When I came down for breakfast this morning, I was charmed by the fact that there was a “reserved for” sign on a table set for one with my name neatly printed on it when there was only two parties in the dining room that probably could hold 300. But the breakfast was good, and I had plenty of coffee and took off on my ride.
I had decided to make a short day of today, doing about 30 miles and climbing about 2500 feet to get to Český Krumlov, which has been described as a mini Prague.
In the end, I still did the 30 miles, but rerouted to cut the elevation gain to the minimum because I got dehydrated and had a leg cramp that hurt so much it made me wonder if this was the end of my trip.
How did I get so dehydrated? I guess the obvious answer is I didn’t drink enough water, and I might be a little more careful about drinking beer as replacement for water and coffee without water in the morning!
The day started on a small, gravel/dirt track for a few miles until I entered the Czech Republic. That was cool!
But then, while climbing a hill, I experienced a funny feeling in my right leg that seemed like a diffused cramp, leaving my leg weak and giving me quite a bit of pain. It seemed like it was dehydration, so I drank some water and tried to get on my way, but the pain and weakness persisted. I found myself having to get off and push my bike up even small gradients, and began wondering if something more serious had happened. I stopped in a town and got a couple more liters of water, and began to drink those down too.
I didn’t really want to give up, but my leg definitely hurt and it was really weak. I took a 800mg of ibuprofen, a tablet of magnesium/potassium, and a bit of salt to see if some electrolytes would help along with the hydration. It seemed like it did, but even gentle grades brought quite a bit of pain to my right leg and so I crawled along thinking that it was probably getting a little bit better, but wondering if that was just wishful thinking.
I changed my route to a more trafficked road that followed a river downstream and therefore was almost exclusively downhill. And there was enough traffic that I knew if I needed help, I could flag someone down. Enough with the remote exploring and the up-and-down for today.
That ended up being better than I expected because the river I was riding along is a major thoroughfare for pleasure canoeing/rafting. Castles flanked the river. It was a cool route.
And so, stopping one more time to get yet another 2 L of liquid, I limped myself into Český Krumlov, having drunk 5 L of water in the last 2 to 3 hours without having to pee! I would say that’s definitive dehydration!
And so me and my bike checked into the hostel, and then I got a shower and went exploring.
Český Krumlov is quite lovely and small enough to see easily on foot. The city is split into three sections separated by oxbow turns in the river.
It has a fabulous, amazing castle, beautiful old architecture, and is teeming with restaurants and bars.
Of course, it’s also teeming with tourists. The proprietor at the hostel where I’m staying said that the town is known more in the summer for rafting to the Czech people than its historical significance, and since this is the first nice weekend in a long time, the place is packed with people going rafting.
And now that I know about all the rafting, it explains something that I wondered about. I read the reviews of the 3-4 campgrounds that are on the edges of Český Krumlov, and all the reviews said they were super noisy with partiers and revelers, drinking, singing and shouting into the wee hours. That is the rafting group!
I had dinner at the restaurant right across the street from the hostel, pictured above. A generous plate of schnitzel, chunky mashed potatoes, a salad, and a rich dark beer all for €14.
Actually, the price was actually in both euros and Czech currency. When I made one of my stops to get more water, I remembered that the Czech Republic does not use euros and so I had to get some Czech currency for the time I am here.
Tomorrow is another day, and my leg feels basically normal now. Wish me luck!
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