Seaside

Miles from Home - 5362.7
Firsts / Highlights - Began to explore Ligure
Miles Ridden - 50.75 miles
Vertical Feet - 4,060 ft.
Route - My GPS lost my route today. I have a message into Garmin tech support to try to get it resolved.
People - Just me.


Visualizza Finale Ligure in una mappa di dimensioni maggiori

This post is from June 24-25, 2009.



This was my first day at a Bike Hotel in Finale in the region of Ligure. It is the heart of the Riviera, and I selected it really for one reason. It wasn’t raining here. Much of Italy and everywhere I checked in Switzerland were looking like rain or snow most of this week. I may have painted myself into a logistical corner by coming so far south, but the objective of staying warm and dry were met. The sun was out and the beaches were busy all day.

I didn’t subject the sunbathers to my biker’s tan (tan up to about 3 inches above the knee and 6 inches below the shoulder – everything else is pasty white). For me, tan is a relative term, but there is a noticeably different shade of white. Whether you call it a biker’s tan or a farmer’s tan, it’s not going to see the beach.

This bike hotel is a bit of a step down from the great experiences I have had so far. Not terrible, but not quite so exceptional. Walking from the train station ¾ of a mile with my backpack, bike and bike box on sidewalks that were not wide enough for 2 people to pass was a bad start. The pay-for-a-guide and pay-for-laundry models were also a step down from the other hotels. Finally, the quality of food included with the half-board package was not as good as my previous stays and the dining room was overrun with screaming kids (the sound of screaming kids does not seem to be language-dependent). I dropped half-board for the remainder of my stay, so the food and screaming kid problems are solved. I think overall everything will be just fine.

Somewhat like Riccione, the mountains climb immediately out of the sea here. A thin strip of flat oceanfront, then the climbing begins. After the Alps, the grades here were a welcome relief. I climbed 4,000 feet today, but the grade rarely went outside the 4-7% range. That allowed me to do some “tempo” climbing where I could maintain a higher cadence than has been possible for the past week. It felt good and my legs have a different type of fatigue tonight.



At the top of the 3,000’ pass, the road passed through some kind of military fortress. This seemed more modern than the medieval walled cities I have seen everywhere. It had a stone trench around it like a mote, it was built into the mountaintop and it had chimneys coming out of the top. The tunnel passing through it was 50 meters long with an atrium in the middle and the building was at least 300-400 meters wide. I need to learn more about it, but it created some interesting photographic opportunities.



Another uncategorized observation is street markets. I frequently come upon markets during my rides. Almost every one of any size has at least one vendor selling all purple clothes. Sometimes there are 3 or 4 stalls in a row with nothing but purple. The odd thing is that I don’t see a disproportionally high percentage of people wearing purple. Another one of those mysteries. I’m sure Daniele’s response would be a shrug, and he would say, “It’s Italian”.