Today was supposed to be the hardest of four hard days. It started that way. There was a short flat section to get out of Niksic and then we started the first and biggest climb. Of course it was raining again. It was a long hard climb but then we started down and it was a nice downhill where we could go fast without worrying about the road. Then we came to a section with 49 tunnels. The tunnels are a little scary since some of them are long and curved and they are not lit and they are not particularly wide.
Coming out of the first tunnel I was hit from behind by a car. It knocked me over and the bicyclists that found me said that while I didn’t appear to be unconscious, I was very woosy. I don’t remember the incident at all. One moment I was riding out of the tunnel and the next I was sitting up with bicyclists all around me asking me questions. The police showed up and after talking with everyone required me to ride with them to the hospital where I was checked out and determined to still be among the living. Then the police took me to the police station where I needed to give a statement and sign it (I couldn’t read it). Then they wanted to take me to Niksic to give another statement since I was not a citizen of Montenegro. I don’t know how they did it but they found the woman who hit me and she admitted it to the police and they wanted her to go to Niksic as well to make a statement. I did not want to do this so after some discussion through a translator we agreed that if I changed my statement to say that I did not want to make a claim and that all my injuries were pre-existing then I could go.
So, instead of riding down this beautiful canyon with a magnificent river at the bottom, riding through all of the tunnels, I had to do it in a van. Also I did not have my phone with me since they had put it in the back of the van so I couldn’t get any pictures. The canyon was, however, beautiful.
I am now in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Country number 4. It is clearly more impoverished that Montenegro and looks more like Albania or Greece. We were also warned to stay close to the road when we take pee breaks because there are still many buried landmines.
Tomorrow we go to Sarajevo. I don’t know if I will be riding or not. Have to wait and see how I feel in the morning. Right now I hurt all over.
