Heading South from Salzburg into Slovenia offered a morning of scenic driving through the Alps, into Italy for a moment and then up over a pass into the Julian Alps of NW Slovenia. Wow…
Just over the border and at the base of the pass, we entered the little mountain oasis of Bovec (pronounced â€Bo-Vetsâ€) Our new local friends were waiting for us at our hotel and we turned around from scenic drive to goin’ riding in about 10 minutes. It was worth the rush for what lie ahead on our first â€Slo†day…
Drivin’ to the start of ride; what a perfect way to meet new friends; Andrej and Ziga and (oops I cant remeber their names-thanks for driving us). We drove just a short chat south of Bovec (say †Bo-Vetsâ€) and turned up a pass nearly to the Italia border. A short way up this pass road and we were unloading where our ride would begin, with the shuttle to this turnoff we would limit our climbing to a mere 2500 feet instead of the full 3800 we would descend. As we started up the old WW1 trail/road we realized that we would be climbing for a while; get in the small gear or smallish 3 and settle in, this climb will be â€about an hour or so†Andrej reported… 45 minutes later we were â€over half way†and we learned our first Slovenian word, â€so†means two (not really) but it was obvious we wouldn’t be done
in an hour. But the higher we went the cooler it got and the better the views. Within a few minutes the sweat had already drenched our clothes so it became really quite comfortable and scenic and you could relax and just climb, besides, what else was there to do? …
Once we reached the top of the climb and a welcome summit it was. The first part of the descent was a ridge side traverse at speed along this georgeous view of the Alps and the Slovenian Italian border. Fast scenic cruisin’ along a hillside that looked way down into the valley below. It was a fresh relief from granny gear climbing and a great chance to dry off and enjoy for a few. After the perfect amount of that; we turned off on a tiny path, rolled along a ridge for a moment and then with a duck into some bushes the trail dropped off. By this I mean â€dropped off 
A 10 inch wide singletrack ducks around a shrub tree and drops out of sight. I see Ziga way down saying ‘we’ll just walk this section’. It seemed like a good idea as it was very steep and quite rocky and I was still a bit limpy and unable to clip out (I had fallen over in the grass just a kilometer earlier). As we walked down and I struggled to walk with any confidence, I said â€I think I would be better off riding†to whihc it was said â€you dont want to visit a Slovenian hostpitalâ€. I mounted up and started riding, it was the start of something, unintentianally I had announced, it was â€game on†and I had not yet discovered that Ziga was probably a better technical rider than I or at least my equal. We began descending rocky, crazy, steep descents that would continue for a LONG TIME. Imagine that point where you can ride it but it’s really technical and really intense but not quite needing to be feared or walked. That would continue at that intense level for the next hour plus. We would stop for arm pump and brake heat and to make sure that those around you were still in upright and healthy condition. It was utterly intense and amazingly fun for a continuous technical romp. By the time brakes were starting to actually get worse we bounced and slid and rolled our way onto the streets of a cool Slovenian town and a welcome first of many wonderful Slovenian meals.
Great ride
Great guys
We retuned to Bovec and walked about town with our local firends and had a great welcome to a great place. If you have Slovenian inlcination, see www.mtb.si (andrejs site) and seek the locals for the true goods. As in anywhere, the good stuff isnt the official â€good stuffâ€.
Great times in a truly wonderful place! Slovenia started with everything we had ever hoped for, if the trip ended today? It would have been wonderful… but it didn’t… Slovenia Day 2 – trip day 4, coming next…