Thank Goodness I Didn't Have to Injure My Pride...

Never before have I been so happy to finish an incredibly beautiful bikeride. Why, you ask? Let me just tell you.

Today I decided to tackle "Velika gora" meaning "large mountain." I can hike up and down "small mountain" in less than two hours, so I did not think that it would be a problem. Plus, my cousin and his girlfriend have biked up there a couple of times.

Well, let me just tell you, biking up "large mountain" is about as difficult as it sounds. I struggled. Actully, struggling is an understatement. I worked my muscles way too hard, and I felt like I was going to throw up, but my pride told me to keep going, and my sense of adventure told me it would be worth it. So I persevered... for a while.

There came a point where I had the option of either turning, and going down for who-knows-how-long and maybe having to come back up, or continuing up the mountain. I was considering following the down path for as long as possible and then just going down the mountain. I did neigther. I decided soon that the down path was just going way too far down, and I did not want to have to hike back up forever, so I same back to the original fork in the road, turned to go up, and low and behold... something was in my path.

Yep- a freaking BABY BEAR.

Now, just about everyone here has tried to warn me about bears (which has been hilarious because I did not know the word for a while, but the international symbol for bear is to stick your arms above your head and dance around from side to side like Tyler Harnett used to do all the time about a year ago), but all of the English speakers have assured me that it really wont be a problem... keep bells with you... they will run away from the sound. When do you have to worry? Oh, you only need to worry when you see a mother with her cub.
Well, I was half way there, but there was no way in hell that I was going to sit around and wait to see if the mother was close. I booked it back down the mountain, and was super relieved whenever I passed cars (normall this was a problem, seeing as the road was very narrow, but I welcomed the pleasnt engine hum scaring away the roar I was dreading).

Don't worry, I am safe. And no, for all of you who are wondering, I did not get a picture. I was too concerned with not dying.

Otherwise, all is good in Slo! Cheers!