I was dreading today after yesterdays suffering, but was again surprised how one day you can feel totally diferent to another. It was a great ride on a hot and hilly day and to cap it off I stayed the night with Alec (Paulas cousin) his wife Nevie and their children, it was lovely to have some company again.
I got away at 9.30 and managed the first 40k at an average speed of 26kph, this took me to Castel Bolognese near Imola, and it was after here that the hills started. It had been 280k of flatlands across the Po basin where the biggest hill was the bridge over the Po, and I was looking forward to the hills for a few reasons. They are more scenic, more challenging, the traffic is slower, more bends (long straight roads are awful), quieter and because your hands more in different positions on the handle bars it means your pessure points on the saddle change resulting in a lot less pain in the nether regions. In fact today was virtually a pain free day.
I stopped for lunch in Palazzuolo after having climbed to 400m from about 30m, thinking that I would not get much higher but I was wrong. After lunch the road went up and up, but it was easy climbing with a gradient of about 4 - 6%. The roads were very quiet apart from the incessent noise of crickets and I reached the Passo Sambuca (1080m) folowed by another 1000m pass before decsending on a twisty but easy descent down to Borgo San Lorenzo. One more small climb followed where I crashed into a guy who ran across the road from behind a van without looking, we both stayed upright so no harm done, then an easy cruise to Firenze. I found Alec's address easy enough and even had time for a "birra grande" in the bar next door before they returned home.
We had a relaxing evening staying up until the early hours drinking wine, beer, eating pizza and taking a night time bike ride around the packed streets of Firenze. When I suggested we should put some bike lights on Nevie said "but we are only riding around the city". That's what is so great about biking in Italy, or most of Europe for that matter, it's so relaxed. So when we cycled down a one way street the wrong way with no lights, the police car coming against us just pulled in to let us go. I love it.
One possible reason why I was climbing quite well today is that I have developed my own theory for climbing based upon what some Pro cyclists do when cycling through tunnels (ref Day 24). They close one eye to improve their night vision & when I climb I close both eyes to see my white lycra vision!!!
Todays Stats
Distance 141.69k
Climb 1657m
Riding Time 6:31:32
Average Speed 21.7kph
Total Riding Time 9:37
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