June 10 Ksamil, Albania to Kolonje. Albania – 65 miles

June 10 Ksamil, Albania to Kolonje. Albania – 65 miles

We spent the afternoon prior cooling off in the crystal clear waters of the Adriatic and sitting under the shade of rocks on the beach. As pleasant as this ocean was, it was hard to truly enjoy it knowing that the following day we would need to complete another ascent ( and decent) of a long and high mountain pass. To make matters worse, we could see the mountain pass directly above us as we sat on the beach. Our next day’s climb loomed over us and made the day quite unsettling. From the small beach where we rested, we could see the endless switchbacks on the mountain. We knew it would take us at least 2 hours to complete this climb and we also knew that the temperatures were predicted to be in the high 90’s again, so we decided to get up at 6 am and start the ride early. After getting virtually no sleep the night before ( I stayed up worrying the entire night), we started our ride at 6:45 am. I decided to forgo the hot sun hat and simply wore my new “buff” in order to try to minimize the heat exhaustion risk. Immediately leaving the hotel gates, the ride started uphill. By 7 am, it was already 89 degrees. The switchbacks were all around 8-10% and each lasted a 2-3 miles. We each took at least 3 breaks ( sadly in the sun) on the way to the top. Total ride time to the top of the pass was around 2 hours. It was hot and miserable but not having the large hat on helped with the heat situation. This mountain pass is used by many cars and busses to get from the city on the other side of the range to the Adriatic. This made it even more interesting when we ran into a herd of cows and donkeys in the middle of one of the switchbacks near the top. This would not be the last time I ran into donkeys on the road in Albania ( more on that later). We were able to take a quick coke break at the top of the mountain and then started our descent into LLogora National Park ( one of only a few national parks in Albania and one of the few regions where the trees had been preserved). The dream of flying down the back side of this mountain all the way back down to the Adriatic was quickly extinguished when, at about 300 meters down from the summit, the road turned into a grated, rock and water-filled, sludgy mess.
The descent down the mountain was almost as bad as the ascent. The Albanian “road builders” had decided that they would grate over 10 miles of the back side, fill it with partial rocks, and then run water on it ( or I should say “down it.”). So a 10-11 mile downhill at a 11% grade that could have been amazing became a nightmare. This downhill became an exercise in keeping the bike from moving faster than 3 mph. Any speed over that would have resulted in a certain crash. The road down consisted of 18 steep switchbacks, each filled with a muddy sludge that made the ride painful in another way. Breaking on these inclines is extremely hard on the wrists ( you must grip the breaks so tightly and for so long that the pain in the hands and wrists becomes excruciating). I had to take many breaks just to let my hands rest. This was really not a ride but more of an attempt to move the bike down the mountain without crashing. When, after 11 miles, the downhill finally turned into a paved road, it was time to celebrate. Although the gauge on the bike was now reading 105 degrees, we knew if we made it back down to the Adriatic we could at least cool off for a bit in the ocean before continuing our journey. We were able to do just this in a small town. The remainder of the day was spent navigating though the huge coastal resort town of Vlore and then north towards Albania’s second largest city, Durres. We finished the day about 40 miles south of Durres in a small, farming village. When we got to this small town off of the main highway, we were simply gawked at by the locals. Many people came out of their house to look at us. We found a small “market” that was operated below an older woman’s house, and she was simply enthralled by us. She insisted that we did not buy anything and gave us free apples and bread. I honestly think she felt bad for us as we were quite the sight to see at 8 pm that night! The apartment I had rented ( for $20 a night!) was of course at the top of large hill, so the day ended just as it had began: uphill!
ALBANIA NOTES: Once we descended the mountain pass earlier in the day, the roads had been beyond crowded. Tour buses, trucks, cars, you name it. There are NO bike lanes in Albania and there are not a lot of secondary paved roads. So one must bike with the masses. To make matters worse, Albanian drivers are CRAZY! Cars are seen as status symbols in Albania and so everyone who can afford a car purchases a car. On most reads, there are no dividing lane lines. There are no driving “rules” or speed limits. People drive at whatever speeds THEY deem acceptable. They pass other cars at crazy speeds. They will sometimes stop in the middle of a busy road to simply talk to friend ( I mean BUSY roads). And last but not least, there are virtually NO women in Albania! This topic I will leave for another post but for now I will simply say that after seeing only men for the past 4 days, I was beginning to sense that something was not quite right in this country.