Ottoman 14: Edirne to Corlu Saturday, July 30, 2011 79m/127k** A NEW BOB’S BIKE TOUR FIRST – EMBEDDED VIDEO! The first video here is us riding on Bulgaria 8 SE from Sofia toward Turkey yesterday.  The one at the end of the post is of the team in a fountain at the end of day

Ottoman 13: Plodiv to Edirne Friday, July 29, 2011 123m/197k*** In many respects today was our best day of riding on the trip so far.  Cherie, Katharine, Nels, and Jürgen all set personal mileage records.  Four of us made it over 100 miles and into Turkey on the bikes, and Nels and I made it

Ottoman 12: Sofia to Plodiv Thursday, July 28, 2011 96m/155k** Only four days of riding left!   We’ve got a lot of type-A women and men on this trip.  They all make up their own minds about everything, and sometimes we don’t all go the same direction.  I pretty much stick to route, with exceptions

Ottoman 11: Sofia Tour Wednesday, July 27, 2011 A very brief post for this break day..  After the last few days of riding, everyone was looking forward to some unstructured time.  We planned to take Cheri’s (pedal problems) and Bob’s (a mess) for some tune up work at a Vivelo – the best bike shop

Ottoman 10: Pirot to Sofia Tuesday, July 26, 2011 63m/100k** —— special 2fer post…  the ride spit today and Lisa covered the main group.  see the section in bold in the middle of the post —— There were two rides today.  The morning riding team of Katharine, Jürgen, Cherie, Nels and Bob did a quick

Ottoman 9:  Paracin to Pirot Monday, July 25, 2011 107m 171k** It’s tour Serbia day – riding through the countryside, mostly on route 214, with a jaunt through and lunch in the medium-sized city of Nis.  After an 600-foot climb ten miles outside Paracin, it was a steady but not steep uphill for the rest

Ottoman 8:  Belgrade to Paracin Sunday, July 24, 2011 97m 155k** A few firsts today.  Cherie and Katharine joined the team.  The first day of hills: 1 category 4 and 4 category 5s.  And this is our last day with any riding along the Danube.  The last graphic for today has the map (sideways) and

Ottoman 7: Belgrade Tour Saturday, July 23, 2011 At each capital city, except Bratislava, we take a day break.  Here in Belgrade the plans were for a walking tour in the morning, followed by a trip to Dan and Bebe Tana’s boat house on the Sava river, which joins the Danube in Belgrade.  Our tour

The plan was for a relatively straightforward 60-mile ride almost all along the Danube into Belgrade.  It got much more interesting than that.  This is what the route looked like: Cloudy skies with a forecast for rain just means different gear.  We left the Zenit Hotel in Novi Sad early, and rode out of town

Ottoman 5: Mohacs, Hungary to Novi Sad, Serbia   Thursday, July 21, 2011 93m/151k*** A border crossing.  Sign day.  Along the Danube.  Apples.  A bee sting.  We like Serbia.  We did our usual up at 6:30, breakfast at 7, on the road at 7:30am routine and left the Pannon Hotel in Mohacs for the ferry

Ottoman 3: Budapest to Mohacs   Wednesday, July 20, 2011 61m/97k** This was supposed to be the longest day of the Ottoman Empire ride, but given some windy thunderstorms, we lost much of the day and only rode about 60 miles.  We were all colorful and happy as the day started out. (Jurgen, Nels, Bob,

Ottoman 3: Budapest Tuesday, July 18, 2011 Walking Tour of Budapest If you’re reading this for the bike riding, skip this post.  Today was a ‘break’ day where we walked and bus toured around Budapest.  The general feeling of the group was that we like Budapest …  more than Vienna.  It has energy; great architecture,

Ottoman 2: Gyor to Budapest Monday, July 18, 2011 86m/138k** The original plan today was to ride 45 miles east along the Danube, then cut SE through the countryside to Budapest.  Change of plans mid-ride had us take a 30-mile van break from Tat to Visegråd, and ride the same distance, but all along the

7/17 – Vienna, Austria to Gyor, Hungary via Bratislava, Slovakia   105m/166k** Ottoman 1 Gyor, Hungary Sunday, July 17, 2011 105m/166k** The day will be remembered by the riders for the wind.  Strong headwinds all day.  Taught us some good peloton discipline.  The howling as it blew through the wheels though was a bit distracting…

Greetings.  The start of the Vienna-Istanbul Ottoman Empire Ride.  This prior post has details on the ride and riders.  This is just a bit of an intro…  Annie (support) and Lisa (wife) came in two days early into Istanbul, rented a 9 passenger VW Caravelle van now known as “Babar”, and drove it to Istanbul. 

1,708 kilometers, 1,061 miles, 15 days Begins Sunday, July 17 – Ends Sunday, July 31, 2011 The Riders = Tom Cox*, Nels Leutwiler, Bob Perkowitz, Lisa Renstrom, Jürgen Schonwasser, Cherie Stofer** and Katharine Stofer** Supported by: Annie Lambla Accompanied by: Millie Cox*, Brigit Schonwasser Greetings, and welcome to the ride.  I will be posting daily