14 Breakdowns - Breakdowns - Breakdowns

Saturday, 18.8.2018

Route: Danube Cycle Path 5 (Belgrade - Kovin)

Distance covered: 30 kilometers

Highlight of the day: the hospitality and helpfulness of everyone we met!

We wanted to start from Belgrade. Before that, we had breakfast at our hostel, but it wasn't that great, although we were full. Then we wanted to carry our bikes down from the 3rd floor. But Julius noticed that his bike had a flat tire. So we took off his tire and fixed it. It took forever because we somehow messed it up. Anyway, we put the tire back on, carried our bikes downstairs, and started riding. After less than 2 km, we realized: the tire is still flat. We also kept getting lost and couldn't find our way out of Belgrade. Sometimes we saw signs, but not consistently. Eventually, the tire couldn't go any further. So we stopped on the sidewalk and took the tire off again. This time, we installed a new tube, which was much faster. However, we couldn't get the tire back on. A man approached us and told us that there was a bike shop about 20m away. So I went there, but it turned out to be not a real bike shop, but a store for bikes, chainsaws, lawnmowers, ... Nevertheless, the staff was able to help us, installed the tire, and we continued.

We actually managed to get out of Belgrade on the right path! When we were finally outside, it was 12:00 noon and we had only covered 5 km of the route. We took some curious routes: sometimes the paved road ended because houses were built on it, then we were redirected over wooden planks that crossed ditches where water would normally flow. But the signage was good! After that, we were back on a decent road. This happened about 2-3 times and finally, we were on a well-traveled dirt road. There we actually saw a swamp area of the Danube! That was something! We took a short break there and admired the beautiful surroundings. I tried drinking tap water again, which turned out to be a mistake. Because I kept getting stomachaches with every sip of water, I threw a vitamin tablet in the bottle, and then it was better.

We continued riding and eventually arrived in Pancenko, where we rode along a main road. It was unfortunate because there was an open manhole cover that I overlooked. I crashed into it at full speed. As a result, I had a flat tire. So we stopped on the side of the road and fixed my tire, which was quite fast this time. Firstly, because we had already done it 3 times today, and secondly, because the two holes were very large. We combined this with a lunch break, but didn't eat much. Here, a man on a moped passed by and asked if we needed help. We declined.

Then we continued on the bike path because there were open manhole covers on the road. After less than a kilometer, we noticed that something was making a clicking sound while riding. Then Julius noticed small plant needles in my rear tire. He pulled out thorns. They were also in the front tire. It hissed. So we had a flat tire in the front and back. A few meters further, we saw two people on the side of the road fixing tires. So we rode over to them. They were two Germans, estimated to be in their mid-70s, from Baden-Württemberg. Two very nice people. They wanted to ride from Budapest to the narrowest point of the Danube. Originally, they wanted to continue, but they said they were too old for it. Anyway, the two of them were quite tough: the woman had a bandaged leg because she had a flesh wound, which she had also received that day. The doctor told her not to strain her leg too much, to which she replied that she could ride a few kilometers less. We had a good conversation with them while fixing our tires. Meanwhile, the man on the moped passed by again. Because we were still motivated at that time, we declined again.

They finished fixing first, but after 5m of riding, he had another flat tire and they started fixing it again. Meanwhile, the woman walked around and saw a sign about 50m away from us: Attention! At certain times of the year, sharp fruits from trees may be lying here, which can destroy even the best bicycle tires. The sign 100m further ahead would have been ideal... Anyway, we kept fixing but it didn't help. The thorns were in the tire, even if we couldn't see them anymore. We gave up at 4:30 pm. We had covered a total of 25 km. It would have been another 40-50 km to Covin (where we had booked). Then I tried to stop cars or anyone who could tell us if and where there was a bike shop nearby. But no one stopped. And the cyclists couldn't help us either - they all had flat tires.

Then we pushed back into the town and just looked for a hotel and a store there. We had just entered when a car pulled up next to us. A man spoke to us in English. He told us to remove our tires, put our stuff in his garden, and get in the car. We did that and started driving. He could also speak German because his grandmother was German and his mother was Hungarian. He himself considered himself Hungarian, living in Serbia, but he works in Bad Mergentheim for 5 months a year and has relatives in Mannheim. A pretty cool guy. And he drove us to a car workshop that quickly fixed our tires. All 4 of them! During that time, we went to a pub with the nice Hungarian guy. Apparently, it was his regular kebab place because he talked to the salesgirl for a long time and ordered food for us. The kebab with fries was a lot. The Hungarian even went out again and got us something to drink because they didn't have anything left. Then we went back to the car workshop and packed the tires.

At his home, we mounted the tires again and discussed how to proceed. Whether we should still ride the remaining 40 km or take the bus. The friendly Hungarian still wanted to help us and called his brother. He came and drove us to the bus stop and waited with us. After 4 times of "just 10 more minutes of waiting", the bus finally arrived, but didn't take us. The brother was also very nice, and he drove us the remaining 40 km to Kovin. Unfortunately, he only spoke English, but we could communicate well. In Kovin, he dropped us off at a gas station, where we noticed that both of us had a flat tire. An older person waiting at the bus stop had already noticed this with my tire. Promptly, we pulled out another stupid thorn, even though our bikes had touched the ground for only 20 seconds since the last fix.

We managed to reach our reserved hotel within 4 km by pumping up the tires again. We arrived there at 9:00 pm and checked in. The staff here was also very friendly.