Cycling trip Choceň – Znojmo

I like cycling a lot and usually at least once or twice a week I go for a 30 – 50 km long trip around the town where I live. However, for this Tuesday I had planned something a little different – I had decided to try if I can ride more than 150 kilometers long track, from my hometown Choceň to Znojmo, that is located in South Moravia near Austrian border.

I set out from Choceň at 6:20 in the morning.  It was quite early, but I had a very long journey in front of me and wanted to have enough time for it.

Elevation diagram (Choceň -> Znojmo)

First town I visited during my trip was Litomyšl, town famous for its Renaissance chateau (UNESCO World Heritage Site) and as the birthplace of composer Bedřich Smetana. I arrived there after an hour and after first 20 kilometers of my journey.

Litomyšl (square, statue of B. Smetana)

From the town I continued along the cycling route 4019 “Krajem Smetany a Martinů” (“Region of Smetana a Martinů”) to Polička. It is a beautiful town, that has (as only few towns I know) preserved town walls, so I took some time there to look around the town centre – and also to rest a little, because at the moment I was on the road for about hour and the half and had forty kilometres on my cyclometer. Also the track was quite hilly (while elevation of Choceň is 293 m ASL, Polička is located at cca. 550 m ASL), even though the ascent was never very steep… at least so far.

Polička - town walls

After 9 o’clock I left Polička, heading along the roads 353 and 357 via Jimramov (birthplace of Jan Karafiát, author of Czech children’s book Broučci (=beetles)), to Jimramovské Pavlovice, where the most difficult part of my trip started. In about 3 kilometers, I had to climb from 546 m ASL to the highest point of my track in 724 m ASL. Even though it was mostly very steep ascent, the road sign indicating 2 kilometers long 18% ascent was IMHO nonsense and just unnecessarily made me nervous.

Bus station "Lísek, samota", 724 m ASL (highest point of the track)

At half past ten (just a sidenote: all times in this post are local) I arrived to the top. At the moment I was approximately in one third of the track. After taking a documentary photo I started descending down to the village of Rozsochy near Bystřice nad Pernštejnem and continued via villages Dolní Rožínka (well-known for its uranium mines), Strážek and Krčma to Meziboří.

I arrived there around noon and started looking for some place where I could have my lunch. Unfortunately, since I was trying to avoid main roads, there were mostly just villages with no opened restaurants on my track. That’s why I didn’t have my lunch before 13:30, when I came into town Velká Bíteš, having 107 kilometers on my cyclometer. After eating in "Na 103" restaurant, I left Velká Bíteš, crossed D1 motorway and continued in my way to the south.

Even though the following part wasn’t very hilly, it was still quite exhausting because I had to cross quite deep (and very beautiful) valleys of Oslava and Jihlava rivers. After ascending from Jihlava river valley I arrived at Dukovany village. The village is quite nice, despite the fact that is famous especially for Dukovany Nuclear Power Plant, that is located nearby.

Znojmo - finish photo

At the moment I was very tired and thinking about giving up. However, after short relax and one Red Bull I decided to continue… It took my another two hours and thirty kilometers, but at 18:20, after 12 hours and 169 kilometers I crossed Znojmo town limits, exhausted, but extremely happy!

Here you can see list of regions, districts, towns and villages that I passed through during my journey: