific - helpful and a great deal of fun.

Today was hard.  About 80 miles with almost 8,000 feet of climbing.  We started in Kranj and rode 10 or so miles through lovely farmland with the mountains in the distance.  We knew what was in store.  All told we did four climbs today.  The first one relatively short but way steep (grades up to 16%).  The second was longer, but less steep.  Three would have been just fine with me.  The fourth was not incredibly tough in itself (although no slouch) but coming as it did after three hard climbs it was exhausting.  But really, really nice.  One could say that the scenery is monotonous because it is just so pretty each step of the way.  And the climbs - because they don't have any famous names like the ones from the Tour de France, for example - in many respects simply merge into memory.  But they are great.

A few pictures:

The church that is off in the distance next to my head will come more clear in the next two pictures.

 This church is literally in the middle of nowhere.  How big can the congregation be?

I am still looking for my second piece of litter.  When I find it, I may stop to take a picture and post it to the blog.

Lake Bled is a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains.   We'll some more pictures of it tomorrow as we ride from here and come back to this hotel.  It has a little bit of the tourist feel to it.  We hope to explore the town a little tomorrow, as the ride is "only" 57 miles and 7,000 feet of climbing.

I am little worn out and will sign off until next post (I hope tomorrow).