Today was supposed to be an easy 75 mile roll along a flat and well signed bike path. It turned out to be many things, but unfortunately easy isn’t one of them. But before I get to the ride, a note about dinner last night. I met up with Radka Minaříková, a friend of Martin Chvoj’s from Brno, who showed me around the beautifully preserved city center. 

  

We ate this historic tavern, whose facade reminds passers by that, “He who drinks, dies. He who does not, also.”  

 I ate a local specialty rather quizzically called “Moravian Sparrow,” which involves no sparrows at all but rather roasted pieces of pork shoulder marinated in garlic and caraway seeds and served with dumplings and sauerkraut. It was a delicious, heavy and thoroughly filling meal, which is saying something given how much I am eating these days. 

 
I left Brno early to try to beat the heat and immediately jumped on a well used bike path and found myself enjoying the morning colors and listening to the wonderful sound of bike tires rolling over crushed gravel. 

The path took me by small garden plots full of beautiful produce and small vineyards. 

   
I rode around a large lake called Nové Mlyny, with people fishing in the already hot early morning weather. This little kid, wearing Crocs no less, sat on my wheel for a while and then sprinted ahead right before the town line, giving me a ice cold look of competitive triumph as he went by. 

I consoled myself with a trip to a bakery and left double fisted! I ate dessert (makovy zavin) first. 

Crossing the former Iron Curtain border into Austria was fascinating as the old check point buildings remain in a state of almost haunted ruin. Now, just next door is a fast food restaurant. Buildings say so much about our priorities. 

By early afternoon, it was again almost 100 degrees and windy, basically like riding into a hair dryer, and I was feeling a bit wilted like these sunflowers. 

 I made slow progress through rolling hills and small Austrian farm towns, many with dozens of small abandoned wine caves. 

 Arriving in Vienna felt like a victory and I slowly rolled through this amazingly gorgeous city. I stopped in the Augarten, made my way by lovely cafes and ornate buildings and was impressed by the diversity of the city and cosmopolitain stylishness of the residents. 

  

  

  

  I am staying with Matthew Van Sickle, a friend of Ric Cochrane’s who graciously ushered me (sweaty and tired) into his beautiful, art filled apartment with air conditioning, have me a cold beer and took me out for a delicious dinner. Once again, the kindness of strangers amazes and humbles me.