I had a pleasant ride today, it was easy to get out of town, with great infrastructure like the Apollo Bridge and plenty of signs along the way.

A really cycle friendly bridge, thanks Bratislava

The tailwind was awesome and I spent the first 75km gliding at 25-30km/hr along the river. They put in a lot of barricades to prevent cars and motorcycles from using the cycleways, but they were annoying for bikes too. I slowed down slightly for the first one, but clearly I was going too fast and managed to get a lot of air and almost lose the contents of my front basket. It’s much easier to just go around them, so I learnt my lesson early on.

Then I hit 20km of gravel road and dropped down to half my speed. I met a Slovenian couple (and yes I know the difference between Slovenia and Slovakia now) and we chatted for a while. They had some maps and led me back to the paved road.

Arriving in Komarno was a relief, although I had no idea where my hostel was. I met Jimmy and Mario who showed me to the right place, but the owners weren’t going to be there for another 20 minutes so we went for a drink. I had a radler (German for cyclist) which is half beer and half lemonade. I was feeling pretty tired, so I was happy to sit in the nice park for a while.

After checking in and showering, they showed me around town, first to the European Square and then back to the drinks and some food. For dinner I had ice cream, a double hamburger and a fried cheese burger. I also learnt how to eat pumpkin seeds without using my hands.

Before heading out we grabbed our jackets, stopped by Jimmy’s house and found the best room in his place. The view from the bathtub is the church and the garden outside, where birds chirp all day. I was a bit jealous.

The town is very compact so we went to a few different bars and I had tequila for the first time in two years. Even though I usually don’t drink, I had fun and it was cool to hang out with people from Komarno. I finished early and this was definitely the highlight of the night.

The next morning I slept until midday and missed my checkout time, so I had to pay for a second night. I thought I could start cycling after lunch, but it was probably a 140km ride and I didn’t feel like riding just yet. I decided to stay one more night and relax instead. I wasn’t hungover, but probably had sleep debt from sleeping six hours a night for the past week. I’m not sure if it’s silly or obsessive, but when I get focused on my tour, I honestly don’t realise I’m tired until someone asks me and I have to think long and hard about it. Nonetheless, going to bed at 6pm and waking up 12 hours later was nice.