Day 10: In Slovakia all roads go downhill

This morning started with a trip to a bike shop. Yesterday my chain had jumped off and I needed an inbus key to realign the gearshift in the front. After buying a new inbus key I found out, that I also had brought one while searching for a different tool. And the gearshift suddenly decided to work without any further issues. So now I have a new unused inbus set. I guess I'll need it someday ;)

On the way to the bike shop I met Frédérik Koch from thesuntrip. The challenge I wrote about two days ago. Sometimes the world is really small. He broke one of his 20" wheels and is now waiting for a replacement to be shipped to Krosno, since a replacement does not exists locally. So unfortunately I could not get a look at his bike. The fastest participants are already in Spain and make about 400km/day. That is quite impressive.

What was also impressive was the weather: 17° and light rain :) ok, none of you from northern Germany will be impressed, but after all the sun and heat in the last few days this made me really happy. It only lasted for a couple of hours though. Now temperatures are back at 25°+.

The roads where also much more pleasant, since there are almost no trucks on the weekend and far fewer cars. At the start things where still fairly crowded, but traffic got lighter and lighter over the day.

If you take a look at https://ridewithgps.com/trips/70893181 the highest point is the border. After entering Slovakia it was a fast downhill ride for at least 30 minutes. And, only interrupted by two mean climps, it stayed this way. This makes cycling much more fun :) Also the tarmac used in Slovakia is much smoother than in Poland. This also makes a huge difference in speed. 

Tonight I am staying in a small holiday house which is very much like a museum:

On the way there I got stopped by the police for the second time. But this time they just wanted to look at my bike and wanted to know if it solar electric (seems they have stopped a few of thesuntrip participants, I have no idea how else they could get this idea. A solar panel is not exactly easy to miss).

It's now still 430km (and two climbs to 500m altitude) to velomobiel.ro so I will need about 3 days to drive there and hope to get the new parts on wednesday. So let's hope nothing happens until I get there.