GR35

I don't even know how to begin this story. Pavel and I ride a lot and at least once a week we try to get together for a ride, talk about what's going on in our lives and discover new roads. This ride started with a stop at Tony Příhoda's sawmill in Hraničné Petrovice. Pavel is building a house and had arranged for the lumber for the construction at Tony's sawmill.

Once the business was settled, we were able to head off in a direction we hadn't been in for a long time. I have a back road up my sleeve where Pavel may not have been. I can't wait to show him. I hope he'll be surprised.

Over the hill behind Jívová, past the former quarry and onto the left side of the Bystřice River valley, that's our direction. The bumpy road and the wind at our backs speed us up and we're in the valley quite quickly. Here the wind has calmed down and the only thing that surprised us was a herd of mouflon that we accidentally scared. The clamping of many hooves can make quite a noise, I tell you.

We're approaching a road that Pavel doesn't know. I always like it when he brings back some experience from the trip - today in the form of a newly discovered road. I call this road "Traverse over the Hrubovodské sutě". It's a nice, secluded back road made for gravel bikes.

We ended up in Velká Bystřice, Pavel went home to his kids and I had a beer on the curb in my favorite Pivnice na Rampě. While having a beer I looked at my hands and came to the conclusion that so far this year I have only tanned my hands, from the wrists to the fingertips.