To Bratislava, Slovakia
Today we cycled from Vienna, the capital of Austria, to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. However, before I could even cross the Danube on this bridge as we left Vienna, I needed to patch my first flat tire of the trip. I was cycling along and started hearing a click, click, click sound. I realized that it was happening even when I was coasting. I stopped the bike, and when I checked my back tire, there was a nail in it. I run tubeless tires, so the sealant had kept any air from leaking out. I got out my plug kit, removed the nail and immediately put the plug in, put the kit away, and cycled away. I did not even have to add any air. This was a great example of the advantage of tubeless. With a tube, I would have had to remove the rear wheel, remove the tire from the rim, remove the punctured tube, install a new tube, reseat the tire, pump up the tube, then put the wheel back on the bike. Even a fast tube change takes 10 to 15 minutes, not 2.
Riding along the Danube, I saw several crew shells including one 8 person shell. Here the two person crew was resting as the single passed them by.
We did pass the occasional castle as one does cycling along the Danube.
However, riding by about a dozen burros was a new one for the trip.
One of today’s crossings of the Danube was on this bridge which was perhaps a kilometer long. The biking lane was somewhat narrow with uneven slats and sides, the combination of which some riders found a bit stressful.
After lunch, we came to the border with Slovakia. I find it interesting that we have generally seen essentially no markings at the border crossings. In the US, almost every road into a new state has a big sign, and even most towns have signs. This is the old Customs office building in Austria just before the border. I could recognize that I was at the border because of the old infrastructure, not any current signs.
Most of the area we rode through in Bratislava was rather new construction like this plaza. Since the ride was only 45 miles between the capitals, I arrived by 12:30 even with a late departure and a very leisurely lunch. The check in time was 3pm at the hotel, so I chose to ride out of town about 15 miles along tomorrow’s route and back. This brought the ride up to 76 miles. With my coke stop, I arrived at the hotel right at 3pm.
Tomorrow we cycle to Komarno Slovakia. Tomorrow is an unusual day in the we will not be crossing the Danube at any point, but riding on the north side all day. For most of the day, the southern shore of the Danube will be Hungary. Our entrance to Hungary will not come until Thursday when we cycle to Budapest.