Ken Roberts said:
Thanks another place to ride (and climb) that I had not heard of before. I found this
detailed description of Biokovo peak + road
also there's at least one YouTube video of riding on the Biokovo road.
Trust me, Biokovo from Makarska is a must ride. Also if you stay in Makarska there are some nice roads towards Vrgorac, Ploce and Metkovic. But have in mind that traffic in July/August in coastal Croatia is heavy. Also at the sea level it can be too hot for a pleasant ride. I recommend you to go there in May/Jun or September/October. Also don't be surprised if strong bora doesn't allow you to ride for few days. This year I was riding on Biokovo at 15th of October and when I got back to Makarska I jumped in the sea and swim. Peninsula Peljesac is also very close (by a ferry from Ploče or road) and you have something to ride there for few days.
Looks like
Velebit is much closer to Mangart + Triglav -- so I guess I'm more likely to get there. Seems like Velebit inspires lots of love from lots of people who know it - (YouTube even has a
song about it). Any advice about which of the
Velebit roads have the prettiest and most interesting riding?
We are proud that Velebit is not polluted with roads like French/Italian/Austrian Alps. It is one of the last places in the Europe where you can still see a bear or a wolf, so hiking or MTB is probably much better choice than road bike if you wish to feel the truth nature of that exceptional mountain. Even if there are no many roads those that you will find are very nice.
I don't know even where to start
If you are in Rijeka area you must climb Ucka ofcourse, but there is also a great climb to Jelenje pass. And when you climbed Jelenje it would be a shame not to visit region of Gorski Kotar. Sea side of Velebit is in Dalmacija and the other side is in Gorski Kotar. Those two sides are totaly different as if they are not the same mountain, both beautiful on it's own way. If you are in Gorski Gotar there is a nice road through Slovenia that follows river Kupa (slovenian: Kolpa) from it's root.
Back to Rijeka....halfway to Jelenje you can turn left and go to a nice little ski resort Platak...nice ride.
From Rijeka you can take a ferry to island Cres (Brestova-Porozina line) that is also great for a ride. I bet you have never done 2000 m of climbing on a island...well the Cres offers just that. You can start at Porozina, ride through whole Cres to Mosor that is on the other side of island. If you are brave enough at this point you can go over the bridge to the Losinj island. If you are not brave you can tourn and go home.
Also from Cres you can go to Merag from where a ferry can take you to island Krk that has a bridge connecting it with a land, although traffic from Krk bridge over Bakar to Rijeka might be a small problem.
Also there are numerous ways to make nice round at the Istra peninsula.
From Rijeka, more to the south there is interesting region around Senj. I like this part very much.
One of the most spectacular rides I have ever done was over Velebit from Senj to Ogulin. The route was Senj > Alan > Dreznica > Jasenak > Ogulin. Variant over Krivi Put (Krivi Put means Wrong Way in english...go figure) is also possible. All is paved.
Third way to pass over Velebit in that area is from Senj over Vratnik. Vratnik is a nice climb, but you could have traffic problems there as it is the main connection of Senj to highway.
There is also a forth way to pass over Velebit there...from Sv. Juraj over Oltari to Krasno and Otocac. If you are with a MTB don't miss to climb from Oltari to Zavizan. Zavizan is at 1594 m with spectacular nature and views.
Round Senj > Otocac > Perusic > Gopsic > Karlobag > Senj could be a nice round for a strong rider. Before highway was built road from Gopsic to Karlobag had heavy traffic, but I think you won't have a problem any more, especially off the season.
As I said before, because of heats and heavy tourism traffic we locals enjoy off the season there.
Next to the south and the last pass over Velebit from sea to continental Croatia is over Obrovac to Gračac.
More to the south mountains are further from the sea, but there are also more possibilities for various rounds in areas around Knin, Drniš, Sinj, Biograd, Trogir...
Even more to the south you get to the Biokovo and Makarska area we have already covered enough.
Looks like
Ucka is over in the Istria peninsula -- do you think there's lots of other good road cycling in Istria? (Interesting that the TCI Atlante stradale map book for north
Italy includes as page 26 a map of southern Istria).
Yes, there are nice rounds in Istra, but have in mind it is not as flat as it looks on the map.
Seems like other people like riding on some the islands of Croatia -- which parts of those do you like best for road cycling?
Can you just ride the main "E65" road along the coast, or do you need to know some of the side roads?
If you wish to ride along whole Croatian coast from the north to the south than E65 is probably the only way you can do it. There are no side roads beacuse the mountain is so close to the sea that there is nowhere to put side roads. Bad for traffic, but spectacular for tourism. Few years ago highway was built and now E65 (also called "Jadranska Magistrala") is mostly used for local traffic. One of my future plans is just that...ride E65 from Rijeka to Makarska and back. One way E65 only, and back with side quests to islands.
That brings us to other part of your question...there are some very nice islands and peninsulas to ride.
As i said before,
Cres and
Losinj are spectacular to ride. Biggest croatian island Krk is also quite accessible, but not as spectacular as Cres.
More to the south island
Pag should be a nice ride too. It is famous for its cheese, lamb and salt production.
Next to the south are two islands with a bridge connecting them...
Ugljan and Pasman. There is a road that will get you over those two. Pasman has some of the nicest beeches I have seen in Dalmatia.
Next Island Murter is connected with a bridge, so it is easy to get there.
More to the south are
Solta,
Brac,
Hvar and
Korculawhich are highly glorificated by locals. Hvar is the longest and the sunniest Croatian island and one of the most beautiful islands in the world as the locals like to say.
Now we are almoast at Makarska area where peninsula
Peljesac shouldn't be missed. After Pelješac we only have
Mljet as the last big adriatic island. Mljet is the greenest of all Adriatic's islands with so beautiful flora and fauna that the western part of it become a national park.
That covers only the biggest islands one should visit on a bike trip from north to south. There are some interesting smaller ones I didn't mention but for now I think there is enough material to think about. Bauty of Croatian coastline is that it contains more than one thousand dazzling islands. If you were to look out to sea from anywhere along the Croatian coastline, it would be unusual for you not to see a green speck in the distance! Most of the islands, however, are small and uninhabited and there are therefore only 20 or so larger islands which are popular with tourists.
Last 5 km of Fedaia from Caprile is very hard. especialy after few days of climbing.
