20090526 – Florence

I should have been coming home today, but the strike at the airport stopped that. So, I did some more sightseeing. I went to the Medici Chapels first. I really wanted to see the tombs carved by Michelangelo and I wasn’t disappointed. They were unfinished but truly magnificent. The main chapel was under restoration as it was the last time we were here. It is very darkand gloomy, but the marble inlays on the altar are outstanding.

Leaving the chapel, I wandered over to the San Lorenzo market. It’s a two-story indoor market filled with vendors selling fruit, meat, fish, cheese, flowers, wine,  etc. The area outside surrounding the market is filled with stalls selling leather goods and other non-perishable items.

Then I walked up to near the Accademia and wondered through the Museum of San Marco. The main attractions here are frescos by the early Renaissance master Fra Angelico. This was a monastery in the 15th-century. All of the monks’ cells have frescos done by Fra Angelico and his students. There is a two-room cell that housed Savonarola who was a very right-wing Christian who over through the Medicis, burned books, paintings, etc. and was eventually was burned by the Florentines when they came to their senses.

When I left the museum, it was getting hot (did I mention that it has been in the mid-90’s the last few days?) and I was getting tired of walking and becoming saturated with all of the art. So I bought a pinino and started walking back to the hotel, stopping mid-way for a gelato at Perche no, a gelateria recommended by my cycling friend, Dave Nasatir. It’s also in the Rick Steves’ guide book. The coffee crunch with chocolate was a real treat.

When I got back to the hotel, I gathered my luggage and had them call a taxi for me. Now I’m close to the airport in VIVA HOTEL ALEXANDER NOVOLI. There are no sights to see around here but the hotel has a very good wireless connection. So I have time to spare to catch up on all of my internet stuff.

I had to have dinner in the hotel tonight because there are no other restaurants around here. I had sliced pork with a curry sauce and a mixed salad.

It’s now a little past 8:00. Because I have to get up real early in the morning, I’m going to read for awhile and then go to bed.

20090525 – Florence

I said good-bye to several of our group this morning at breakfast. They were leaving at various times today. I’m going to miss the camaraderie.

  I resumed my sightseeing from two weeks ago. I started at the Santa Croce Church. It’s a 14th-century Franciscan church with a 19th-century Victorian Gothic facade. The inside is decorated with centuries of precious art. It also contains the tombs of great Florentines including Galileo and Michelangelo. The photo on the left is of Giotto’s fresco Death of Saint Francis. Interestingly, there is a leather school and store attached to the church. There is also a museum with several additional works of art.

The next place I visited was the Duomo museum. There were two very striking sculptures – a late Michelangelo Pieta and a Donatello sculpture of what Rick Steves calls a anorexic Mary Magdalene.

 

There were also restored panels of Ghiberti’s north doors of the Baptistery, models of Brunelleschi’s dome, Ghiberti’s original “Gates of Paradise” and models of the facade of the Duomo.

All of this artwork made me hungry, so I sought out a self-serve (cafeteria) restaurant and had some pasta and a salad. The restaurant was air-conditioned which was a real relief because the temperature had risen to over 90.

I was close to the Church of Santa Maria Novella so I decided to pay it a visit after lunch. There were major works of art to look at there. One was an early mastery of perspective: The Holy Trinity by Masaccio. Two others were crucifixes by Giotto and Brunelleschi.

When I left the church, I walked over to a gelateria that one of my cycling friends at home said was a “do not miss”. I found the wrong gelateria, though, and had melone verde and melone. It was good anyway. Tomorrow I’ll find the one he suggested.

Tired of walking and sightseeing, I went back to the hotel, rested and watched the Giro d’Italia on TV. At 6:30, the six remaining tour members met on the terrace for our own Happy Hour. We managed to finish the limoncello that Stacie and Alan left along with a few crackers and cookies. We tried to pick a restaurant that we would all like to go to. For various reasons, only four of us decided on the same restaurant. The other two dropped out because the walk to Trattoria Sabatino was too far away. Denise, Paul, Janet and I hiked about a mile northwest on a street paralleling the Arno until we passed the Porta San Frediano city gate. The trattoria was a hangout for locals – something that we wanted to experience at least once while we were here. The food was plain, but tasty. I had roasted pork, roasted potatoes and zucchini along with a quarter liter of red table wine. The others had pasta, gnocchi, mushrooms and zucchini.

Our walk back to the hotel was along the Arno. It was interrupted by a stop at a gelatoria for dolce.

It’s now after 10:00 and I am going to read for awhile and then go to sleep.

20090524 – Castellina to Florence

Tom was nice to us today. Climbing was limited to a couple of moderate uphills. We had lots of good downhills all the way into Florence. Being Sunday, traffic was reasonably light except in some of the larger towns. The weather was perfect.

I rode most of the way with Julie. I lost her when I missed a turn about 5k from the end of the ride. I stopped and ate a banana after the wrong turn and waited for her. When she didn’t appear, I looked at my cue sheet and discovered where I went wrong. I backtracked about 100 meters, made the correct turn and followed the route sheet to our hotel. The time was 11:25, the earliest that I have arrived. I pulled into the garage, took apart my Bike Friday, packed it into its case and checked in. I’m in the same room as before so everything is familiar.

After cleaning up, I contacted the local United Airlines office (which is in India) about the cancelled leg of my trip home. The Florence to Munich leg was run by Lufthansa. UAL couldn’t contact Lufthansa because the frequent flyer desk is closed on the weekend. I gave up on the local UAL office and decided to eat lunch. I had a good pizza with fresh tomatoes, corn and arugula. I was going to go to a store and buy an international phone card so I could call UAL in the States at a cheap rate. While I was eating, Claudia and Barry walked in and asked me if I wanted to use their internet phone instead. I jumped on it. It’s a good thing I did because the call lasted over an hour before UAL could get me rebooked. The device is called MagicJack and it’s a must for world travel.

I’m coming home a day late, but I’m not going to complain. It’s an extra day in Florence.

We had an informal Happy Hour tonight. Because my room was closest to the terrace, most of our goodies were here. (The hotel management frowns on bringing your own wine and appetizers onto the patio). Now, after dinner, there are lots of leftovers in my room that I am forced to take care of in the next couple of days. (I should have such problems!). Speaking of dinner, a bunch of us went to a tratterria across the street from the hotel. Several of us ordered the ravioli with pear and cheese. Surprisingly, it was very good. It had a white sauce and it was sort of sweet and pungent. I also had smoked swordfish with arugula and tomatoes. After dinner, several of us sampled gelato at a nearby gelateria in the middle of the swinging singles scene near our hotel.

It’s now nearing 9:00. I’m going to read for awhile and then go to bed early and sleep late. My body needs a rest.

Daily Statistics

Miles	Max	Average	Riding Time	Elevation Gain	Weather
31	36.4	14.7	2:07	1470	Sunny, 60’s to 80’s

20090523 – San Rocco a Pilli to Castellina

I had a good day on the bicycle. It wasn’t quite as hot as the last few days and we only got lost once. I rode the entire route with Barry, Claudia and Janet. Larry was with us for about half of the route but he turned off to get in extra miles. We had a couple of stretches of almost level terrain where Barry pulled us for several kilometers. After we got lost we had to turn around and climb back up a hill that we just flew down. This added about 6k to our distance and made us very cautious to make certain that we were making each turn correctly.

We had lunch in Rada in Chianti. We heard about a good alimentari where we were going to get hand-made panini. Fortunately it was closed because we saw Julie waving at us to come and eat at a small tratteria. I had ravioli with pomodoro sauce. We saw what other people were being served on our outdoor seating and were jealous. We would like to go back and try some more meals.

Janet and I stopped in Castellina for gelato and then rode to the hotel. This is the second time we have been here. This time I have a room off of the lower garden. It’s nice with antique furniture, but it has no windows – only a shuttered door leading to the garden.

Happy Hour was at 6:30. During the route wrap, Tom said to do the short route tomorrow. The long route is too hilly for the last day of our tour. This pleased me because my legs are getting tired.

After Happy Hour, we met in the rose garden outside my room for a group photo. Then we went to our last group dinner at 8:00.

This was one of the best dinners of the trip, in my opinion. We started out with a white bean soup. The we had a mixed salad with fresh tomatoes and cucumbers. My main course was lamb chops with a sauce that could have been reduced balsamic vinegar. It also had some finely sliced grilled vegetables. Many of the others has either fish balls or chicken. Our dolce was a slice of cake that looked a little like wine cake but lighter with a hint of lemon. This came with a mini chocolate soufflé.

It’s now a little past 10:00. I’m going to check on my plane reservations and then go to bed.

Daily Statistics

Miles	Max	Average	Riding Time	Elevation Gain	Weather
52	34	11.3	4:38	4520	Sunny, 60’s to 90’s

20090522 – San Quirico to San Rocco a Pilli

I didn’t take any photos on the road today. This doesn’t happen very often, but it did today. I was concentrating on riding. There were some good photo ops, but nothing epic. As John Benson likes to say, “If you’ve seen one (you name it) you’ve seen them all”. Or was that Ronnie Reagan?

It turns out that I was the only one that did the “long” option today. It added some additional climbing past some hilltop villages. One of them was Petrolo which advertised itself as being the original terra cotta village. I’m not sure what that means. It was a picturesque village, though. It was getting pretty warm climbing to it, but once I got past it I rode through some tree-line lanes that gave me lots of shade.

There were lots more ups and downs until I reached Buonconvento, a town we stayed in a few days ago. I had lunch at Marios where we ate when we stayed there. Speghetti pomodora tasted good and it was filling enough that I had energy for the next leg of the ride but not too filling to slow me down. Before I ate, I stopped at the Coop and bought bananas and a power drink. I saved the bananas for later, but I chugged the drink. I saw Stacie and Alan there. They were on their way out and confirmed that I was the last rider on the route.

There was a short, wicked climb out of Buonconvento. In general, though, the climbs today were not very steep. They were more like rollers – some of them were long rollers. I saw Neil leaving Vescovado and rode with him for a short time. I caught up with Stacie and Alan who were stopped at a turn trying to find a dirt road to ride on. They were looking for a shortcut.

As I was approaching San Rocco a Pilli, I could see Siena in the distance at the top of its hill. The towers of the churches were very obvious.

Riding into San Rocco a Pilli, I stopped at a gelateria to cool down and to get some instant energy. (I had a 1k downhill to the hotel). I ordered a large cup with mixed citrus, mixed wild berries and lemon. Yummy! It got me all of the way down to the hotel.

I’m in the same room as before. It’s a small but adequate single. There was a mix up of reservations here so some of our group are staying at a nearby villa with a swimming pool. I can hardly wait to hear the stories. (The villa is not that great. Or maybe that is the story to make the rest of us feel better).

After cleaning up, I took my laptop to a room off of the lobby where Dave bought me a beer and I let him check his email.

After Happy Hour on the terrace, we had a pizza party in the dining room. We split up into tables of six and ordered four pizzas per table. The pizza was OK. It was nothing like pizza in Naples or in Sicily.

It’s now 9:30 and I am ready to read for a while and then go to bed. Earplugs will be necessary tonight because of some young adults talking loudly on my floor.

Daily Statistics

Miles	Max	Average	Riding Time	Elevation Gain	Weather
59	38.8	11.7	5:03	4640	Sunny, 60’s to 90’s

20090521 – San Quirico – Radicofani Loop

 

Another day, another beautiful ride. Today’s loop went out to Radicofani, a small hilltop village. Julie had been talking about going to this village ever since our Umbria trip. She kept pointing out a flat mountain with a castle on top of it in the distance. So we rode up to it today. The climb was gentle and not very long – almost like Tunnel Road in Berkeley.

When we got to the top, some of us walked or rode through the village. The main street was vertical. It and the side streets were old, well-maintained and charming. I bought a hand-made panino at a small store in the Piazza Teatro which is pictured on the right. Fresh bread with salami and pecarino cheese and a little olive oil. I ate it on the walk down to the village gate where our group congregated. I noticed that Julie was drinking juice made of oranges, lemons and carrots. I bought one, too, and it was very tasty. I poured half of it into my water bottle for the trip back to our hotel.

Five of us started the route back – Claudia, Julie, Barry, Neil and me. We had a nice downhill. Then we turned onto a dirt road for 5-6K. It was not as bad as the dirt road yesterday. It was smoother and had short stretches of pavement. This first section after Radicofani was on a ridge top, so we had great vista of the countryside on both sides of us.

Once we got onto permanent pavement, we had more downhill, a flat section of several kilometers and then a hot climb back to our hotel in San Quirico. I got back around 2:00.

After I cleaned up, I went to the hotel’s terrace and drank a beer with Mike. I took along my mix of salted peanuts and M&M’s to snack on. After that, I relaxed in my room and watched the end of the day’s Giro d’Italia time trial.

Happy Hour was on the lawn next to the pool. We had a some extra treats today brought to the party by people on our tour. Stacie and Alan brought two kinds of pecarino cheese – one plain and one with peppers. Howard and Martha brought a melon and some chips. All of these were very tasty.

I had dinner tonight at a pizzeria with Tom, Julie and Jerry. Pizzerias in Italy have other food besides pizza. I had a mixed salad and pici pasta with olive oil, pecarino cheese and pepper. It was very good. We followed dinner with gelato at a bar behind the Coop (grocery store). We sat in the midst of a large group of local Italian men who were either playing cards or kibitzing the card players.

It’s now after 10:00 and I’m going to bed.

Daily Statistics

Miles	Max	Average	Riding Time	Elevation Gain	Weather
44	36.2	11.6	3:45	2860	Sunny, 60’s to 90’s

20090519 – Buonconvento to San Quirico

Hot weather has officially arrived in Tuscany! We had another wonderful day of cycling, but by the end of the day it was getting pretty hot especially on the last climbs.

There were several highlights to the ride today. Because it’s getting a little late, I’ll concentrate on them. The first was the Bosco della Pagnaia (gardens). An American artist decided to give a gift to the Italian people in the form of a huge, elaborate garden. He does a lot of the work in the garden himself. Some of our group got to talk to him when they were there. All of us stopped there and strolled through part of the property. My impression was that it was very peaceful, natural and not over done.

The second highlight occurred shortly after the gardens. In a field alongside the road we spotted an archeological dig. There were several college students from the University of Siena working the ruins just like you see in movies or read about in books. Some of our group got a tour by an older American who was supervising the project. They have found many gravesites including one of a young child.

The third highlight was the climb up to and the visit of Montalcino. This was also my lunch stop. I had to stop on the uphill to eat some energy food, so reaching the town was a relief. I ate on a terrace outside of a trotteria and had taglioleti with fresh vegetables in a tomato-based sauce.

The fourth highlight was dinner at our hotel restaurant. We started out with carpaccio of smoked tuna and swordfish (excellent), cream of carrot soup (good but a little bland) and tagliolini pasta with a lemon sauce. This was followed by our main course of mixed salad and either prawns (kind of mushy) or beef. Dessert was ice cream with a red sauce (not tomato).

There is no wireless internet here, so the next few blogs will be posted a few days late.

It’s now 10:00 and I’m going to get ready for bed.

Daily Statistics

Miles	Max	Average	Riding Time	Elevation Gain	Weather
44	38.3	10	4:23	4290	Sunny, 60’s to 90’s

20090520 – San Quirico to Montepulciano & Peinza

Today was a loop ride from our hotel. It was another up and down route with a little twist. I started out after 6k visiting Bagno Vignoni, a village know since ancient times for its thermal springs. The main piazza is an enormous bath filled with hot water (it’s not possible to bathe there).

After that, I rode on until the turn to go up to Montepulciano where I stopped to do an adjustment to my bicycle. When I started out again, I saw our group screaming don the hill in the opposite direction. They yelled that the road was closed because a Hollywood film company was shooting some scenes on the road. So I turned around and followed. Fortunately, Tom and Julie were in the group to let us know what new roads to go on. We climbed up a long hill which is part of tomorrow’s route. Tom said to stop about 5k up the road in a parking lot for a photo op. So we did.

This photo shows Pete, me, Claudia, Barry, Mari and Larry. The viewpoint was opposite la Foce, one of the better known photo spots in Tuscany.

We continued up the hill to an intersection that pointed to Montepulciano to the left. We took this turn and were met by a 5k bumpy dirt road. We all made it safely, got back onto pavement and arrived in Montepulciano taking various routes into town but all meeting at Piazza Grande. I had my Rick Steves’ guidebook and began searching for various points of interest. I found Cantina Contucci, a winery with Adamo who has been making wine forever and welcomes tourists into his cellar.

I began to get hungry, so I found recommended Osteria Acquacheta. I ordered pici pasta with a lamb sauce and fresh asparagus. Both were good. The asparagus was cooked perfectly.

Leaving Montepulciano, I rode along a ridge for a few kilometers and entered Pienza. This town is best know as the birthplace of Pope Pius II. He remodeled the town in a Renaissance style but never completed before he and his architect died. This is a photo of the 13th-century town hall.

The last leg of our route took us back to our hotel.

Later in the afternoon, we went into old San Quirico and had a tour of an olive oil Factory. Ilaria Simonelli’s family has owned the factory, olive groves and vineyards for 300 years. For the oil, she uses the cold press method with much of the process done by hand. After a tour of her factory, she hosted a wine, olive oil and condiment tasting session.

Happy Hour was in a bar in the town where we had a route wrap for tomorrow’s ride. Because we rode part of the route today, Tom suggested some changes.

Dinner was outdoors in the garden of Trattoria al Vecchio Forno. I had bruscheta, Chicked in a wine sauce and a small vegetable soufflé. While walking back to the hotel, we samples some gelato.

It’s now 10:15 and I’m ready for bed.

Daily Statistics

Miles	Max	Average	Riding Time	Elevation Gain	Weather
37	35.7	10.9	3:23	2630	Sunny, 60’s to 90’s

20090518 – San Rocco a Pilli to Buonconvento

This was an “Eye Candy” ride. I started from the hotel around 8:45 riding solo. I finally got smart and decided to ride the “normal” ride instead of putting on extra mileage. I’m glad that I did because I was able to see fantastic scenery at a more comfortable pace. I could even stop and take photos without worrying that I would be late getting to the hotel.

The weather was perfect. The sun was out and the temperatures ranged from the high 60’s to the high 80’s. The terrain was rollers, some of them long and some of them moderately steep. The fields were bright green except where the wildflowers were sprouting. We saw lots of vineyards, some olive groves, sheep, cows, newly plowed fields, planted fields and much more. When we reached various ridges, we could see incredible vistas.

I rode solo for less than half of the ride. I saw Claudia and Berry pulling out of a bar after having cappuccino and joined them riding into Asciano. We found different places to buy panini. I ate in the shade on a chair on the town’s definitely unbusy main street. They ate in a park where our route turned. While we were finishing, a lot of our group arrived. While they set out to find food, we started the final leg of our route.

After about 10k of moderate uphills, we began descending into Buonconvento. We arrived in this small town around 12:30. We looked around for awhile to get acclimated. I spied Tom at the town’s best restaurant and joined him for a bowl of white bean and pasta soup with a light tomato base. After that, I checked into my room.

I have one of the rooms reserved for disabled persons. It has lots of space and it is very clean. The hotel is modern which is a change from the older buildings that we have been staying in.

After cleaning up, I joined Julie, Tom, Janet, Jerry, James and Betteanne for gelato across the street from the hotel.

Happy Hour was on the terrace at the top of the hotel (3rd floor). We spent a lot of time trying to pre-order the first course of out dinner because there were five choices of pasta with six different sauces. Once Julie got us straightened out, we had to remember what we ordered. Our restaurant was the best one in town – Da Mario. We had our first course (most of us remembered what we ordered) along with the house wine and water. Everyone had a mixed salad. Our main course, served family style, was chicken cooked in a lemon/orange sauce and rabbit cooked in a different sauce. Both were very good. Dinner ended for some of us at 9:00.

It’s now 9:30. I’m tired and ready to go to bed.

Daily Statistics

Miles	Max	Average	Riding Time	Elevation Gain	Weather
39	38.8	11.9	3:17	2670	Sunny, 60’s to 80’s

20090617 - San Rocco a Pilli – Siena

I was afraid that the mentally challenged young adults in our hotel would keep me awake last night. So I put in my double ear plugs, set my alarm for 7:00 and went to sleep. I forgot that I couldn’t hear my alarm when using ear plugs so I got up late, but not too late to miss a decent breakfast buffet. A bus had left with the other guests and we had the breakfast room to ourselves.

Today was an official off-the-bike day. At 9:30 we walked a short distance from our hotel and caught the local bus to go to Siena. We got off at the end of the line at Piazza Gramsci and walked over to the Church of San Domenico where we met our guide, Stella. We went into the church where Stella pointed out some things of religious significance as well as some secular things like the flags of all of Siena’s clans which were hanging on the walls.

Leaving the church, Stella led us downhill pausing at special spots such as old palaces, churches. etc. Then it was onto il Campo where we stood in front of the Fonte Gaia and talked about the history of the piazza, its surrounding buildings and the Palio horse race between the clans.

Next we walked into Stella’s clan area (elephant) and its museum. We have been to Siena several times, but this is the first time I have seen anything about the local culture. It was fun seeing the clothes that they wear during celebrations, the paintings that they have made after winning each horse race and the administrative room where they hold clan meetings.

After our museum we walked up to the Duomo, first passing through the local Sunday flea market. Stella showed us several lunch possibilities along the way. We reach the Duomo after noon. The sun was high and the temperature was very warm. Being Sunday, the Duomo was not open yet. So we stood in the shade in front of its ornate facade ooing and aaing.

Stella said goodbye and we were suddenly on our own. I walked back the way we came and had a pininno made for me in a special shop. It was salami and cheese with pesto sauce on fresh Italian bread. I sat next to the Fonte Gaia and ate most of it saving the rest for an afternoon snack.

I wandered around for a while and optimistically tried to go into the Duomo at its 1:30 opening. The line was not moving, so I made the hike back to the bus stop and caught the 2:30 bus back to Costello and our hotel.

At 5:30 we had a cooking demonstration in the hotel’s kitchen. We watched the chef make bolognaise sauce, pana cotta and a balsamic vinegar sauce for the pana cotta. Happy Hour was after that. Then dinner was at 7:30. I had a soup made out of white beans with carrots, garlic, celery, etc. I also had pasta with bolognaise sauce. All of us had pana cotta. I really enjoyed my dinner conversation with Alan and Stacie, Neal and Claudia and Berry.

It’s now 9:40. I’m going to publish this blog and go to bed. We are going into new territory tomorrow.

20090516 – San Gimignano to San Rocco a Pilli

We awoke to clear skies and warm weather. The rain from yesterday had passed. This was our last morning in San Gimignano so we had to pack our things and load them into the van. Julie and I had arranged to ride together and we left a little after 9:00. We stopped at the Coop (big grocery store) for bananas, etc. Then we waited around the corner for Tom who was negotiating the van out of the narrow streets and gates of the city. He turned the van over to Martha and then left with Julie and me cycling down the hill at around 9:30. Pretty soon, Tom told us to go on at our own pace because he was not feeling well and didn’t want us waiting for him. (Several people in our group have developed bad colds. I’m glad that I have a single room so I don’t have to share germs with a roommate).

Julie and I rode on, stopping a couple of times to chat with riders who left before we did. We traveled in a loose pack up and down the hills and stopped in Casole d’Elsa for a short rest. I found the little man that I missed a few days ago when we rode through here. Stacie was nice enough to take a photo of me with him.

After eating a banana, Julie and I took off again this time joined by Janet Monks (a fellow GPC’er). Our goal was to get to Radicondoli for lunch at the 62k mark. Julie had raved about a small grocery store that made terrific paninni with pesto sauce to moisten the bread. Because of the very hilly terrain and because it was getting very warm, we were riding slightly too slow to reach the store before its mid-day closing. This was a blessing in disguise, though, because we found a small trotteria up the street. Coincidently, Claudia, Berry and John were already there eating their lunch. When we greeted them, we found out that John had crashed, hurt his elbow, trashed his jersey and destroyed his camera. He still wanted to ride, so Julie gave him her cell phone to call the van if he needed to.

Julie, Janet and I sat down on the front patio of the trattoria and had large glasses of cold peach tea. Julie ordered a paninno with tomatoes as a garnish. It was huge. She save half of it. Janet and I had tagliolini primavera. The noodles were hand made and the sauce had fresh tomatoes and basil with lots of olive oil. It was also a large serving, but we ate all of it.

We got on our bikes again starting out downhill. At the first uphill, we all groaned because of our stiff legs. We had already climbed over 4000 feet and we could feel it. It was up and down for another 30k or so until we got to our hotel. We stopped at every turn to make sure we were together.

It was really nice riding with Julie and Janet. Our average pace is very compatible. I felt sorry for Janet, though. The front triple chain ring on her rental bike was giving her lots of trouble. It would not shift into the big chain ring and had random results shifting into the little chain ring. She did not complain, ever, even though she had a bad cold which seemed to bother her a lot. She will be scary strong when she gets back home and rides her own bike.

The weather today was fantastic and in some spots a little too warm. There was hardly any wind. We heated up on the uphills and cooled down on the downhills. We rolled through every type of terrain imaginable seeing vineyard, olive tree groves, newly plowed fields, forests, hilltop towns, etc. It was a center piece for bicycle riding in Tuscany.

Our hotel is basic, but clean with free internet. I have a truly single room which is really nice. There is a group of mentally challenged young adults staying with us. I really enjoyed turning on my laptop and showing some of them slideshows of my photos. They were entranced.

At Happy Hour tonight, we met on a terrace outside one of our rooms. It was highlighted by a thunder storm a short distance away. We were spritzed by a little rain. Dinner was at the hotel. I had gnocchi in a tomato sauce with mozzarella cheese and a mixed grill that had rabbit, sausage and some mystery meat in a bolognaise sauce, I think. It was spicy and tasty.

 

It’s now 9:40. I’m going to publish this blog and then go to bed.

Daily Statistics

Miles	Max	Average	Riding Time	Elevation Gain	Weather
60	36.3	11.6	5:14	5480	Sunny, 60’s to 90’s

20090515 – Gimignano and Voltarra

This blog will be short because it’s late and I want to go to bed.

We got ready to ride this morning doing a loop from San Gimignano to Voltarra and back. When we go to our bicycles, it started to rain, not a hard rain but a pesky one. We decided to bag the ride and hire a couple of taxis to take us to Voltarra. We got there around 11:00 and meandered through this Etruscan hilltop town. There was a Roman theater, a duomo and an Etruscan museum. The museum had an endless collection of funerary urns, lots of coins, some jewelry and many other things. Lots of the urns were carved alabaster.

I had lunch in a cafeteria-style restaurant with John – bruschetta, lasagna and vegetables. We wandered through a park whose background was a Medici palace that has been turned into a maximum security prison. I also visited an alabaster workshop where they were making some alabaster art.

We left Volterra at 4:00 and came back to our hotel. Happy Hour was at 6:00 and dinner was at 7:30. Our restaurant tonight had us sitting outside on the terrace (the rain has stopped). The view was exceptional. I had rabbit and grilled vegetables. Both were good, especially the sauce on the rabbit.

 

Now it’s after 10:00. I’m going to post this blog and go to bed.

20090514 – San Gimignano Country

It is quiet in San Gimignano at night. There are no all-night bars around our hotel with loud tourists. There is, however, a distinct odor that permeates your room in the middle of the night if you leave your window open. I had to get up in the middle of the night to close mine. I’m going to try leaving it open again tonight to see if the same thing happens.

There are lots of people in our hotel. Almost all of them showed up for breakfast when it opened at 7:30. The cappuccino lady was very busy and very efficient. I had some grapefruit for the first time on this trip. I also scooped out a large portion of yogurt and mixed it with honey (shades of Turkey and Greece). There were other things that I ate, but I can’t mention them because I’m not supposed to eat them.

I decided to ride the mid-range route today. Tom warned me that our ride when we leave San Gimignano is an “epic” ride. So I am not going to overdo our loop rides from here. I started out riding with John, or maybe I should say that he started riding with me. He has a tendency to get lost and he wanted to ride with someone with a GPS. Well, our duo ride lasted until the first steep hill when John disappeared up ahead. I didn’t see him again until lunch when he rode in with Tom and Julie. He took another wrong turn and luckily found them.

The ride before lunch was very pleasant – not too many hills and several kilometers of flat riding. I saw several older cyclists going the other direction. The route up to our suggested lunch stop in Montaione was long, but not too steep – comparable to Tunnel Road. The view at the top, however, was way more spectacular than TR. I bought a sandwich, chips and a Fanta and sat at a table overlooking the valleys below. I was just getting onto my bicycle when Julie, Tom and John showed up. I waited while they ate and while others in our group arrived. I’m glad I did. At about 2k down the road our route was closed for construction. Nobody was working, so we we walked our bicycles through the construction zone. First, Julie and John went back to warn the other cyclists about the problem. They, in turn, warned the newly arriving cyclists. So it all worked out.

The rest of the ride included some long rollers and a long descent toward San Gimignano. We passed the chicken farm again and this time I recorded the sound. Then there was a gradual uphill, a left turn through the San Mateo Gate and a .2k uphill to our hotel on cobbles, through pedestrians and exiting vans from the Thursday market.

The weather today was perfect. Temperatures started in the high 60’s and warmed to the mid 80’s. It was sunny with some haze. There was very little wind. In fact the wind has not been a factor on any of our rides.

When I got to the hotel, I showered and had a post-ride snack of peanuts and gelato (grapefruit and red orange).

I set up the Happy Hour treats along with Pete and Larry. We cut pears, carrots, peppers and cheese. Julie mixed up a couple of dips one of which included pesto and soft cheese. We had lots of wine. In a circle, we continued to introduce ourselves by talking about our careers. This is a very diverse group.

We split up for dinner. My group went to Trattoria Chiribiri. I ate at a table with Mike, Francine, Julie and Tom.  I had roast boar and a side dish of white beans. Both of these are specialties of Tuscany.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped for gelato – coffee, chocolate and cream.

It’s now 9:10. I’m going to post this blog and then go to bed.

Daily Statistics

Miles	Max	Average	Riding Time	Elevation Gain	Weather
40	38.3	11.7	3:25	3000	Sunny, 60’s to 80’s

20090513 – Castellina to San Gimignano

  This is what a good Italian hotel breakfast buffet looks like. There is some fresh fruit but lots of everything else, including delicious croissants. We had this buffet this morning at Villa Casalecchi.

When I checked out of the hotel, I had to pay for last night’s dinner. I handed Umberto my VISA card and all of a sudden it disappeared. Umberto is around my age or a little older, so I understood his consternation and confusion about where it went. Fortunately Stacie was waiting to pay her bill and she found it. It had dropped down onto a computer peripheral between two tables. Umberto and I were very happy.

I started riding around 9:00. The road out of the villa was loose, thick gravel and a little dicey to ride on. I made it without crashing and met several others from our group at the end ready to enter the main road and start our ride. We had a nice downhill at the start. All of us stopped at a turnout to take a photo of the fabulous scenery.

After the photo op, I went on a mission to find a grocery store so I could buy some bananas. I guess that I go a bit faster than most on the downhill because in a short while, nobody was behind me. I found the grocery store and bought a few bananas which I stuffed into my back pocket.

The rest of my ride was fairly uneventful. I stopped to take photos, eat a banana and a Mars Bar and to eat lunch at a unroach coach. I say unroach because the coach was very clean, had a patio with picnic tables and even had potted plants in front. My salami sandwich even had mayonnaise on it. The timing of this stop was perfect because I was getting a little hungry and I didn’t want to repeat yesterday’s problem where I had trouble finding a place to eat. I only had about 12 miles to go to San Gimignano but I needed some food to get me to the end of the ride easier.

On the way into San Gimignano I passed a chicken farm. I wouldn’t have known it if I hadn’t heard a bunch of roosters crowing. This must be a prime area for chicken farming because I saw a truck or two hauling chickens to market.

The ride today was much easier than yesterday’s ride. It was a bit shorter and a lot less climbing. The weather was perfect – 70’s to low 80’s. I got to our hotel around 2:00. The van was parked outside the city waiting for Julie and Tom to arrive. Martha had driven it here, but Tom was reluctant to have her drive through the narrow town gates to get to the hotel and unload our luggage. So Martha, Dave, Jerry and I waited until the Leevers got here having a good conversation and drinking lots of water at the hotel’s outdoor cafe.

Happy hour was on a terrace of our hotel outside three of our group’s rooms. The view from the terrace was wonderful. After Happy Hour we had a pizza party with pizzas and salads from two different pizzerias.

Daily Statistics

Miles	Max	Average	Riding Time	Elevation Gain	Weather
43	37.8	12	3:34	3230	Sunny, 60’s to 80’s

20090512 – Florence to Castellina in Chianti

I was awake before my alarm went off. So I got up, got everything packed and went to breakfast. We were joined on the terrace by a group of sixth-graders who were on a field trip to Florence from a school in Brussels. Their teachers told us that were were multiple nationalities and that some of them were assigned specific Renaissance subject to teach the other kids in their group. Tell Timmy.

I started riding around 9:00. I was riding solo because I was doing the extended ride and I was warned that some of the East Coast riders were hammerheads. I didn’t want to compete with them especially since the route was very hilly.

I immediately got lost within the first 2 kilometers. My trusty GPS put me on an alternate route and soon I was back to the correct route. There was lots of traffic as I was leaving Florence. After several kilometers, I was on  country roads enjoying the Tuscan countryside – lots of vineyards and olive trees. The weather was warm enough to ride without arm and leg warmers.

The terrain during the early portion of the ride was long, gentle rollers – no steep grades. I stopped at 30 K for cappuccino, a croissant and a banana for energy. It’s a good thing I did because the gentle rollers became steep walls. I made another wrong turn (I must not have been paying attention to my GPS) and became lost. Because I was on the wrong road, the GPS was routing me in strange directions. I finally decided to ignore it and follow the road signs to the next large town on the route. I had to retrace my route for about 5 K and do some extra climbing, but I got back to the real route and began using my queue sheet and the GPS together.

The weather was getting hot and the climbs were getting steeper and longer. I was getting hungry but I couldn’t find a bar that was open. So I broke into my stash of Mars Bars and ate one to get me through the next 20 K.

At one point, I stopped at a turn to make sure that I was going in the right direction and an Italian cyclist on a mountain bike went past me. He was going to one of the towns up ahead and made sure I was going there, too. Later I told him that I was going on to Castellina and he showed me the correct turn to get there. I was getting hungry again so I stopped for another Mars Bar. Fortunately, I had a long descent to rest. Then it was a long, medium difficulty climb into Castellina. At about 3 K from Castellina, I spotted a bar/restaurant and stopped for a pinnino and a cold peach tea. I also drank a pint of water.

This rest stop made the rest of the ride easier. I pulled into the hotel at 3:25, made a beeline to my room, took a shower, washed my riding clothes, turned on the Giro d’Italia and started this blog. I am in the carriage house with many of the couples in our group. My room is large and furnished with antique furniture. I have a good view if I stretch out the window. I’m about to go to the main house to see what it looks like.

Happy Hour was outside my room, which was very handy. Tom gave a route wrap for tomorrow’s ride. The route is a lot easier than today’s ride.

We had four seating times for dinner. I teamed up with James and Betteanne Barash, Paul and Denise Eckstein and John Datsko. I had fettuccine al ragu chiatigiano con fili di pecorino and arrista di maiale alla salvia e rosemarino with confettura di cipolle e potate arrosto – noodles with wild boar and pecorino sauce and roasted pork with potatoes. They were very good.

We had a lively dinner conversation and broke up at 8:30 after John’s leg began to cramp.

It’s now 9:15 and I’m going to read for awhile and then go to sleep early.

Daily Statistics

Miles	Max	Average	Riding Time	Elevation Gain	Weather
52	36.4	10	5:12	6350	Sunny, 60’s to high 80’s