Welcome Back for Season 6! Adriatic Odyssey.

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 ago, in my career as a tour operator, I named one of our then new itineraries the Northwestern Odyssey. I’ve always loved that word Odyssey for what it evokes. But truth is I’d never read Homer’s classic The Odyssey and never appreciated its full meaning until Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster film brought it to so many of us in 2026.  I now think it is the near perfect word for everything our bike adventures entail. There are so many daily hurdles and obstacles – both known and unknown!  And ultimately it is about returning home - safely. Okay, we may not face one-eyed cyclops and giants, although Sirens may be lurking for me. And Heather better not have suitors when we get home. But there is a reason in the cycling world, these rides of 4 weeks and longer are commonly called epics. From our past rides, we know challenges await us. We predict headwinds, downpours, hot days, bike issues and saddle sores! But other challenges will surprise us – like a 3-day detour due to forest fires did in 2024 after just a few days of riding. Every day does truly test our bodies and our minds. In fact, while the physical challenge is serious, the mental challenge is typically greater.

Note for new readers, in the past 5 years, we rode self-supported by ourselves around the contiguous USA over 4 cross country trips, and then in Europe from Paris to Porto. (You can see individual trip details at the bottom of this blog.)

Those 5 rides total 13,488 miles and 444,553 feet of climbing. (Average slope of 33 feet per mile.) This upcoming trip will be shortest in distance, but our hardest in elevation with an average of 57 feet per mile and especially challenging in the first two weeks.

Celebrating completion of riding across the continent, from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic in 2021.

A friend asked me the other day if we were ready and trained?

On the one hand, we started riding earlier in the year, getting a head start to the season – in Mallorca for a week in March and in Turkey & Greece for 2 weeks April to May. By the way, Mallorca is cycling Mecca! We knew it was popular, but it is incredible for cycling – terrain, road surfaces, riding culture, support – you name it! We rode there on what is called a “self-guided” trip – a company organized the routes and lodging and moved our baggage daily. We rode by ourselves with no guide or support vehicle. In Turkey & Greece, we rode with a group on a company tour, that offered full support – we just cycled. It was beautiful. They even fixed flats! 

Descending the hairpin turns of Sa Calobra, Mallorca and climbing the switchbacks out of the gorge was one of the highlight rides of my life!

On the other hand, over these last few months leading up to this trip, we have cycled less frequently, less distance, and with less weight in our panniers than when preparing in past years. We think this year that we have our base miles established. I have climbed 158,343’ already in 2026 year to date. We guess we will find out if we got it right or we messed up. Confidence or false confidence? To be determined.

It may not help that my current body weight is 5 pounds heavier than usual. And on other hand, Heather changed from her TREK 520 Grando classic steel bike, weighing 31 pounds, to a TREK Checkpoint gravel bike, like I started using last year, that weighs 21 pounds. This is a problem waiting to happen. Heather is a faster rider than I am, and now with a lighter bike will now be even faster. She has the addresses of all our lodging, so she may just go ahead and meet me when I get there an hour after her. I am hoping she will ride with me!

Given the greater climbing this year, I was determined to pack even less and lighter. I am happy to report my panniers weigh 27.1 pounds vs. 28.7 pounds in 2025. Now I worry what am I forgetting or cutting out foolishly?

We rode more than the Earth’s equator!

Possibly our most significant challenge is that the total of those epic rides, plus training rides, plus several other bike trips has taken its toll. Over the past 5 years, I have cycled 30,589 miles outdoors! (so not counting Peloton rides) That’s more distance than circling the Earth’s equator of 24,901 miles. [Fun fact I learned in researching this reference: the Equatorial circumference is 24,901 miles. But measured over the North and South Poles, aka the Polar Circumference, is “only” 24,860 miles. I learned the Earth is not a perfectly round sphere. It bulges at the Equator.]

Crazy distance, we know. And our bodies are starting to feel it. Not a complaint. Just acknowledging it gets harder as we age and log more rides.

After 5 years of blogging, I hesitate to continue for 2 reasons. First, I wonder do I have anything new or worthwhile to write. I’ve already written about the danger of crosswinds, being thoroughly soaked and shoes full of water in a rainstorm, etc. I don’t want to overstay my welcome like a great TV show that pushes an extra season too many and becomes stale. Second, and more practical, it is often more tiring to blog than to cycle. After a full day of pedaling, then cleaning up, eating, trying to recover, reviewing and planning next day, Heather will fade into sleep by 9pm or so, while I stay awake writing (dictation doesn’t work so well for my brain) the blog. My whole life, I’ve been a night owl and could stay up into the wee hours. Something changed this past year (must be age 63!) and I definitely need more sleep. So for both reasons, I anticipate being more selective in my blog and narrowing it to fewer highlights. Plus, I may as well save some stories for my book and eventual movie! 

We enjoyed guest riders and dinner companions on each of the 5 previous expeditions. We hope that continues. Take a look at our itinerary and let us know if interested. As well, if you have any friends or family on our route that you think we ought to connect with, feel free to send us their contact info. We also enjoy great food recommendations on route!

We continue to cycle long distances to support the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation to honor our friends Ernie and Lenny, two individuals who we admire for their strength of character in living with paralysis. By their examples of perseverance and positivity in confronting adversity, they inspire us to ride when it is most difficult. (For readers who landed here without receiving an initial email from Heather or me, you can see our dedication letter to Ernie & Lenny and contribute here.)

Hope you enjoy reading my observations of life on the road that it helps bring you along on our adventure. [New readers can enjoy full details in blog entry titled: The Backstory – how did this come to be. And can retrace our story starting in September 2021.]

Thank you to our daughter Sydney for once again managing the technical side of this blog, allowing me to just email her finished copy and photos for her to then drop in to a professional looking format.

We look forward to hearing from readers with questions and comments. 

Next blog to come from Croatia.

Thank you for reading.

Mark

Summary of past 5 epic rides:

• In 2021, 2,970 miles from San Diego, CA to St. Augustine, FL
• In 2022, 2,667 miles down the Atlantic Coast from Bar Harbor, ME to Key West, FL
• In 2023, 2,065 miles along the Pacific Coast from Vancouver, Canada to Mexico.
• In 2024, 4,049 miles from Bellingham, WA to Larchmont, NY
• In 2025, 1,737 miles from Paris France to Porto, Portugal

Planned route for Adriatic Odyssey 2026

Our route and timing may vary due to weather, bike mechanical issues, fatigue or other hurdles. Who is ready to join us riding?

Day #	Date	Description	Miles	Climb (ft)	Stay
1	9/23	Arrive Trieste, IT			Trieste, Italy
2	9/24	Trieste -to Slovenia (Koper, Izola, Piran) -to Croatia-Secovlje Saltpans-Groznjan-Motovun	52	4072	Motovun, Croatia
3	9/25	Motovun - Pazin - Pican - Zagorje	37	3516	Zagorje
4	9/26	Zagorge - Brestova; ferry to Porozina, ride across Cres Island to Mali Losinj	58	4613	Mali Losinj
5	9/27	Ferry to Zadar. Ride Zadar- Tribunj-Sibenik.	54	2005	Sibenik
6	9/28	Sibenik - Trogir - Kastela Villages - Split.	59	3047	Split
7	9/29	Split sites & rest day			Split
8	9/30	ferry Split to Brac Island - ride Supetar - Bol	31	2970	Bol (on Brac)
9	10/1	boat Brac to Hvar Island) - ride Jelsa - 5 villages - Vrboska - Stari Grad - Hvar Town	32	2835	Hvar Town
10	10/2	ferry Hvar to Korcula Island - ride Vela Luka - Korcula town	39	3472	Korcula Town
11	10/3	ferry Korcula- Orebic. ride Orebic - Ston. Shuttle to Dubrovnik.	37	3049	Dubrovnik
12	10/4	Dubrovnik sites & rest			Dubrovnik
13	10/5	Dubrovnik - Herceg Novi - Kotor, Montenegro	58	3751	Kotor, Montenegro
14	10/6	Kotor- option Kotor Serpentine - then to Budva	36	5067	Budva
15	10/7	Budva- Sveti Stefan view - Bar -Shkoder, Albania	58	3801	Shkoder, Albania
16	10/8	Shkoder- Tirana	72	2330	Tirana
17	10/9	Tiranne - Durres & overnight ferry to Bari, Italy	32	774	ferry to Italy
18	10/10	Bari - Monopoli - Capitolo - Savelletri - Torre Canne	43	1014	Torre Canne, Italy
19	10/11	Torre Canne- Ostuni - San Vito dei Normanni - Lecce	60	1628	Lecce
20	10/12	Lecce- Acaya - Torre del'Orso - Otranto	32	684	Otranto
21	10/13	Otranto - Santa Maria di Leuca	37	2352	Santa Maria di Leuca
22	10/14	Santa Maria di Leuca - Gallipoli	35	871	Gallipoli
23	10/15	Gallipoli - Nardo - Copertino - Francavilla Fontanna	55	1541	Francavilla Fontana
24	10/16	Francavilla Fontana - Cisternino - Locorotondo - Martina Franca	30	1956	Martina Franca
25	10/17	Martina Franca rest - optional rides - sites			Martina Franca
26	10/18	Martina Franca - Alberobello - Polignano a Mare	32	1053	Polignano a Mare
27	10/19	Polignano a Mare to Bari	24	444	Bari
28	10/20	Bari sites			Bari
29	10/21	fly home
		Totals	1,003	56,845

© Copyright Mark Segal 2026