Day 16 - Sunday 2nd July

Usobi - Ceske Budejovice
130 km. Total 2349 km.

"In spite of ourselves we'll end up sitting on a rainbow"

I woke up a little after 6 a.m.
I had slept very well.
The weather does not look too bad. I took the opportunity to recharge my digital camera while I waited. I also finished my Bill and Ben Book. Thank God, it ended well.

I move on in a couple of hours. I am not sure what I want to do. I can go to a bigger city and park my stuff there and then go to Prague on a one-day train trip, or I can ride on towards Austria.
Come to think of it I normally feel lost in big cities, so I'll probably head for Linz in Austria. From here I believe I have 170 km to the border. When I get to Austria I am convinced I am going to face big challenges in the shape of strong ascents.

From now on everything will become much easier to me because Mogens took my bag with my "Mayor-clothes" back to Denmark. I do not expect to meet more notabilities on this trip.

The Gundersens came round about 8 o'clock and we agreed on setting out on an expedition with only one declared aim: Getting some bread for the breakfast table. However, it was Sunday, and the problem could not be solved. We went into a number of shops and we drove perhaps 20-30 km. (In Mogens' car, that is), but we got no bread.
That was why we once again had Danish bread with sliced meat, and as you now that is always wonderful.

I did not leave the house until noon. I had had a wonderful time there, and I can only hope I did not cause to make trouble to the Gundersens.
Meeting people like Mogens and his family always makes me very happy.

Very soon I decided to reach Ceske Budejovice that day. I would then have 130 km to ride, which I managed. When I left it rained a little bit, but things never developed.
The hills tried to kill my the first part of the ride.
Later on it became much more flat.
In the afternoon it grew hot and in the evening I had 30 degr. C and sunshine.
This was my last whole day in the Czech rep. and that was why I decided to spend the night in luxury. Suddenly I had rented a tiny room at a hotel. It was very stupid, but you cannot imagine how I enjoyed it.

Unfortunately I must now punish myself by sleeping the next 3 nights in open air.
I spent the evening in the square in Ceske Budejovice which was indeed a very beautiful and interesting city. There were a lot of pavement restaurant and a lively street life.
Need I mention that I slept like a baby that night?

FACT BOX
NUMB/SLEEPING PARTS OF THE BODY

This can be an extremely unpleasant side effect to long distance bicycle riding. The problems are normally concentrated to hands, feet and the private parts. As regards the latter I am normally spared of any problems.
Some years ago I lost the "connection" after a ride over 250 km, where I had ridden a long time beyond my power. After the race it took me several hours, before I was able to pass water, and then it was connected with unbearable pain. Other riders are more exposed, and sometimes there has been some talk of persistent injuries with problems with urination, numb sensations or even impotence

Very often people have a lot of trouble with their hands. You can prevent it from happening by using gloves or using thicker handlebar bands.
Occasionally riders use double handlebar band. In the shops you can buy a kind of "gel" in small bags to put under the bands.
On another expedition I put some of the small pads from an old crash helmet under the band to make it thicker.
This year I have ridden with an additional handlebar to clip on (?), and that was very good. It's important to be able to put the hands in many different ways.
I try to force myself to move the hands as much as possible, but when under pressure it's easy to forget about that. You squeeze the handlebar, and the injuries may occur.
On this trip I had no problems with my hands.

My feet cause me all kinds of problems. Every time I ride these long trips I get numb toes, and I also had that kind of problems this year. My big toes decided to go hibernating, and they will no doubt stay that way for weeks or even months.
It does not hurt, but it's very annoying, and you cannot help wondering about when it will stop. I try to ride with very loose shoes, and on the way I also took out my soles, but you have to realize that the size of the feet can vary a great deal during a long day on the road. I think it is possible to get "Bicycle sandals" where the toes are more or less in open air, and that is a possibility I am going to look into before the next expedition.

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