Croatia (local)

Croatia bike tour in winter. 550 km 6 days from Trieste to Makarska

Trying out opportunities in Europe, we decided to visit a friend, who lives in Crikvenica, a small town on the North shore of the Adria in the Velebit channel. The Velebit channel is known for heavy Bora winds. We have been lucky, not experiencing any disturbance by bad weather conditions. As we went down by train, we started the tour at Pivka (SLO), some kilometres before the boarder to Croatia. Rolling roads leaded us to Rijeka and further to Crikvenica. The distance Rijeka - Crikvenica was a nightmare: extreme heavy traffic with careless car drivers! A miracle, we survived... The next days we spent on the Island Krk. Crossing the Tito Most (the bridge over the Velebit channel) opened extreme scenic views to the seaside. The city of Krk had a lot of opportunities to relax. Our way back home leads us back to Rijeka, where we have taken the train back to Austria.

This year the most popular amateur MTB race in Croatia shall start on Saturday June 18th from Senj www.senj.hr in Croatia. All information shall be kept at the website of the organizer, Senj Tourist Office www.tz-senj.hr or can be obtained from malojcic (at) yahoo (dot) com.

Latest two events can be seen at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1kg3A9EM_4 and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPoOfYDRN7I.

Everybody welcome!

This year the event shall start on Saturday June 19th from Senj www.senj.hr in Croatia. All information shall be kept at the website of the Tourist Office www.tz-senj.hr or can be obtained from malojcic@yahoo.com .

Last year event can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1kg3A9EM_4

Everybody welcome!

For 7 years an amateur MTB race ``Hillclimb to Mount Zavizan from 0 to 1594'' starts from the Adriatic shore up to the mountain peak Zavizan at 1594 m. Last year organizers had to limit the number of participants because they could not accomodate them all in the tiny haven Sveti Juraj. This year they decided to extend the race to 40 km and move the starting place to Senj. You can learn more about the event which shall start on Saturday 20.06.09 from Senj by searching Yahoo or Google for ``Hillclimb Zavizan'', ``Aufstieg Zavizan'' or ``Uspon na Zavizan''. Race has no commercial interests and organizers want only to bring cyclists together and introduce them to the beauties of Mount Velebit forests. Information offered by malojcic@yahoo.com . Following pages give more information on past races:

http://www.np-sjeverni-velebit.hr/Biciklijada_2008/Fotogalerija/content/index_9.html
http://www.np-sjeverni-velebit.hr/novi_web/Velebit_htm/Karta.htm
http://www.np-sjeverni-velebit.hr/novi_web/Velebit_htm/Profil.htm

Since 2003 in the second half of June a race is beeing organized by the Senj Mountain Bike Club which starts from the village Sv. Juraj near Senj at the sea level and ends at the mountain hut Zavizan 1568 m above. Trek is 33 km long and is graphically represented on the web page. About half of it goes on a paved road and another half on unpaved road through the forest which belongs to the North Velebit National Park. Participation for less trained cyclists is facilitated by the second start at 1000 m from the village Oltari. Traditional evening reunion of participants takes place in Sv. Juraj harbour restaurant after the race. The event is a good introduction to the beauties of cycling in mount Velebit forests. Accomodation for foreign visitors is provided through http://www.tz-senj.hr.