Tuesday, September 5. Mama! Mama!
Day 5: On this day we ride into terrain completely different from
that of the first two days of cycling. The ride takes us through the Crete
Senese. Those who have seen Bertolucci's Stealing Beauty or
The English Patient will recognize this area with its starkly beautiful
landscape of barren rolling hills punctuated by solitary cypress trees. We
stay in the charmingly authentic town of Asciano. This is a centuries-old
walled town whose inhabitants have ingeniously incorporated the old
defensive walls of the town into their homes. Dinner tonight features
and Italian favorite - pizza! Cycling distance 35 miles.
On the road to Asciano
Cindy has a sinus infection and doesn't ride with us.
Today's ride turns out to be the worst of the trip because of a stretch
of unpaved road. David and I suffer with our road bikes over the rough
surface. The others are on mountain bikes that have shock absorbers and
wider tires. On a steep climb during that stretch, we struggle just to keep
moving forward without slipping our wheels, but Brian passes us at nearly
a sprint. The avid mountain biker is in his element.
Once we hit pavement, I can pull away from the pack again. However, the
countryside is too beautiful, and I make many stops for pictures. As a result,
the group stays in a fairly tight pack.
After a speedy descent, I hit a bump and my handle bar bag flies off and I run
over it. I stop immediately and check my camera. It's fine. I figure that
the tripod took most of the impact. Later, I discover that my tin of Altoids
is dented. David and Liz stop and wait patiently while I go through all of
my checks.
We stop at a hotel for lunch at an outdoor table. It's a familiar dish to
David and myself: tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. It's just as wonderful
as the first time I tasted it. After we eat, Lawrence talks to the hotel
management and arranges for us to use the pool if we "rent" a room. Split
16 ways, the price wouldn't be much, but nobody goes for it.
Continuing to our destination, we run across a patch of road strewn with
shattered glass. Claire pulls up on her bike and calls for a stop and
people ride around the glass. Being in the front of the pack, I don't
stop in time and weave for a bit before finally hitting a jagged shard
and puncturing a tire. Claire leaves me a patch kit and a frame pump
and goes ahead with the rest of the party. David stays with me to assist.
After we patch the tire, we pedal furiously and catch and pass the rest
of the pack. As I pass them one by one, I imagine that I'm Lance in the
final time trial stage of the '99 Tour de France. (I read about that in
his book.)
Asciano
I arrive at the hotel to find Paul beat me there by quite a bit. He tells me
about the family running the hotel fighting loudly. Nello calls them crazy,
and Claire says that the REI people call them the Addams Family.
I lie down on my bed for a rest/nap/whatever and am interrupted by
high-pitched screams. I run down to the lobby to check it out and discover
that it's Lora celebrating her reunion with her luggage. It's just down to
Liz now.
We have dinner at a local restaurant where we eat many kinds of pizza. David
and I get a bit excited over some unusual menu items. We order tuna fish and
joke about seeing canned tuna. When it arrives, it turns out to be not far
from the truth. It isn't exactly canned tuna, but it's been processed
in some way. It's salty and pungent, a bit like anchovies.
While ordering desserts, Nello discourages people from ordering tiramisu
in favor of something more intersting. He states that "tiramisu is
so easy to make, it's like a weed. You see it everywhere."
We drink grappas in the hotel lobby.
Giro d'Toscana main
Today's pictures
Main Pictures page
enviable.net home
Send complaints/comments to web weenie.