Chain Troubles

Prague to Benesov, Czechia — 34.2 mi, 10.3 mph, 2490 ft

It was an unusually short ride today, which was good considering it was fairly hilly. In fact, we intentionally have planned shorter than normal rides for the next few days on the way to Vienna for two reasons. One, we seem to have extra time on our hands, and two, this section, south of Prague is quite hilly. The extra time comes from my having planned for three full days of sightseeing in Prague (and in all the upcoming capital cities). It’s become pretty clear, however, that two full days is our limit. Dex and Kylie did pretty good at the Prague castle and St Vitus Cathedral yesterday, but their “historical stamina” is not up to adult standards! It can take a lot of coaxing and cajoling to get them into a museum, church or castle.

St. Vitus Cathedral

To get them more involved, we’ve started handing them the phone and letting them look at the Lonely Planet list of sights and activities. The idea is for them to pick what they would like to do. Kylie picked the Old Town Square and Astronomical clock. Dex didn’t find anything worthwhile, but later, while standing on the packed Charles Bridge, decided it would be fun to take one of the small tour boats on the Vltava River. So, yesterday, after a couple hours up at the castle and cathedral, we had lunch then boarded our small, flat bottomed boat for a ride on the river. It was short, but gave some information about the city and even went through a small canal on the far side of the river.

Our river boat

Vltava River with St. Vitus in the background

Today, Wednesday, was our first day back on the bikes after two rest days in Prague. It was slow going getting out of town. Ten miles after leaving our accommodations, we were still in the city. We had been waiting to pass a grocery or other spot to get breakfast, but never found anything tempting enough to make us stop… until McDonald's! I know, we're sad. But really, it came at a perfect time. It was almost 11:00, we had just crossed over the freeway, which marked the end of the city and the beginning of what looked to be miles of countryside and fields. A few Egg McMuffins, a Coke Zero for Meg, and Cappuccino for me, and we were ready to tackle the hills ahead of us.

Early uphill climb

Outskirts of Prague

Ahh, McDonald's!

Unfortunately, Meg and Dex were plagued with chain problems after our late breakfast. The chain kept jumping off the small chainring, which was easily remedied with an adjustment screw, though I must not have gotten it right the first time. Then, the chain started wedging in between the middle and small chainring. This was a little annoying since I had replaced all three chainrings on that bike (the yellow one) before we left the States. I made sure all the bolts were tight, but after the third time, I finally noticed that some of the teeth on the small ring were bent away from the middle ring creating extra space for the chain to fall into. The repair was messy -- removed both chains, pull apart the crankset, find a big rock to use as a hammer, bang the teeth roughly straight, then reassemble. On the plus side, we were on a rocky dirt road in the middle of a forest so it was shady and there were no vehicles… and there were rocks.

I sure hope this goes back together....

By 3:00,  we had successfully made it to our end point for the day. The “penzion” outside of the town of Benesov was converted from an old farm built in the 1500s that looks to have been very recently renovated. The stainless steel pool was the first stop after dumping our bags in the room.  No one is going to accuse us of roughing it.

The stables, to Kylie's excitement, were full of beautiful large black horses.  Inside the main building that now serves as the restaurant, we were all surprised to see two bowling lanes hidden along the back wall.  The "kid" behind the bar turned it on for us.  The scoring didn't work, but we were all fascinated by the "racking" system.  Permanently connected to the top of each pin, was a black lanyard.  After the pins were knocked down, all the pins magically leaped back up and ascended out of view.  A second later, the pins, not originally knocked down, floated back down into place.  Kind of cool.