Shifting Gears

Welcome to new readers and welcome back to loyal readers of the Shifting Gears blog! As we say…here we go again. On September 24th, Heather & I start cycling from Trieste, Italy through Croatia, Montenegro, Albania and back to Italy, ending in Puglia. This ride is over 1,000 miles, climb 57,000 feet (that’s 2 Mount Everests of climbing!) and should take 4 weeks. Here is a visual – starting in Trieste Italy, which is a 2-hour drive from Venice airport where we are flying. Our final stop is Bari, on the East Coast of Italy, on the Adriatic. The map image is fairly accurate but AI has it’s limits so it misses a small slice of Slovenia that touches the Adriatic for about 25 miles, south of Trieste and before Croatia begins. You can see the full details of our planned itinerary in the chart at the bottom of this blog. We’ll ride self-supported – just two of us, carrying 25+ pounds each in our panniers (saddlebags) on our bikes, with no support van! Why call it an Odyssey? About 30 years...

Season 5. Episode 16. End of Adventure Reflections. Since wrapping up our riding, we enjoyed some relaxing time in Porto and some days at home to consider this trip. The most common question people have asked us is: how does this trip compare to the others? The reply is much like that of a parent – we love all our children equally. Each of these adventures is great in its own right. Here’s a quantitative snapshot to consider: 1,737 miles biked.  By this measure, this trip was the easiest of our 5 self-supported bike expeditions as it was the shortest distance. But that’s too simplistic. 68,690’ accumulated elevation gain (2,290’/day) 58 miles average per riding day, (past averages were 53, 63, 65, & 72) 40 feet of elevation to climb per mile. This slope of 40’ of elevation per mile was the 2nd hardest of our 5 trips. (past averages: 28 Northern Tier, 51 Pacific Coast, 27 East Coast, 29 Southern Tier). 30 days of riding and 4 days of rest – makes me all the more stunned that...

Season 5. Episode 15. Brotherly Love.  September 13, 2025. Santiago de Compostela to Redondella. 53 miles. 3,439’ climbing.  The Portuguese Way is the pilgrimage route starting in Portugal that starts more commonly in Porto or for some further south in Lisbon. It’s 163 miles from Porto or 381 miles from Lisbon. We were cycling the Portuguese Camino in reverse.  After several days of riding in the same direction as walkers, and passing them, it was odd traveling against their flow. I even had a few people tell me I’m going the wrong way. (I’m not sure if they were joking.) But figuratively I was confident we are on the right path. In fact, for some reason over the course of my life, I’ve had a pattern of going against the grain, of zigging when others zag. It hasn’t worked out too poorly.  In our first few miles leaving the city, there was a series of musicians entertaining and busking for those finishing their walks. It was a festive, celebratory atmosphere. We wishe...