Giorno Cinque

Giorno Cinque

Thursday Sept 15, 2011

Chianti Loop: 85.9 km (53.3 miles) Elevation gain 3372

Link to Garmin data:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/114541223

If you are checking mileage from my Garmin data, you will verify that I did not finish this ride.  Andres description of this days journey was "mystical".  My description of my backside was "hamburger".  I still covered considerable ground and plenty of uphill with our daily printout repeatedly noting "uphill continues".  No kidding!  The worst of these was 4 km long.  

Again I started the morning off with some photos of early morning in Chianti.

Brain cell damage precludes me from naming this little town square where we stopped to refill our water bottles at a "brass tap" and receive some nutrition in the form of an endless supply of watermelon provided by Emily. 

 We also took a rest stop in Radda (Italian for Rooster) which is the ubiquitous symbol of Chianti. I believe this is where the only reported criminal activity of our trip occurred.  We got in the habit of locking our bikes together whenever we stopped to stroll around a hilltop town.  Upon returning to the bikes and unlocking, I turned my back for what was no more than 3 seconds and walked to some nearby steps to put my bike shoes back on.  When I returned to the spot where I remembered leaving my bike, it was not there.  To make matters worse, I had already put my fanny pack with wallet and two cameras in the bike carry bag.  I looked around frantically and Andres asked what was the matter.  When I told him, his eyes got as big as pie pans as I am sure he pondered the ramifications of explaining the loss of an expensive titanium bike to his boss.  There was no lack of concern by the rest of my group as we looked around for someone slinking off with my bike.  Oddly, the only person who was uninvolved in the search was Gustavio.  It was later revealed to me by Karina, that he could not have possibly looked my way because he was spasmodic with laughter and tears in his eyes.  Nace discovered my bike behind a nearby wall and we all had a good laugh.  

 Here is Rob at one of the leather shops in search of a "manbag" that matches his sneakers.  We all agreed on the one with the red strap.

 Some of us chose to finish on a high note and arranged for the "shuttle" to pick us up at the bottom of a curvaceous 6 km downhill.

 We enjoyed one last poolside reposo after our day in the saddle.  The only complete sentence that I know in Italian-una bottiglia di vino rosso della casa per favore!  I used this with alacrity.

Watching the sun set before our last dinner together at il Convinto di Curina