Yesterday was a great day for me, as I did the cycling down the Sarajevo Olympic bobsled track. This track lays on the mountain of Trebević, which is right above the Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Trebević is one of my favorite tourist spots in or around the city of Sarajevo. It’s a great feeling to first see and then walk down the abandoned bobsled track, which was used at the XIV Olympic Winter Games in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. Mountain of Trebević also offers some of the best sights overlooking the city of Sarajevo – and these are some of the tourist spots you won’t see if traveling with traditional travel agencies.
I traveled to Trebević from the small town of Pale, which is just about the half way from Sarajevo to Jahorina. I borrowed my bicycle in Pale from Marjana. She’s a Slovenian who lives over 30 years in Pale.
First, I had some 5 kilometers of really steep terrain, followed by a good 15 km of hills and valleys. It’s actually a good thing I didn’t check the overall length of my path as I certainly wouldn’t choose to go this far. Despite driving the same path at least 30 times so far by car, I had a feeling that my way to the bob sled track would took me only half the time it actually did in the end. I told myself at least a dozen times “OK, I’m finally here, it’s right about the corner”. And it wasn’t, of course.
On my way, I met an old lady, who told me “Jao, jarane, crknut’ ćeš!” (eng. “Hey, man, you’re gonna die going up there”) – and she was fairly right, because I almost died of fatigue on my way back.
When I finally reached the bobsled track, I was surprised to see a lot of people there. I’ve been visiting this bobsled track for the past 10 years and I’ve never seen so many people there at the same time. So I had to wait a while, for everyone to eventually leave, because it could be quite awkward (and perhaps dangerous) if I’d meet someone on my way back, while riding the bike at high speed.
Finally, everyone left and I did what I had in plan for 10 years now. I went to the start of the bobsled track and pedaled my way down. My first run was a slow one, as I was still getting to know the track and all its turns, but also two tourists who I fortunately spotted early enough to avoid any inconvenience.
But my second run was a pure fun and pleasure. If only I had the time to repeat it 9, 10 times… I will surely come back and repeat this cycling adrenaline rush. I will also try to bring a friend of mine with me, so that he/she could overlook the track (making sure there aren’t any group of tourists there while I’m on my way down) and to make some great photos as well.