After 12 hours or rest I decided to get up, Zoltan who moved to the bench next to me, also woke up and we packed our stuff together and decided to cycle towards Trily and Sinj together. As I remembered this would be the closest café and supermarket directly opposite of the café, crossing the river Cetina we can find a bakery. I shared some Dolo-Cyl-Oil with Zoltan as he told me that his legs were hurting quite a lot. After the bakery I headed on. Feeling good again, and standing on my personal break a little not to get into trouble on this day, again. From Knin over to Gracac, the last time I rode it this way, I can clearly remember how much I suffered, this time I felt good. I knew the road and what to expect, makes a biiig difference. I carried enough food, had water refilling stops every two hours and I collected tons of water ice cream on that day. The route led me in land, with very very few winds so it got really hot. It was quite some climbing again and I had the feeling that no rider was close to me. After the racing attitude of the day before, I immediately deleted the dot watching option from my phone, so I was free of anything. Back in my traditional mood and feeling good, finally. During the late afternoon a rider appeared in front of me when I planned to get on the back of the mountains that lead towards Rijeka. But he followed the road to descend towards Senj. As I was not following any navigational device, I decided to take the risk, as we were already in the late afternoon and there won’t be big risk of heavy weather from here to Rijeka. Okay, I followed him. After I made my decision he stopped for refuelling his water bottles. It looked as if he wanted to jump into the fountain next to the road. We waved hello and I continued. My decision of changing the route was made, I had not clear picture how to get around at Bakar, but never mind, we would figure out a way, later.

Beautiful coastal road from Senj to Bakar/ Rijeka, slight elevation not too stiff, nice for fast riding and a really good surface. At a petrol station I recognized two other riders, waving again, heading on, until Rijeka for the next recharge. I was happy to feel myself back in the game, it gave a good boost of motivation, but still everything was under control and I did not plan to give anything of that control away again. I reached the center of Rijeka quite late, so I did not really expect to get some quick burek or pizza on the go. I stopped at a petrol station and charged coke, coffee and canned sardines. This shall be sufficient food to get over Istria to Savudrija check point 01. Getting prepared to climb Ucka, I realized the HardCro van from Mladen in ahead of me. I passed them and had the feeling they would be happy if I stopped, but no. I was in a good flow, so they followed me with their bus and we had a good chat about this day. I was so happy to reach Ucka at night, that I felt climbing it smooth and easy for me. I remember the first time I climbed it was in the early morning but the sun was already coming out and it was hot already. Last time I met Goran zig zagging on the road to the top. Close to the top I met Ivan and I had to recharge my bottles. This time things went smooth, I just added leg warmers and arm screens, just to be prepared. It was around midnight and it was dark. The descend was steep and it was clear that I was going to be back here, soon. I planned to sign at cp 01 and continue immediately again and find a place to rest during the heat around noon. This was the plan. Some kms later I met Boris on the road, from behind it seemed he was totally tired and sleeping on his bike. I said hello and continued again, as he did not really say a lot. I realized he wanted to stay close, so I reduced my speed a little and followed my road from last year. This meant a steep climb and then only descending for another 30 kms, but first survive the steepness of this climb. I had to zig zagg as well and Boris followed me. At some point I got off my bike and walked, Boris as well. On the last hill I waited for him and as he arrived, he collapsed and by doing so he really frightened me. I jumped to him, waking him up again, offering water, coke and coffee and a bunch of sugars, only to get him up again. Luckily things went fine and I did not have to call an ambulance in the middle of the night to somewhere in the woods. After a proper rest, we continued slowly towards cp01, I switched on my navigation as he wanted to know the remaining distance to cp01. Finally we reached Savudrija and Boris took a rest, I hope/ think.