Cycling to Athens, why not! A road cycling adventure Guide, Story and bit of Science.

In the last episode with the name "Cycling to Athens" this epic trip and podcast is finally coming to an end. It is about the emotional arrival in the capital of Greece, and how an insignificant pedestrian bridge almost intercepted with a successful arrival. In addition, a guide of "Sending the bike home on plains" will be discussed to give you ideas for your trip. Finally, a r...

In "Tailwind" it is time to leave the Greek mainland, discover the first road sign of Athens and talking bike-fitting. This day-tour is bringing us towards and over the mighty Rio-Antirrio bridge towards the Peloponnese Peninsula via Athens will be approached. Cycling eastbound, towards the final destination, a nice tailwind is giving me wings - physically and psychologically. As a speci...

In "The undersea tunnel race", I am talking about the thrill of racing under the sea, about empathy and kindness of a Greek family and about optimizing your cycling performance for free. Starting in Preveza, the tour brings us further north, cycling beneath the sea, enjoying the coastal roads and with it the beauty of Greece. A normal stop at a gas-station turns out to become super speci...

In "Back on Track", it is all about enjoying the Ionian sea and aerodynamics in cycling. It is the first full day in Greece. We will talk about magnificent coast roads, swimming in the Ionian Sea and as the main topic aerodynamics is on the menu. Setting the focus on the influence of air resistance on the cycling performance and simple ways to improve it. Did you know, that one cubic met...

In - Don't stop believin´ - it is about finally arriving at my destination country with a chance to fix bike and gear. Let us start at the beginning though. Hopefully, the last day of cycling in Albania, if "bike", "cleat" and "body" endures the stresses of the last days. Aiming for Igoumenitsa in Greece, with a specialist bike store that should be able to help. E...

In the wonderful Albanian mountains my cleat breaks and with only one clicked-in shoe I have to cross the Llogara pass of the Ceraunian-Mountains. This day, is the most eventful day that caused the most pain in the entire journey. Are you keen on hearing what happened exactly, then tune in. You will be surprised how much there is to talk about over a 12-hour bike-tour. Thanks a lot for tuning in.....

It is dark, all street lights are off and the main road is completely abandoned somewhere near the coast of Albania, just myself, the Airstreeem and my thoughts ... as suddenly I get attacked. You wonder what happened? Starting in Lezhe, I had a easy day ahead of me with 2 highlights, visiting the capital of Albania, Tirana, and staying at a lovely beach resort called Spille at the beach. But inst...

Unbelievable but it is happening, leaving Croatia on the 7th day of cycling for good, just to cross Montenegro in one go, only to arrive for the final destination of the day in Albania. Beautiful coast cycling, magic music experience with CCR fortunate son and a smooth ferry cruse were the highlights of the day. Just a perfect, but strenuous 180km ride that only gets disturbed by a slight skin irr...

The most beautiful Croatian coastline reveals its hard side - many hills which means many climbs. The south of Croatia, a wonder, with its most famous city, Dubrovnik. This culturally exciting city has been Kings Landing in the HBO series "Game of Thrones". The trip was brilliant but really tuff and nutrition was key. Reason enough to focus in this episode on nutrition for long endurance cycling t...

Fully recovered we will start into Part II of our road cycling journey, which is called "The Unknown". Slowly but surely approaching countries like Bosnian Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania with zero personal experience about road conditions and map-material for navigation. Will I be able to navigate and find a good track for the estimated 1500km to Athens? On day 5,  I continued to cycle a...

Surprised by the wildlife of Croatia, challenged by desert like stretches, heat and uncertainty of road conditions leading me to the final obstacle, an unexpected steep climb before having the pleasure to breath, feel and see the Adriatic sea at Primosten. Wild boars, uncertain in the existence of roads, unexpected and confusing acquaintances and an 'end of tour' steep mountain climbing challenge,...

Road cycling is dangerous - sharing the road with trucks and cars is not alway easy and is definitely risky. On day 3, cycling from Zagreb to Korenica, I will talk about a highly critical situation on a section of this trip and how I dealt with it. In addition, we are talking about the most important equipment of this entire adventure, the bike. Furthermore, I will share the packing list and all t...

Freedom, the ultimate human desire ... is there a better way to experience freedom than to cross boarders and even countries by bike? On day 2 of my podcast "Cycling to Athens, why not", I would like to take you along the journey from Graz, via Slovenia (Maribor) to the final destination of the day - Zagreb. A smooth but hard ride through many beautiful landscapes and places. Entering Croatia by c...

It has begun-Hell Yeah... is the first Day of my road cycling adventure from Vienna to Athens. The craziness started on the 1st of September, 2021, with my first tour from Klein-Pöchlarn (near Vienna) to Graz in the wonderful Styria (Steiermark). 211km distance with 2270m of ascent was shown on my watch at the end. Main topic of the day - the "WHY". In this part I will share with you my personal r...

Welcome to the world of road cycling, adventures and personal challenges. My name is Berni Schuster, and I cycled in 2021 from Vienna to Athens. In this episode, I would like to introduce myself and give you an teaser about the podcast and its content. Give it at try and you will find yourself very quickly on a road bike in the middle of the east Balkan, sweating and in pain. Keen to hear about ro...