September 19, 2025 by Jason

Day 7: Adriatic Coast to Meneghetti Hotel

What a difference a day makes. We woke to a day of blue bird skies, 65-70 degree weather and another world-class buffet breakfast at the hotel. This time with honeycomb, nice salty cheeses and an outrageous selection of breads. I love a European breakfast. We sat outside with a view of the waterfront and do what we do when we arrive to breakfast before a Backroads day – mingle with our fellow riders and vacationers. We are a group of 20 so there’s always people you know sitting at nearby tables to talk about the day to come or the amenities experienced at the hotel or the meal before. Sometimes you even get into life a bit – usually kids, grandkids, what life is like near where you or they live, etc.

After a quick revisit to the room, restroom and to put the bags out for the Backroads pickup we headed to the bike section to talk route rap. Paige and Ryan had a great assortment of Pringles cans depicting what they called the “Pringle trails” (aka dedicated bike paths) and helmets to depict the hills with tie-down straps to map the route. They have a little fun with it along the way to get a few laughs and share what they’ve learned about us along the way. It’s goofy and fun and I like it more with each day. While this is occurring you are applying sunscreen, getting your water bottles filled, popping a few snacks of gummies, or m&ms or bars in your pockets. Once that is over they send you one your way with bikes in good stead, helmets and Wahoo Roam computers on each bike lined up as best they can by couples and groups.

Rolling out of Kempinski with my e-bike posse!

Adriatic bike path – pre-man down a hole incident

Today we started riding alongside the Adriatic Sea and past the salt mining fields which were large squares built to catch the tide as it came in and out. These fields were owned in plots of twos so you could shovel the salt from one plat to the adjacent one where it could dry during low tide and then be shoveled for transport and processing. This part of the Adriatic became quite wealthy years and years ago from the processing and trade of the salt and industry surrounding it. Early into the ride we ran into a little bike paths construction forcing us onto the road and in a precarious position we all decided, somewhat incorrectly to try to rejoin the bike paths which required a small plank crossing by foot and then an arched bridge crossing to get back to the path. Within seconds of being here one of our Backroads guests volunteers to test getting across and back to the path and promptly fell 6-7 feet into a large hole covered by brush. While I didn’t see this, it was recounted several times by many and caused a bit of a stir for 3-4 minutes until a large, and not-so-nice German man out riding his bike jumped down and lugged this guy out of the hole. When he got back up and shook off a bit, thankfully without serious injury, you realized he not only fell a long ways, but on the way down and back he acquired hundreds of scratches up and down both legs and arms. Brutal. The Backroads guide was steadfast in helping managing a group of 20 people through this while we all knew deep down that she must have been completely mortified. An off-bike accident on a biking trip – all accidents are to be avoided but off-bike ones especially.

After we all gathered ourselves and got back rolling it was through the fields and up some hills to the ridge line overlooking the coastal farmlands. There was a pretty sizable climb that took us to our first break where we could see the fog that had set in over the sea. Water, snacks, chit-chat and then back for more quiet roads and rolling hills where we rode along at a nice pace as a group of 10-12 people. The e-bikes are a pretty phenomenal equalizer. I rode behind Cindy at 18-20mph for a long time – it was awesome! In an optional loop we encountered several big climbs where the e-bikes could turbo up and I could put my head down and spin trying to keep up. For the most part today I could but it was work. The best part of climbing big climbs were the views and then bombing down the payoff – long winding hills with cooler ocean breezes. In this time we quietly cross the border from Slovenia to Croatia. Interestingly there was no check of our stuff and passports and you actually go through a border crossing to leave Slovenia and one to enter Croatia. It seems as if most bike crossers just get to ride through as some other local bikers passed through without question too.

8-10 miles later another break where Cindy had to replace a bike battery – first one of these needed midday as far as I could tell. It could have been a product of us riding together – although Cindy was doing most of her riding without the use of the boost. This means the e-bike is only compensating for the extra weight of the bike and she’s making the majority of the power. It’s a fantastic equalizer for us.

We kept on riding for another few miles until we reached lunch on the veranda of a farm house in the hillside. Lunch consisted of fresh cheeses, potatoes, salad, meats (both cured and grilled), truffle pasta and fresh bread. Of course there was local wine and some coffee if you wanted it after the meal finished. The region we rode through is the top producer of truffles from Croatia. Every once in a while you’d run across a person with a dog and a basket – truffle-hunter! We rode up to a nice town that has a name we couldn’t pronounce and I can’t remember with a great cobblestone set of roads, some shops and an outdoor market with a view of some great rolling Croatian countryside. The kind of town you could just sit and move slowly from bench to bench all day sipping coffee, beverages, etc. Really cool – we were inspired to buy some truffle stuff – our luggage will likely never smell the same!

After lunch, Ryan set me up with a 50 mile option to ride straight into our next hotel, the Hotel Menegheti. The option had me climbing another 2,800 feet and rolling about the countryside on my own – there were no other takes in the group to go do this. And it was awesome! I packed two bottles, a patch kit and a few bars and set out to make some miles. I rode around 16-17 mph average with some big climbing and made it back to the hotel in just over 2.5 hours. I did take a few stops for pictures and to reload the next map into the Wahoo but for the most part just spent the time riding. It was glorious. Most roads were quiet – the climbing was doable – nothing as steep as in Slovenia and the temperatures were a perfect 75 degrees. After an 80 mile day, I was tired but not snockered. I also got back to the hotel in time to enjoy a little time at the pool before meeting the cabs that were arranged to take us into the town of Rovinj for dinner. This was a great day!

I’d later cross that valley and head up the hill on the right

Dinner in Rovinj was one where everyone was on their own to eat. Cindy and I ate with Alex, Tracy, Julie, Jason, Tara and Suzie in a courtyard restaurant on a slippery cobblestone street about two blocks off of the marina area and a few hundred feet up above the sea level. It was cool and breezy with a local cat smartly positioned to find any scraps it could. Plus, being a seaside village, this cat was well feed on fresh seafood scraps I imagine. Rovinj was a tourist place with a ton of local flair. It was also known for a stunning sunset over the horizon which we arrived into the village just with enough time to sprint to the waterside and get those perfect “golden hour” pictures alongside of many, many other tourists looking for the perfect shot to post on the ‘Gram. Gelato to end the night and back to Hotel Menegheti by 10pm where everyone was feeling the sun from the day and the growing fatigue from biking all week.

Cindy and I entered this Backroads trip thinking that this could be our last. They are awesome and almost always flawless and well worth the cost, but we are thinking about spending longer periods of time abroad when Charlie’s out of school and immersing into a local area in an AirBNB while would limit the need of a Backroads-like experience. But I think what we are reminded of is there’s some real value in turning off your planning brain and having some really great ambassadors of the area who are highly trained on hospitality and culture to guide you through a week of movement and history and the wonders of seeing the less-traveled areas of other countries. Plus, what they are curating with various lunches and tours would take a ton of research and thought but instead you get to hand all of that over to someone to help you through it. So in short, we aren’t ready to be done with Backroads and thankfully, I don’t think a lot of our friends are either. Both Cindy and I said to each other separately how unique these experiences are and how lucky we are to get to share them with each other. We also know you can’t exactly do this alone. Charlie being flexible enough to see his parents go away from 10 days and having various grandparents and friends check in on him and host him while we’ve been gone is something we are lucky to make all of this possible. We are the last of our friends leaving a kid behind – it will get a ton easier when Charlie’s in school – but at the cost of not having access to Charlie like we do now. It’s been nice FaceTiming with him and sharing a few pictures back and forth. I love the patience he has shown that lets me and his Mom get away for a few days – the time together is just so valuable.

Tomorrow – sadly, is our last riding day. The weather looks perfect!

September 19, 2025 by Jason

Day 6: Lake Bled, Slovenia to Kranjska Gora

Today was a day the Backroads leaders worked much harder than they expected. And these three leaders worked plenty hard as it is on a normal day. In fact, there’s some things you should know about a Backroads Leader:

They spend several months interviewing for this job
The last two weeks of the interview (if they make it that far), they come packed to either get an offer and fly out to their first location immediately, or they get cut and sent back home.
The chances of getting accepted into Harvard are better than the chances candidates have to become an employee/trip leader at Backroads. In fact, it’s also easier to get to work for Goldman Sachs, McKinsey & Co and any hedge fund than it is to work at Backroads.
These guys are paid to make flawless and highly choreographed vacations go off without a hitch. They are paid well but make a good bit of their pay in tips with some nice perks like free room while leading trips and in between trips, the opportunity to stay in some truly ridiculous hotels and the ability to ride bikes for a living while living with low expenses actually giving them chance to save, travel, see the world.
A world class ability to serve and manage others in a way where it doesn’t feel rote or rehearsed or weird. They are pretty amazing at what they day – trip 4 for us and they continue to truly make amazing experiences – not one leader has been anywhere close to a dud.

So, with this in mind…welcome to our first ever rainy day experience with Backroads. Nearly 24 days of planning trips for us and this is the first where rain was encountered. Pretty good luck we’ve had. But the Backroads people were up for this challenge. The night before they set some expectations and set out a few backup plans. A) Ride in the rain. B) Ride not in the rain – if the forecast was wrong (spoiler alert: it wasn’t wrong), C) Spend a quiet morning at the hotel and shuttle to the next Hotel – Hotel Kempinkski in Croatia and old castle on the shore of the Adriatic. Or D) take an alternative activity to a local cave – Jana Caves (I might be making this name up). All decisions could be made in the morning.

We woke to no rain. I dressed and headed to the breakfast buffet with every intention of riding. I ate, headed back up to the room and when I got there the tide had turned. Rain was falling. I sat on the couch talking myself out of riding. Who wants to ride a bike in the rain, right? But then I looked up 10 minutes later to see sunny skies and no more rain. But I’m past departure time. Off downstairs I head saying if they are gone, no ride for me but if not, I’ll ride. I’m now wearing a base layer, arm warmers, a jersey and a kit with a change of clothes and my rain jacket in the van. Cindy’s out. So was the entire rest of our group of 10. The forecast did call for rain almost all day. I get down to the bikes and there are two others, Ella and Wendy from Utah and Ryan the Backroads leader just about to push off. I tell them to go ahead and I’ll catch up. Throw some gummy worms in my pocket, with a bar and some water/electrolyte mix in a bottle and I’m off. 10-15 minutes later I catch up on one of the first larger climbs of the day – no one leaves Lake Bled without a climb. Any right on cue, the drizzle sets in. The four of us ride together for 10-15 more minutes and then I say my goodbye to push off on the first 30 miles of the day. A nice flattish shot to Kranjska Gora, a ski village known for their hosting of the largest ski jump in the world. This is where Primoz Rozglic trained prior to becoming a cyclist.

So today it rained. A whole bunch. Like the entire ride minus the first 10-15 minutes. The majority of the group took option to exercise a backup plan. Backup plan #1: Sleep in, enjoy the hotel and eventually shuttle to the next hotel on the Coast of Slovenia (small coast on the top of the Adriatic Sea. Backup plan #2: offered some sleeping in and then heading to some local karst caves – a feature of central Slovenia between the Julian Alps and the coast. While I rode around in the rain for 40 miles or so, Cindy opted for the caves and several in our group opted for Vila Bled downtime where they made a Cream Cake materialize with some prosecco. Not a bad use of the day. Also shows how well Backroads allows for flexibility – they didn’t just give a backup but really allowed their guests to define any number of backups and accommodated taxis, shuttles, meet-ups, etc throughout the day – this feature is truly what sets Backroads apart to me.

My ride consisted of some really quiet country roads, some local Slovenian bike roadways – literally numbered roads for bikes and bikes there were. Even on a heavy rain day, these were filled with bikepackers making their way through Europe. It was pretty cool to see groups of 2 and 3 and 4 riding – most were in full rain gear which seemed warm to me – I was in a base layer, a jersey and a vest with arm warmers at times. During my ride there was an unbelievably steep climb – 20% grade and once I saw 22% on the Wahoo bike computer. It only lasted .75 miles but that was enough. One wheel spin and I’m not sure I would have even been able to walk up it in my road shoe cleats. Seriously steep. The other side was a nice flowy descent over two miles but with the water, it still took some care – disc brakes for the win! Once over the climb it was a smooth 8-10 miles on a bike path to the cool ski town of Kranjska Gora. I beat the support van to the town, so I ducked into a nice cafe and had a delicious pistachio croissant and a double macchiato with some water. The key feature of this stop was being able to warm up out of the rain. By the time I finished, 10-15 minutes later, I stepped out into a brief respite of sun. Janna from Backroads arrived with the support van and gave me an option to ride another 16 or so miles up to a famous Slovenian ski jump where world records were set – as recently as February where a guy flew 254 meters through the air on their largest jump. As I viewed this area from the bottom of the ski jump I wondered how someone decides to make their first jump and how that jump feels. Seems absolutely ridiculous. The rain picked back up and I headed back down the mountain I climbed to get there until the rain turned to hail where I shored up under a large pine tree on the downwind side. Once again, the sun comes out and entices me to ride more – this time to the two lakes of the Superior Lake (up higher) and the (Inferior Lake) – down lower. A serious climb up a steep hill to get to the tip top – the coolest part of this rain segment? Being in Italy for 6-8 miles. Pretty cool. From there it was back to the cute ski town to meet the group who hung at the hotel for lunch at a local barbecue place – barbecue as in roasted pig on a spit with the entire meal minus the salad made in the fire. Just like the old days in the Adventure Guides with the pit pig. The potatoes and vegetables were super tasty – the meat eaters loved the pig too.

Ski Jump facility – the big one is way to the left up high – barely visible

Lake Inferior – halfway up the steep climb

Bike is on the Slovenian side – me on the Italian side – not sure I’ve ridden my bike across a country border before.

After lunch, the sun peaked out again, the rain stopped and we boarded the big shuttle bus to head down to the Adriatic Sea and the hotel Kempinski (and old castle overlooking the sea) via the caves where we picked up the group who took that option. This was one of the longer transfers we have taken in a Backroads trip – almost 90 minutes. Almost long enough to dry my cycling clothes on the bus!

Dinner was in the hotel at what was our 3rd Michelin starred restaurant of the trip – Sofia. I don’t normally take pictures of my food at meals, after all, it’s just food, but this was a pretty dish so I did. Very Millennial of me, right? The meal was outrageous. Backroads really went above and beyond on this one – probably the best meal I’ve had traveling with them. We ate tonight with Ron and Lisa and Alex and Tracy with the Seiberts and their friends Tara and Suzie a table behind us. We didn’t eat the full tasting menu – because we heard it would take 3 hours, but we ate plenty well over three courses. We also had the luxury of watching a storm out across the ocean which didn’t bring more than a nice breeze to us while we ate.

Sadly, only 18 hours in this hotel – but most Backroads trips often have a one-nighter hotel in the 6 days – and this was the right one to be quick at – good hotel, decent beach town but by now we know how Backroads likes to roll – always end on the best of the best hotel and when you end there – do so where you can enjoy 2 nights at the end of the trip. Meringheti – here we come!