June 25th, 2020

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It was the end of the first wave of Covid-19 and the boarders just had opened. In the first travel wave we went straight to croatia to enjoy being not in "prison" with the shut down anymore but moreover feel infinity looking out to the adriatic sea. We stayed in Rogoznica in our austrian friends appartment like the year before. Knud the Airbrush Artist and fan of american cars and his wife Renata. Knud is kind a guy living his dream and having a strong relation to the 70 and 80ies.

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Taken for granted Andrea and me had our bikes with us and i wanted to do a nice ride i did 2 years before already. To give it a name we became creative with a nice story around that loop. The ride itself was leading me to the "Nacionalni Park Krka" close to Sibenik. As many Karl May movies were filmed in croatia and also at lake Krka my idea was to do a story with a message but invloving Winnetou and Old Shatterhand. Old Shatterhand riding Hatatitla (in this case my road bike and not a horse) and Knud with his long hair being the wise chief of Apache indians. So the "Brothers of Blood" are back to fight side by side against lawless bandits...

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It was big fun and a lot of laughs when Andrea and Renata filmed the dialouge surrounding the story. As we had a nice story then it was my part to combine now the heros from the Wild West around 1870 with a modern content.

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Early in the morning i started towards the back country direction Sibenik. A first climb offered a nice view to Rogoznica and Primosten, two nice little villages directly at the sea. The sun was rising as i crossed the land in enjoying a first descent to Grebastica. From there it was a few kilometers on the coastal road before leaving the sea and heading more to the inner side of croatia.

As usual you may think it´s anyways flat at the coast but constantly it is going up and down and you will not miss altitude in your statistics after the ride. After a while riding on a kind of plateau the nicest parts began to start in crossing a canyon going on a high percentage windy road including hairpins down and the other side up. It looks almost like being in the Grand Canyon.

More and more lake Krka is coming closer and the first outlook to it is awesome. A silent lake with a little island with a church on it. To the left followed by an increadible water fall in many steps, on the right towards the beginning of the lake filled by a little river. Reaching this end, or lets say beginning, you are captured by the nice landscape and nature.

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But again it was a nice roll down on a windy road and from there again uphill again. Followed by crossing small villages it was time to do a break in Skradin. Skradin is located inbetween the water falls and the way out to the adriatic sea. That canal system is quite wide and so big boats can go in. A Marina located in the harbour offers a nice view onto incredible yachts during drinking a quick espresso.

Leaving Skradin, and imagine it is uphill, you leave the national park riding towards the coast reaching the big city Sibenik. Very historical and important for different wars in the past it also has in its center a big castle from where you get a great view onto the city and the harbour.

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From here it´s the last 35 k´s back on the coastal road to Rogoznica. A great ending of a beautiful ride and also with a good reason which is proofed in the video. Reaching my starting point it was very surprising how patient these indians are as Winnetou was still waiting there ;-)

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bike: Pretty Betty Specialized Tarmac S-Works

starring: Gerry Samer

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