Season 6. Episode 8. Black Mountain on the Move.

October 5, 2026. Dubrovnik, Croatia to Kotor, Montenegro. 55 miles. 2,786’ climbing.

You’re not allowed to ride bikes in the old city of Dubrovnik, so we walked for about 10 minutes from our Airbnb to the gate on the south side.

I’m not sure why I knew to avoid cycling into Dubrovnik, but thought it okay to ride from the city. In retrospect, we should have taxied the 8 miles or so to the first town south and avoided the stressful traffic where the road has no shoulder. 

I'm still needing the bandanna to protect my lips and cuts from the sun.

Once out of the city area, we were treated to yet another beautiful ride.

We enjoyed talking with a young French couple who were riding for three months with their two-year-old and five-year-old.  They had started riding out of Dubrovnik, and quickly changed to taxis when they felt unsafe. Smart.

The descent to the border exiting Croatia.

Exiting Croatia and the Schengen area.

We would then climb up and ride in a no man’s land for 5 minutes until the border to enter Montenegro. 

First impression of Montenegro, the town of Herceg Novi.

Lunch in Herceg Novi. They use the Euro, but prices were much less than in Croatia.

Alongside the pebble beaches, some of the “beach” clubs are slabs of stone or concrete.

Beachside homes.

We saw many construction cranes and buildings in progress.

We took a short 15-minute ferry halfway across the Bay of Kotor from Kamenari to Lepetane.

And we then had one of the most scenic finishes to a ride ever.  Approaching Kotor, riding straight towards the dark and steep mountains.

Montenegro literally translates to Black Mountain in Italian and dates from the time of Venetian influence. People from Montenegro themselves call their country Crna Gora. This is the native South Slavic language translation of Black Mountain.

Kotor at night and you can see how steeply the mountain rises.

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October 6, 2026. Kotor to Budva Montenegro. 43 miles. 4,414’ climbing.

Today was the ride I had been looking forward to most of all this trip. The “Kotor Serpentine” in Montenegro is a renowned cycling climb. It rises continuously for 10 miles and about 3000’. It has 25 switchbacks that lead to magnificent views overlooking the entire fjord-like Bay of Kotor. 

The Kotor Serpentine.

There were two ways we could ride today to our destination, the seaside resort of Budva. One was to go up over the serpentine, continue from there and then descend to Budva. I understood this was the more scenic albeit challenging route. The other was to ride a more direct, shorter and flatter route on a busier road without the serpentine at all. 

I wasn’t sure that we could ride over this epic climb with our panniers, or wanted as much. So I planned today that we would leave our panniers at our Airbnb, ride up the serpentine to the viewpoint, descend back down to our Airbnb to collect our panniers, and then ride the more direct route from Kotor to Budva. 

Before the trip, Heather wasn’t even sure she would do the optional climb up the Serpentine. But I knew once we were here, her competitive nature would not let me go alone and have the bragging rights and her miss out on that.  

There is pressure to start the ride early on two counts. One, climb in cooler temperatures. Two, beat the hordes of tour buses coming later with cruise passengers and that fill the narrow road. So there was pressure on us to get going. 

The problem began right away when my bike would not shift gears at all. I quickly diagnosed this as a battery inside my handlebar shifter had died.

To explain, our bikes are NOT what are called E bikes. They are traditional bikes, 100% powered by our own efforts. However, for those not familiar, we have what is called electronic shifting. Old style shifting is mechanical - moving a lever on your handlebars, that is attached by a cable to a derailleur, causes the gears to change. With electronic, there is no cable. When we press a button, it sends a wireless signal to the derailleur to shift.  It is more precise and requires less maintenance. The derailleur has a rechargeable battery that we regularly recharge. The small batteries inside your handlebars are the flat ones that look like a coin and are not rechargeable. 

I actually prepared for this moment for the battery to die and brought two spares. Points to me for that. However, I forgot my lesson on how to access the battery compartment and replace them. And in our haste to start the climb, I didn’t watch a video on how to change the battery. We just went. So I climbed the first half in a single gear before somehow my gears would shift. This was slower and far more difficult. 

Barrier wall with missing sections doesn’t feel very reassuring. 

View of switchbacks.

Bay of Kotor. I’m undecided on the pros of cruise ship boost to the economy vs cons of their heavy footprint.

And from the top of our climb of almost 3,000’ in 11 miles.  In the end, we both felt we could have climbed this with our panniers.

However, the descent brought an unexpected twist. I’ve never ridden with fear of falling.  I might be nervous riding across tall bridges over water - that’s my irrational fear of falling over the edge into the water. I’ve never cycled and been afraid of falling and hitting the pavement, of hurting myself. And today that engulfed me. I was having a textbook case of PTSD. Although my accident wasn’t on a steep and windy descent, it was foremost in my mind. Normally on a descent I’m far ahead of Heather. She’s the one who rides cautiously with fear of falling. Today I was the slower one, riding with excessive caution, braking more than normal. And in the process, I didn’t enjoy the descent. But I gained. I gained an understanding of Heather’s fear on descents and on gravel and dirt. True empathy of putting yourself in another person’s shoes is easier when you’ve actually worn those shoes. 

(I’m happy to report the PTSD only manifested itself a few more times before I was able to ride without that kind of fear. Though I am now more defensive and cautious. Let’s hope this lasts.)

The scariest part of the switchbacks is seeing cars coming down and the driver is looking at his cell phone (possibly filming) the whole time you see him.

Once down, I watched a YouTube video and easily changed the battery. And kicked myself for not doing that earlier. I should have known better to pause before just going.

We arrived in Budva that I’ve heard described as the Miami of Montenegro. It’s a seaside resort. I was amazed at the amount of construction. 

In this one view I saw 6 construction cranes.

Beach at Old Budva.

Upon arrival, Heather’s conflict and misunderstanding with the hotel owner got us off to a rocky start, but she smoothed it over. That’s a story for another day. 

Impressions of Montenegro:

(To be taken with a grain of salt as all we saw were 2 highly touristed cities and a handful of villages between them)

1. This is a country on the move with obvious construction of roads and infrastructure as well as private development in tourism 
2. It has entrepreneurial energy and hustle in its private sector 
3. It’s waiting to be discovered more and has incredible potential 
4. There’s a noticeable change in the road quality with some deterioration once leaving Croatia, but really not as bad as expected. The roads of Montenegro were better than pothole affected Montreal. 
5. It’s so nice and quiet here. What a nice respite from the over tourism of Dubrovnik.

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We ride to raise funds for the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. They are dedicated to curing spinal cord injury and improving the quality of life of those impacted by paralysis. Thank you to so many of you who have already generously donated an amazing  total over $26,000! If you’ve not yet had a chance to support the Reeve Foundation, please consider making a gift at Heather & Mark Ride for Reeve.

© Copyright Mark Segal 2026.