Sandy, Deb, Jackie And Margie On The Route
We left Torino in a large passenger bus at 9:00 and arrived at Antico Podere Propano in Saluzzo at 10:00. We unloaded the bus and stored our luggage. The riders who brought their bicycles lugged them to the internal courtyard and started to put them together. Five of us who rented bicycles were met by the mechanic from Bicycle Rentals Plus who had our bicycles assembled and waiting. He made minor adjustments for us like saddle height and handlebar height. I have a nice light weight titanium bicycle with plenty of gears. Janet Monks, the sixth renter, had to wait in Torino to pick up her luggage which was delayed by the airline for two days. It is ironic that all of the renters are members of GPC.
Because we had worn our cycling clothes on the bus ride and because our bicycles were ready, the five of us started out on the Saluzzo test ride. Riding with me were Jackie Arnett, Margie Kirk, Sandy Emerson and Deb Richerson. We rode past the rest of the group who were still in various stages of assembling their bikes.
The ride was very flat and was only 30 miles long. The sky was overcast but the temperature was in the 70s. It was a little humid and the wind was light. Tom Leever's queue sheets were almost perfect. We made no wrong turns. This is farm country so many of the roads were a bit rough being chewed up by heavy farm equipment. We were in low traffic areas and traffic consisted of cars and tractors. There were lots of corns fields and other fields that looked like some kind of grain. There were also a bunch of orchards of cherries, apples, plums and probably other fruit that we did not recognize. Because it is Italy, there were plenty of vineyards. Some of the roads that we were on were very narrow but we felt safe because the traffic was light or non-existent.
We stopped for lunch in a small town called Carde. The sign on the building where we stopped said it was a trattoria but it was really just an Italian bar. (Bars in Italy are like coffee/beer stops were you can get some food. I had a ham and cheese panino. The others had some really bad white-bread pizza.
We got back to our hotel at 3:00, made some bicycle adjustments and checked into our rooms. I have a single room on the third floor which really is a regular room with a king size bed. I took a shower and washed out my cycling clothes. They are hanging at my floor-to-ceiling French doors which open onto the large enclosed courtyard of the hotel. From time-to-time I can hear the guard gander protecting his goose from returning bicycle riders. He is sometimes joined by a large dog that looks like a golden retriever mix but much larger and much hairier.
Our Happy Hour was at 6:00. Dinner followed at Terragenella, a small osteria a mile hike into town. We has risotto with strawberries, pork, panna cotta and wine. Trudging back to the hotel helped the digestive process. It's now after 10:00 and I am going to bed.
Buona Notte.
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