Good bye Albania

Yesterday was the most scenic riding day in Albania where we rode from Llagora to Serande. We rode down the mountain that we had (not entirely, but mostly) topped out the evening before. The descent was fast, technical, and scenic! Behind us was the mountain we had climbed, before us was the "valley" we expected to cruise through on the way to Serande.



Cruising is NOT how I would describe the rest of our day's ride, in fact quite the opposite.
An accurate description follows. 10% up 10% down 10% up 10% down 10% up 10% down 3 km flat 10% up 10% down 10% up 10% down. You get the picture. It wasn't the hardest riding I have ever done, but on top of 100 F temperatures I would call yesterday extremely challenging.

In the afternoon we were leapfrogging an ice-cream truck that was making local deliveries in the towns we were riding through. First there was the friendly wave, then a honk with thumbs up, and then they wrote "#1" on a paper and held it out the window for Anna and I. After our 5th time passing the truck the driver stopped us, opened a freezer door and gave us each an ice-cream treat! It was an incredibly kind gesture. I gave the driver a high5 and a wave before devouring the goodie.

Prior to making it to our destination we took a wrong turn onto what appeared to be a busy touristy road. When lack of signage confused our sense of direction we asked a conveniently located citizen standing next to his car for directions. He pointed in a general direction, but when we pressed him for specifics the man shooed us away. Only after Anna explained to me what the man had in the trunk of his car did I comprehend why the man wanted us to scram - a semi automatic handgun. Okay!

Following the general directions provided by the gun owner, and after a last 10% hill climb we came to Serande. A sort of dilapidated Miami.



There was no camping here, but we found a reasonably priced hotel with friendly owners. They gave us a super clean room with AC facing the party street. Anna and I did some good people watching while we ate dinner on our balcony. Club Orange across the street provided some cheesy club music entertainment.

After dinner it took about 2 minutes to fall soundly asleep despite the continuous Club Orange beats.

- Posted from somewhere with my iPod!