Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
the story about bike...how it's enter in my life
it began seriously, the serious story began when i was 18 years old.
on the graduation day, i received some present from my aunt from the States
It was 200$ to buy some clothes, a suit for this final evening.
Instead to buy a suit i, actually, bought a bike and i borrowed the suit from one friend.
That was the first bike i bought and i've started to be fall in love with the bike.
and it become from that point a part of me that is not possible to exclude
Well...my story with a bike is quite simple.
I got my first bike when i was 6 years old and i didn't stop cycling from then. I cycled all my life.
Actually, i am not from Banja Luka. I am from one city, 50 kilometers far from Banja Luka
But i start to study here and i brought my bicycle here.
You know like Tiho said, i couldn't imagine my life without bicycle.
It's a part of me and that's how i met Tiho
Because i came to Banja Luka in 2001 and there wasn't so many young people who are cycling
and we just, you know, start to say hello to each other just because we were riding a bike.
and after that we meet each other.
Someday i imagine my family... you know to take my kids in a trailer
and go for a walk, for the ride in a park or something
So, you know one part of this story about bike and me
is to be connected with the nature.
because it's the best way if you want to explore and discover some place and some country with the bike
because it's zero emission pollution, almost zero noise and it's totally environmental friendly
and it goes on the speed of human eye.
That means when you’re cycling,you can see almost everything around you,
you can stop whenever you want and you can swim in every beautiful river
So this is how it’s help to connect more with the nature.
Using a bicycle is the moving of speed of life and that’s for sure.
Banja Luka is a very nice city surrounded by nature.
We have one of the most popular recreation zone
actually on one hill and which is called Sehitluci or Banj Brdo.
In the last couple of years, there was more and more cyclists and pedestrians
walking and cycling to the monument which is on the top of this hill.
Also, in the two last years there was several accidents between pedestrians and bikers.
Where bikers injured some pedestrians on the way.
That’s why actually the municipality made a decision to forbid cycling on this hill.
From this point, there was many and many people in the city really
disappointed and angry about this decision and they start to complain also on the website of the city
And we made actually one group which is called “leave my bike alone!”
My name is Dajana. We are also administrators of this group.
In a very short time, for about 3 or 4 days, the group gathered about 2000 people
who were angry about the situation in this city
But not just because about this sign
because the sign is just a small part of what is happening in this city, you know.
We are not equal in the traffic. Bicycles are like some kind of wild animals on the road.
So this is how we are trying to fight against this fashion.
So we came up for this idea, this is actually…how do you say in English?
You know when some person died this is the way that we inform their relatives and neighbors that is actually dead.
So this is a bike and bicycle is like dead.
So we are actually calling people to came in 21st of april to downhill of Sehitluci
And we will organize funerals.
We can announce how to move up there…
to be everybody in line with 8 or 9 people being from the beginning to the end and everybody else behind.
That’s important that we’ll reach this sign, we will put down this coffin next to the sign
and on the sign we will put some flowers.
The place of the sign will be like a grave. Yes, it’s like a grave.
Anyway, what’s is the most important is that the media is there.
This is the first tool that we will use. The first thing…
No no…we will try to…he will try to contact some people.
Ljilja…definitively! And Vladimir from ATV! And…Bell TV for sure!
And newspapers? We can write about this so this is not a problem.
We will write report and write announce this morning.
And what about dress code?
Can we be in white? White t-shirts?
Or yellow.
We can be naked, right? She proposes to be naked.
Like Adam! And Eve!
My dearest, on this day, at this hour we are saying goodbye to you
Our hearts are full of sadness and our feet cold without touching your pedals.
You were young and pretty. You knew the war was coming
But each new peace was new chance for everbody. Old and young people were riding bikes.
Until 1965 you were a real hit.
73 000 souls own 40 000 bikes there were only 640 cars
During the new war among brothers
You have demonstrated your importance
There were no gasoline and no traffic so you rule Banka Luka streets.
For you war was a better brother than peace
After the war bikes have started to be pushed back from the streets
Standard has risen more and more idiots were behind the wheel.
The peak of sanctities was when they forbidden the road to…
…road to UP THERE!
Take off the sign!
Take it off!
Here we are around your coffin to tell you that we loved you
With your death doesn’t end our struggle for European and ecological Banja Luka.
Death to fascism, freedom to cycling!!
It functions!
It turns!
OK…Ciao Mario how are you?
Good good good!
yeah…yeah…alright I am preparing.
Yeah, I am still working on the bike and I hope in the next one hour, two hours it will be finished.
Yeah tomorrow…tomorrow in the morning we have the departure and…
well I hope that will prepare enough wine for when I’ll arrive and food of course.
You know that I eat a lot.
Yeah I will take care! Don’t worry! I am a big boy and I know how to cycle.
Ok…have a nice day! See you! Ciao Ciao
Here is Boris. He is actually part of Center For Environment.
He is helping a lot about designing the promote materials related to the public action.
Today, distance that we will pass is…77km.
Cruising speed is between 20 and 25 km/h on the flat.
We have 10 km before the first sleeping place, one very nice lake.
It’s actually artificial but it’s nice for swimming and we will take a bath…
I think…we are ready for it!
This is my very good friend!
He passed Germany, Poland, Moldova, Bosnia few times, Croatia, Romania, Italy
And now we are going again from Bosnia together and to Italy and he’s really satisfied.
He actually travelled more than 70% of people in Bosnia I Herzegovina…unfortunately…
It’s situation like that…and we have one truck behind us.
Did you sleep well?
My name is Borislav Jankovic. And this is Zelenkovac.
The story is, first, the watermill. In the 60’s of the last century, he got it for a present from his father.
In 1986, he was building on it, things around and he made it bigger
And after 1986, he moved here. It was a very nice place and
some friends of him came and made this kind of shape.
Some painters came here and enjoyed the nature and doing some paintings here.
They want to promote the rise of people awareness about ecological issues
so it’s kind of important educational and practical place.
They use the sustainable tourism form to actually build more things and to live from it.
Not just on this place but also this Podrašnica field and all around.
The good thing that we together do is this synergy
between the cyclist and travelers on a bike and Boro and this place
because on the way this is actually 77km far away from Banja Luka
and for example from my point of view, It’s actually the path where usually the cyclists
are passing from Zagreb from to west, entering to Bosnia through Gradiška and going towards south to the coast.
So this is like place where they could sleep.
I know that Boro is member of Couchsurfing and we would like to invite all nice people
who like nature and who like enjoy the nature to come here and to spend some days here
in this area because it’s very nice and the bicycle paths. I mean it’s good for the health to stay here few days.
Is there still some wood?
Still a bit!
My name is Boris, Boris Cikic. I am from Banja Luka. I am 33 years old
and I love so much riding my bicycle. For me this is real life! Freedom!
I don’t use car. Bicycle is so perfect for transportation, only fuel that you need is this!
OK…few weeks ago, Prime Minister of Republika Srspska said:
“Cyclist are wretches with ragged clothes”
Here we are riding for 156km from Banja Luka to Livno
You need to have a great will an a big heart to be able to make such a thing
And as you can see we don’t do it with “ragged clothes”
I would like to wish to our Prime Minister to try how it is!
Even if it’s not to easy cycling is very nice
Thank you!
I am feeling stronger and stronger and full of power.
First day was a kind of difficult. Every start is difficult,really!
And now we are approaching to the coast and to Italy, we have more and more the will and…
I mean your body needs more and more energy.
And then you are using energy then you’re eating more
And when you’re eating more then you should take care about you eat.
Tomorrow morning, we will get up at 6 o’clock and depart at 7am.
6 o’clock? Really??
Yeah!
7h20 in the morning, we’re departing from Livno.
700 meters of altitude
Heading towards Omiš and Split.
Well we have between 120 and 130km.
20°, beautiful for cycling!
Today, we gonna pass the border between Bosnia and Croatia. Pass the border with our brother in arms.
We’re heading towards Aržano border between Bosnia and Croatia.
We are passing Buško lake which is one of the biggest lake in Bosnia I Herzegovina.
It’s artificial lake actually it’s not natural as you can see by the vegetation which is under the water.
It’s looks like the sea.
And every time when I was kid and we were travelling, I was always yelling to my parents:
“Hey mother! Father! Is this the sea we came?”
“No, there is 150 kilometers more!”
And then waiting for the sea, waiting for the Croatian coast, in that period it was Yugoslavian coast so it was just “coast”.
We pass border without any major problems.
Usually some few questions and that’s it and they let us go without checking all the stuff.
Now we have the toughest part of Croatia because we have to climb some part
and we have downhill in the canyon of Cetina and after climbing again.
Now the temperature is around 25°, so it will be much hotter than it’s now.
So we have to go!
“Excusez-moi!”
I am going tonight. The departure is at 8:30pm and we will be in Italy at 7am in the morning.
And then we will cycle this part of Conero and then towards Vasto.
So it will be good. Tough but good!
Ok then, be careful! Have a nice trip! It was good to cycle!
My pleasure!
Ciao!
We have a torn from a plant and now we have to change this.
As soon as possible because sun doesn’t wait.
The rest of the air is out, we do need to check for possible another holes.
We put first our tire where there is the valve.
Here we can see the whole valley.
It’s one of the thing that could be used for making the cycle road and cycle path
which could be very popular because it’s very close to the coast and it’s nice and it should be used.
I hope in hour and one quarter we will reach Vasto, actually final destination.
Before that we will try to swim!
Why did we come here? Just to tape some kind of documentary? No!
I also came to take a swim and enjoy it!
When you cycle, you have uphill and downhill. When you go up, you sweat and you cycle hard.
But If you want to reach something precious, nice and beautiful, you have to sweat a bit.
And in life you have also downhill. It’s easy but very soon you can fall and get hurt.
Life is made by curves, turning points, ups and downs.
And what is the most important in all this travel trough life is to cycle, to push harder on your pedals.
Believe me, soon or later, you’ll reach most beautiful things of life: it’s the meaning of life.
Hi, my name is Tihomir Dakic. I am coming from Banja luka in Bosnia I Herzegovina
and I am a member of environmental organization: Center for Environment.
That works already since 10 years on issues related to environment and protection and sustainable development.
My job is more related to the promotion of sustainable transport and
promotion of the cycling as mean of transportation and cyclotourism and so on…
I came here last year by bike for the first workshop of ORA
and I noticed that there is a nice bike path from Vasto place and Punta Aderci and Punta Penna.
So I discovered a bit and I went for cycling and I saw that it could be a very nice 30km circle.
It’s 31,4km. It comes from Vasto center through some nice villages and coming…
here is the river l‘Ebba and here the river Sinela that comes along the river.
And on the old part of the valley, it passes next to the beach, next to the coast.
And here is Punta Aderci to go back to Vasto.
So I am Fausto. I am coming from Belgium and I’m 29. I come here in Vasto for the ORA international meeting.
I met Tiho the first day of our workshop about sustainable mobility.
We have to promote and to put in place cycle path.
ORA is a process of education, communication and awareness on the topics of sustainable development.
In which several European NGOs are engaged since the last two years.
ORA is an acronym of Observe Rethink Act and it wants to represent both:
A methodology of word and also a life style. In the ORA process, we are using several tools:
multimedia production, educational activities, settlement of ecocenters
and International meetings among activists, youth leaders and members of European NGOs.
In 2010’s process, we planned and we are realizing 3 different moments among young people:
In Banja Luka, Republika Srpska, Bosnia I Herzegovina. In liege, Belgium and here in Vasto, in Italy.
In this meeting in Italy, we are hosting around 50 young people coming from 12 different European countries.
Together with them, we are realizing 4 different workshops: multimedia, graphic arts, education and together with Tiho on sustainable mobility.
First, we do the examination of cross roads which we will have to pass and to put signs.
You can see here of course different surfaces which we should explain in the document
like asphalt, tractor path or just path through the field.
That’s the reason that sometimes we should pass 2 or 3 times on the road.
First time to explore. Second time, you know, to make photos.
The third time, when we have sure to remember the road then we pass with the GPS.
And this is actually one of the final product, the General positioning exchange file
which is very useful beside signs that In the future it will be put on the road.
Of course, the idea of the workshop since the beginning was to cooperate and to work with Tiho
because of his experience in Banja Luka and in projects about sustainable mobility.
In order to create and realize bike circuit connecting the old part of the city which is up to the hill
till the nature reserve of Punta Aderci on the seaside through Ebba river.
Together with local group of cyclist and this international crew of young people
coming from the whole Europe we are working on field.
First, to exchange experiences and knowledge on how to create bike path and in the same time,
we are working on field to map, settle and open this new bike circuit
in the territory of Vasto called CCCP (Corto Circuito ciclo pedonale).
I was impressed knowing that last year Tiho came here by bike from Bosnia
and when he talked to me about this project.
I wanted to be part of it and cooperate with him.
We have created 35km bike circuit starting from Vasto.
We are really satisfied even if it was a hard job with a complex preparation.
The citizens of Vasto and the tourists have now the possibility
To chose a different mobility reducing the use of vehicles, using the bike circuit.
In this area there’s a former railway together with this new path
There is a regional project to transform it in a long bike path
It’s an important project that could create one of the longest bike path in Europe
There are many persons that need a sustainable clean and relaxing mobility
This afternoon at 6pm, we are going to invite people from Vasto to join us
and to cycle together along this road of 32 km. The weather is nice.
The wind, I hope, will be in the back not in the face and I hope that everything is finished ok.
It’s a bit tired for me because I am not use to but it’s wonderful and healty.
You can see everything and you feel the wind.
It’s very nice! I am very happy! No rain, sunshine! So everybody is happy,no?
To share our paths with people from all around Europe was great!
I’m going by train
because it takes less time and I have to go to my friend’s marriage
I have to be there tomorrow at 6pm and I’ll be there exactly at…6pm!
- Have a nice trip! - Thanks a lot!
What time is it?
The only train which goes directly from Vasto to Ancona
is this one and it’s only one where you can bring your bike.
And it’s “regionale”, that means the train will stop to each city and I’ll arrive at 4:45pm in Ancona.
This is the only train in one day where you can bring your bike
which is definitively not enough if somebody wants to go by bike.
See you soon!