//Day 65 /15-05-22 /Zenica-Doboj

Thanks to the thick curtains it wa s completely dar in my room and as result I slept until 7…had another shower as it was really a great shower and headed to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. I had the healthy breakfast (fruit, turkey, fruit,..) but was looking with envy when the Bosniak breakfast past for another table ; fritters, cheese, sour cream….

I had stalled Black Horse in the laundry room the night before on the first floor and had to carry back to street level…Since puncture day I have the habit to check the tire pressure before I pack and….damn…..the back tire was no longer fully enflated. The tire was not entirely flat but it was clear that it had a puncture….If I inflated the tire again I would probably be able to ride some hours but as long I did not fix the puncture I would be in a inflate-loop…I brought BH down removed the tire and started looking for the puncture. It took quite some time before I found it. It was really a tiny, tiny puncture. I had bought a new tire repair kit in Tirana, so no problem to fix it. When I took out the kit the new glue tube seem to have broken…I had just enough glue left from the  previous kit and was able to fix the tube. Although I spend more then 30 minutes looking at the source of the puncture I did not find any cause…I put the tire back on Black horse. Pumped air in the tire and it seemed to be ok. I packed Black Horsen and headed to the bakery for lunch supplies. When I wanted to start cycling……the tire was flat again….I pushed Black Horse to the hotel again. I found that the sticker had come lose in one place and that the puncture had become bigger…..I rechecked if I could find any cause…again I could not find any. The puncture was on the place the tube had been sealed together so my guess was that the puncture was caused due to poor quality (it was a tube which I had bought in Tirana - Chinese brand - not expensive). I decided to use the inner tube I had fixed on puncture day. I installed it and until now (when I arrived in Doboj) I encountered no furter problems. The hotel receptionist had me give the address of a local bike shop which was normally not open but would help me to get a new repair kit with glue. The shop was 5 K out of the city center, opposite direction of where I wanted to go today, but I did not wanted to risk to be without any repair kit. I cycled to the shop, bought a new repair kit and extra inner tube and  finally headed to my plotted route…cycling to the shop was a good test. The tire did not show any further problems and finally at 11.00 o’clock I was able to start cycling to Doboj some 87 K from Zenica…with my  puncture-anxiety increased again…

The sky was blue and the sun shining…..I had all day to reach Doboj so no worries. I left Zenica and passed the Iron work factory for  which the Zenica is known. The factory spans at least 5 K of the valley and looks not to be the modern factory, a lot of smoke being pumped out of the giant factory chimneys  causing smog, derilict looking buidlings, houses and graveyards build next to the factory,…

I left the Zenica area and started following again the Bosna, as the day before. The scenery was nice, I was on a small road, no traffic, the puncture problems soon forgotten. I passed some small villages, cycled together some time with a man from Zenica. I forgot his name, but remember he was soldier, 2 years before his pension, had visited quiet some European cities, cycling to a small town to have a Sunday afternoon coffee with a friend. 

Later I had to follow the main road though the valley as there was no alternative. More traffic, some trucks and busses, but not to busy.  Within maximum 2 years this road will become a less busier road  as a new highway is being build : new tunnels, bridges, viaducts,…During my trip I have cycled some old national, once important, roads and seen the impact the negative impact on local economy of disappeared traffic. I passed a lot of new gas stations and hotels doubting if they will be able to survive after the highway will absorb most of the traffic. The new road will bring overall benefit to Bosniak and European economy but I doubt the local people will benefit….

25 K before Doboj I was send back to a small road. The closer I came to Doboj the more the hills disappeared and the scenery became “flatter”, still nice, just less hilly.  I saw a car stopping besides a railway track and the railway track crossing with some empty plastic bottles. As in a lot of places in Bosnia people going to wells to get fresh, cold water. I followed the man’s example, parked Black Horse and crossed the railway tracks to get fill my drinking bottle. The young man was not alone, he was there with his grandmother. We introduced and has some small talk. His grandmother had been living in Germany and the young man had a house nearby but lived in the city. Nice encounter. 

I continued my route. I a small villageI stopped for a remembrance statue of men killed in the Balkan war. Somewhat further a big group of loud, drinking men were siting at long table under the trees. When I salted cycling they yelled at me : Amigo ! Around 20 men, looking like they had a good time and have been sitting drinking there already sometime. They offered me a beer as well (looking more then luke warm)  for which I had to use all negotiation skills to decline.. We had some chitchat in German, Italian, Bosnian,…I left before my negotiation skills would run out of arguments to drink a warm beer in a 28 degrees sun…..

After my encounter with drinking men I had another 15 K to cycle to Dojob following the river on my left and the railway on my right. 

It had become really hot and I was happy to reach Doboj, a small city, a big Central Park with concrete buildings around it. Everything closed and almost empty on a May Sunday afternoon. I passed the only touristic spot of the city; a castle on top of a hill. In the leafy park families eating an ice cream with kids riding small electric cars…with the battery almost empty. There are not a lot of hotel options in Doboj. There is one big , modern hotel, with swimming pool and spa overseeing the Central Park….called hotel park…surprisingly affordable….I checked in, had a shower and walked around the park….for 10 minutes before enjoying a nice time on a terrace editing the photo’s I took today.

In the evening I had a lunch of tasty garlic mushrooms, chicken gnocchi and a giant tiramisu….it is Sunday anyway…..Tomorrow I will leave Bosnia and enter Croatia again. I liked my time in Bosnia and Herzegovina…beautiful scenery, nice people, Sarajevo, Mostar…super great cycling with the Ciro trail and climbing to Lukomir. Later this evening I will give another go on Komoot to find an alternative route to Zagreb which will keep me longer in Bosnia….

Lessons learned :

• 28 degrees is to hot for Norwegians.
• It is really difficult to refuse a drink to a Bosnian
• The swimming pants of Viktor are still to small - even after 2 months cycling

Song of the day : Whatever turns you on - Daniel Norgren