May 16, 2018
One of the design classics of the former Yugoslavia is the Rog Pony, the little folding bicycle that was made on Ljubljana’s Trubarjeva cesta, in a factory that now houses the graffiti-covered Tovarna Rog squat / art / performance space, with a vestigial bike store the only sign of the building’s storied past
Due to their small wheels and lack of gears the best place to ride a Pony is on a flat road, over relatively short distances. However, if you prefer something more of a challenge, and think you have the cardiac fitness to survive the ascent, then you’ll soon have the chance to ride up to the Vršič Pass, which, per Wikipedia has “an elevation of 1,611 metres… [and]…is the highest pass in Slovenia, as well as the highest in the Eastern Julian Alps”.
What this means in practice is competitors will be pedalling 13.5 kilometres to the top of a mountain, a route that includes 24 hairpins turns and rises 801 vertical metres, with an average incline of 10.8%; i.e., not a ride for the faint (or weak) of heart
The occasion to indulge in such extreme exertions is the 4th edition of Red Bull Goni Pony, starting at 15:00 on May 26. Tickets cost 20 EUR and can be purchased on the website. You’ll have to supply your own Pony, or small-wheeled equivalent, to take part in the event as a competitor, while watching the madness is free.
