Firsts / Highlights - First time riding in an international peloton. First Sunday ride in Italy. Passing an elderly Italian man wearing a suit on a bike nearly as old as he was. A scene for my Italian memory book.
Miles Riden - 62.3 miles
Vertical Feet - 3,368 ft
Route - View Today's Route Here. This site will let you view a map of the ride, an elevation profile, my heart rate and pedal cadence throughout the day. You can also use the "Player" option to playback the ride while viewing a graph of any of the recorded data. Or... you can just ignore it.
I had read that Sundays in Italy were a bicycle spectacle. Today I got to experience it. Hundreds and hundreds of bikes out on the road. Not in massive groups like event rides in the U.S., but smaller clusters all headed in different directions. Every roadside cafe had tables full of cyclists, and you see them on the road everywhere. Some groups wear the outfits of their clubs and hammer down the road in a color-coordinated blur.
I was in a group of about 17 riders and will be with the same people all week. Not surprisingly, it was a fun group of people all sharing an appreciation for the experience. This was far-and-away the most international group of riders I have ever shared time with. I have the honor of the greatest distance covered to get to the starting line. We had representatives from the Italy, France, Wales, Germany, Switzerland, England and the U.S.. That's a lot of languages going around just to exchange pleasantries and communicate road hazards. "Stop" and "okay" seem to be universal, but the rest is a matter of interpreting inflection. Lucky for me, many of them speak English as a second, third or fourth language. With representation from so many countries, I can imagine what communication must be like inside a professional racing peloton where the exchanges may not be quite so pleasant.
I rode today with Stefano Guiliodori, the owner of Hotel Dory and founder of the Italy Bike Hotel organization. What a great idea. If more Americans knew about this opportunity, I think it would be a valid option for people who take much more expensive active vacations from companies like Backroads and Butterfield & Robinson. Not quite as cushy, but a great option for riding enthusiasts. He is going to call a friend of his who operates an agriturismo farm in Tuscany. If all goes well, I may be able to stay at his farm as my home base in Tuscany after chasing the Giro next week.
Every morning this week, 4 groups will leave the hotel off on different routes with their guides. Tomorrow is unique because all groups converge at a farm owned by the hotelier's family. We have lunch there before finishing the last 10 miles of the ride back to the hotel. Should be another good one. Weather has been great so far, and it looks like it should remain so for the rest of my time in Riccione.
Tuesday is an early start (8:30) because we will be riding 120km into the north section of le Marche region.
My electronic woes continue a little bit. I have not shorted out the power supply in the new hotel, but I temporarily misplaced my Blackberry (don't panic Mark, it has since been found). I had some camera battery problems today. Riding with the group, it will not be possible to take a lot of pictures, but I missed some good opportunities. After some time on the charger, I think I will be okay tomorrow. With only one power adapter, rationing recharge time for all of my gadgets has required some diligence. At any rate, no new pictures today. I have included some from yesterday because I suspect there are some people who will never see these words that just check in for the pictures.
It's hard to believe that so much has already happened, and I am just at the equivalent of a long weekend away from work.
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Ok, that "today's ride" link was very cool. Great pics and update!
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