“HILL CHAINS OF TET BULGARIA”
(Part 2)
This is the second part of the ride report about the fourth day of the “Breakdown Ride”. It’s about following the beautiful (and sometimes riding technical) hill ranges of Bulgaria, always chasing the line of the Trans Euro Trail.
Hint: If you haven’t already seen the first part, which shows our ride along some impressive parts of TET Romania, I highly recommend reading it first. You will find it here: ➡ HILL CHAINS OF TET BULGARIA – PART 1
Let’s start this part with the overview of the whole riding day:
The second part started in a hill range about 10 km or 6 mi away from the Serbian borderline. (The spot on the map, about in the second half of the route, which is the closest one to the borderline)
At the horizon, our main goal of the day, a peak …
called “Kom” showed up for the first time. We had to …
follow …
the track atop …
this gorgeous …
hill range for a few kilometers, till we reached …
very steep ascents before the peak. The last one …
was the steepest and hardest one to ride due to the washed out, with fist sized rocks studded surface, which additionally hanged to the right side. After choosing a line beforehand wisely in mind, I braaaped up that steep ascent and tried to follow it. Doing so, whilst sitting as far as possible at the back of Чернотas saddle, I was thrown around heavily due to the bumps/rocks along the slope. Keeping in mind that decreasing the throttle would be no option, I tried to stay on my bucking black pony. My stubbornness was …
amply rewarded with reaching the Peak of Kom Mountain. I parked …
aside the peak monument.
I thought it was showing Stalin. But that was a mistake: It is showing a famous Bulgarian writer, called: “Ivan Vazov“.
I grabbed my water bottle out of the luggage bag and …
had a few gulps during enjoying the view over Bulgaria. The sun was beating down heavily, so I wished this nice place farewell and followed …
for a few kilometers, a single trail, …
which ended …
in a scenic gravel track. The Terrain …
leveled off noticeable…
and it wasn’t long before, till…
we reached the timberline again. This was the first day of the breakdown ride, where the heat was literally overwhelming me. Therefore, I made …
another afternoon stop in the shade, where I put the jacket and the body armor off. The base layer, a simple merino wool shirt, was completely soaked. 🥵
I downed nearly a whole water bottle in one and ate a handful of salty nuts. After this refreshment, it was time for twenty minutes power nap in the shade. 😴
Still exhausted, I put back on my riding gear and Чернотa and I continued the ride under the high standing sun, through …
a landscape which …
turned more and more into …
a enormous grass and bushland. The trail which followed was located on a flat plateau …
and reached as far as the eye could see. I felt kind …
of forlorn whilst …
following this lonesome tracks atop …
the plateau. At last, …
after about 1,5 hours of …
riding through …
this stunning landscape …
first signs of civilization appeared. Coming from the high plains …
Чернотa and I …
followed now …
a deep gorge under the observation…
of a long ago mounted mighty monument atop the gorge wall. Doing some research, I found out that the “Septemvriytsi 1923 Monument“, near the village “Lakatnik”, was mounted after a failed communist uprising in September 1923.
Two or three …
rustical ….
vehicles later, we left village Lakatnik behind and the route followed an old …
Roman made stone road. This type of road isn’t very comfortable, due to its unevenness and over centuries hardened bumpy/rocky surface. Especially with a back spring adjusted for heavy load. Fortunately, the teeth rattling road lasted just a few miles. After a few minutes along …
forest trails we, started to climb another hill along the …
rocky terrain. Before we surmounted the timberline again …
we had to deal with this very steep, to the right-hand side slanting ascent. With enough speed, it would have been an easy task to climb the track. But as you can see, the steepest point of the ascent just started in the bend of the track. So, doing a run-up was limited by the sharp gravel bend. I walked to the bend by feet and my first impression confirmed itself.
Additionally, just, after the bend, the ruts along the track had been about 15 cm or 6 inches deep. So I had to try to ride as stable as possible and with as much speed as possible past this bend for managing the about 50 meter / 160 ft long steep slope behind it. Walking back to the bike I decided to try it in third gear with upper medium revs (~5000 revs/min) hoping to get around this bend without landing in the bushes next to it.
After starting the engine, I accelerated to about 50 km/h or 25 MPH in third gear and put maximal weight on the front end for getting the load hauled around the corner. Luckily it worked so far, but I wasn’t able to hit the deep right-hand side rut with the front wheel at its sweet point in the middle.
Instead, I just scratched its hard edge and nearly lost balance. I had to throttle down and put in second gear whilst I was bumped left and right atop Чернотa.
It was bound to happen: The ascent was too steep and the instability too big. Both combined with the high amount of torque in second gear, the back wheel starts frequently changing, slipping and gripping along the grass lane and ruts of the track. I wasn’t possible to keep up the balance, what would have produced more traction. Instead Чернотa was bucking more and more and so it happened:
We fell over in an unspectacular way just on the edge of the left side of the track. After dragging Чернотas front wheel back in the left rut (before it was located in the deep grass on the left side of the track) I took this evidence photo and checked the position of the luggage bags. Despite my crinkled ego, everything seemed ok.
The prone slope and the ruts alongside the track made it tricky for me getting the bike further up the hill. First I fired the engine and tried to walk with it the last 15 meters or 50ty feet upwards in first gear, what didn’t work, due to having far to little weight on the back wheel. Each time when I unleashed the clutch, the back wheel spun through and Чернотa slipped a bit further backwards down the steep hill.
So I had to get back in the saddle, what wasn’t easy along such prone track. Whilst holding the bike with the front brake in position, I had to balance it and tried somehow to get back into the saddle. My attempt of throwing the right leg over the bike failed utterly. I hooked with my feet the right bulky luggage bag and Чернотa and I fell over once more.
The next try was made from the other side after getting Чернотa back on its wheels. That was easier due to less distance to the front brake lever and also better access to the rear brake. With a quick clumsy jump, I was finally sitting back in the saddle, holding the motorcycle in position with using both breaks. After starting the engine, I put all my body weight on the back wheel, revved the engine and unleashed the clutch. With precisely clutch work, Чернотa got enough power on the ground for moving onwards this steep hurdle in terrain. 🤛✊🤛✊
After this little effort, the …
ride was an easy one along …
the dried out grassy hill caps. Again overwhelmed …
from the seclusion …
of this area in Western-Bulgaria …
I decided …
to built up this day’s shelter within this hilly landscape. When a nice spot was found, …
the first thing what I did was pulling off my sweat soaked riding gear.
Just whilst starting unpacking the camping gear, standing there half naked in my boxer shorts, a old Mercedes-G-Class-4WD came along the track and the driver stopped for a chat.
He was a local guide, which had two pretty gals sitting on the backseat, which booked him for a little off road adventure. His goal of the day was reaching a farm near peak Kom.
Whilst talking, the gals on the backseat started giggling (surely because they weren’t expecting meeting a half naked good-looking dude like me atop the hills of Bulgaria).
After kind of an awkward silence, the driver started grinning too and asked me about the steep hill back to the track and its condition. I told him that it was doable with some effort also with the motorbike, and will also be doable for him in his mighty 4WD, especially going hill downwards. He was impressed that I was able to overcome this steep section. He was more impressed when I told him that I also did the steep part back at Kom peak.
“With this heavy bike and all the gear?”, he asked. “With this bike and all the gear!”, I respond. Staring at me with unbelieving eyes, I told him in a modest way, that probably along moist/wet conditions I wouldn’t have made it, what made him nodding.
Afterwards a further usual palaver about the left back distance and our incoming goals, we wished farewell.
I went on with …
building up the shelter. When the sleeping pad was blown up and the sleeping bag was unfolded …
it was time for cooking. Riding most of the time of day through remote parts of the country, I forgot to buy some food for dinner in time. So I prepared myself my standard “emergency” noodle meal including greasy tomato-parmesan-pesto and oilive-oil-tuna, what took around 25 minutes. Whilst …
eating the sun was slowly wandering …
towards the horizon and delivered a great light spectacle over the silhouette of the Bulgarian hills.
After dinner, it was necessary to fix …
the tube again, which I had already repaired around midday first. As written in part one of this ride report, I just throw the already patched tube into one of the luggage bags instead of wrapping it up/stowing it properly. This way the tube was damaged along the ride by the sharp edge of the tripod from the cooking set. 😑
At last, it wasn’t a big deal …
patching this additional hole. Punctual with …
sunset the tube was patched. I pumped it up with my little bicycle pump …
and stowed the filled tube in upright position for the night. With my finger I made a little mark at the dusty front damping protector right at the place where the edge of the tube ended. This way, it would be easy for me, to check the next morning with one glance, if the tube is sealed properly. If it holds the pressure, the edge of the tube will stay close to the marking, if there is a leak, it will shrink/move away from the marking, and I will know if I had to find a spare tube the next day or not. Easy-peasy. 🤓
The last tasks of the day were doing the washing up and making a highly needed cat wash. Just when I went …
into the tent, I recognized a car coming along the way; now from the other side. First I thought it would pass my camping spot, but it disappeared somewhere in the terrain out of my sight. Tired from this adventurous day of riding, I finally disappeared in my tent and called it a day. 🥱
Total distance of this riding day: 220 km or 140 mi.
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