A friendship proposal in the Julian Alps

Three friends bikepacking
over Slovenian mountain passes

A friendship proposal in the Julian Alps

Location: Slovenia

Riders: Karam, Chris and Santo

Bikes: Adventure Discs 1 & 3

Camera: Hasselblad 500C

Our Slovenia bikepacking trip was a western loop of the Julian Alps, over 421km and 7,500 meters of elevation in seven days.

We started in Berlin, where we live, and took our bikes on the train to Kras in Austria. We slept one night in Kras, hosted by a follower in what can only be described as an oasis in the city (with a pool!).

Then we took a bus with the bikes to Ljubljana, where another follower hosted us. This is where the route starts and finishes.

The purpose of this trip and the reason I suggested it to my friends, Chris and Santo, was because I wanted to propose to them. As a group, we say we’re platonic life partners. We live together, we share everything together, we are building a future together, and we’re committed to one another.

But the thing about friendships is they are often treated so much more casually compared to romantic relationships. With romantic love, you always have a tradition surrounding the commitment, like a civil ceremony or a wedding. But friendships don’t get that. I wanted to change that on this trip.

The three of us, together, have done adventures before. We work very well as a unit and I really wanted to experience that again. So it was about choosing the place that would enable the most connection between us. The bikes and the backdrop of the Slovenian mountains just added to that.

We didn’t go to Slovenia to do the hardest route in the fastest time. We went to put ourselves out there, in front of things we hadn’t seen before in nature. We wanted to go slowly, and have reliable equipment that would enable us to do it properly, without any fear.

But right off the bat, the first two days from Ljubljana were basically the two hottest days of the year in Europe which was very challenging. We woke up at 5am on these days to start cycling, to beat the heat. The nice thing about going at a slower pace and without putting pressure on yourself is that you can choose when to stop, how long to go on for, and when to start. One day, we took a four hour break, took a nap by the river, went for a swim, and then made lunch. It felt really intuitive.

Before the trip, I had three rings made by a friend of mine who's a jeweler, and I brought them with me. And every day on the adventure, I would be looking and thinking, okay, where is the spot? The way I was imagining it was maybe a camping spot, somewhere where we would be undisturbed. But in Slovenia, wild camping is officially illegal. You can do it discreetly, but it’s often not possible in the best places. So we ended up staying in campsites for a lot of the nights, meaning that over the first five days, there wasn’t a moment that felt right.

I was beginning to get nervous towards the end. But on the fifth day, we were pushing our bikes up this mountain pass of about eleven hundred metres of elevation. We stopped for lunch and found a spot with an insanely beautiful view. Secluded and with no-one but us, there were giant trees everywhere. As soon as we sat down, my friend Santo said, “Oh, this feels like a really sacred space” and I was thinking in my head, “You have no idea…”. I went down on one knee and we had this really wholesome moment of friendship. They were very surprised, it was such a beautiful moment in such an amazing spot.

Afterwards, we pushed on, and for a while it was stormy, then a double rainbow came out like a reward for our friendship.

Despite the challenges of the route, my Adventure Disc from Temple really performed. I had upgraded it with a GRX groupset, wider tyres, and a front rack and wider handlebars to fit my Buffalo handlebar bag. These changes made it feel so sturdy and reliable, and everything was so easy to access. This is the best setup I’ve ever had, and the wider tyres were awesome for gravel riding.

I love adventuring in the outdoors because you become so much closer to the people that you have in your life, or the people you’re travelling with. And it gets you closer to yourself. It’s just such an intimate space to be with people in such close proximity – experiencing the same thing, the difficulty, the enjoyment, the happiness, all of it. I’m just really grateful that Temple was behind this and enabled this adventure. It was perfect: the perfect trip with the perfect bike.

KARAM & CHRIS'S BIKE