20100607 - San Severino to San Lorenzo

We slept in this morning until 6:30. Breakfast was at 7:30 – later than usual. Logistics were the key in starting our ride. Many of our riders were wary of the initial 1000 foot climb. So Tom arranged to transport their bicycles to the top of the hill. He and Ann, in our rental car, made three trips up the hill carrying passengers. To complicate things, we had one sick, one injured and one with a broken bicycle. Tom turned the van over to Carol. Her passengers to the next hotel were Judy and Sue. Ann carried Julie (sick) and Rod (broken bicycle).

The weather started out warm and became hot. This made the climbs seem harder. Most of the climbs in this part of Italy are relatively short – less than 10 km. Several have steep pitches of 7 %– 13%. Today was no exception. I used all of my gears and I am glad that I had low ones.

We again rode on some ridges giving us wonderful views on each side. Several of us stopped in Mergo at the top of a hard climb. We used a small grocery store to buy cold drinks. The store had a meat and cheese counter. I asked one of the clerks to make me a pinino – a hard roll with pecorino cheese and a fresh tomato. I also bought two bananas, a Fresca and a bottle of water. It was getting hot and I needed to drink a lot. We sat under the shade on benches outside of the store to eat and drink. The photo above is the GPC contingent – Sally McKinney, Margie Kirk and me.

I was able to ride the whole route today without getting lost until the end when I didn’t see the hotel sign and overshot it by 1/2 mile. I stopped and called Ann who got me turned around and even met me at the side of the road so that I would make the right turn into the hotel’s parking lot.

I left at 8:35 and got in at 1:30. Here is a link to today's route.

After I got in, Ann joined some others at a near-by pizzeria for lunch. I had eaten enough with my bananas and pinino. Later, she went swimming in the hotel’s large pool while I sat poolside chatting with Dave, Sue, Kathy and Hal.