BAC Green Roads Of Tuscany 2009

The Little Man in Casole d’Elsa

We awoke to clear skies and warm weather. The rain from yesterday had passed. This was our last morning in San Gimignano so we had to pack our things and load them into the van. Julie and I had arranged to ride together and we left a little after 9:00. We stopped at the Coop (big grocery store) for bananas, etc. Then we waited around the corner for Tom who was negotiating the van out of the narrow streets and gates of the city. He turned the van over to Martha and then left with Julie and me cycling down the hill at around 9:30. Pretty soon, Tom told us to go on at our own pace because he was not feeling well and didn’t want us waiting for him. (Several people in our group have developed bad colds. I’m glad that I have a single room so I don’t have to share germs with a roommate).

Julie and I rode on, stopping a couple of times to chat with riders who left before we did. We traveled in a loose pack up and down the hills and stopped in Casole d’Elsa for a short rest. I found the little man that I missed a few days ago when we rode through here. Stacie was nice enough to take a photo of me with him.

Cafe Nazionale

After eating a banana, Julie and I took off again this time joined by Janet Monks (a fellow GPC’er). Our goal was to get to Radicondoli for lunch at the 62k mark. Julie had raved about a small grocery store that made terrific panini with pesto sauce. Because of the very hilly terrain and because it was getting very warm, we were riding slightly too slow to reach the store before its mid-day closing. This was a blessing in disguise, though, because we found a small restorante/pizzeria up the street. Coincidently, Claudia, Barry and John were already there eating their lunch. When we greeted them, we found out that John had crashed, hurt his elbow, trashed his jersey and destroyed his camera. He still wanted to ride, so Julie gave him her cell phone to call the van if he needed to.

Julie, Janet and I sat down on the front patio of the trattoria and had large glasses of cold peach tea. Julie ordered a panino with tomatoes as a garnish. It was huge. She saved half of it. Janet and I had tagliolini primavera. The noodles were hand-made and the sauce had fresh tomatoes and basil with lots of olive oil. It was a large serving, but we ate all of it.

We got on our bikes again starting out downhill. At the first uphill, we all groaned because of our stiff legs. We had already climbed over 4000 feet and we could feel it. It was up and down for another 30k or so until we got to our hotel. We stopped at every major turn to make sure we were together.

It was really nice riding with Julie and Janet. Our average pace was very compatible. I felt sorry for Janet, though. The front triple chain ring on her rental bike was giving her lots of trouble. It would not shift into the big chain ring and had random results shifting into the little chain ring. She did not complain, ever, even though she had a bad cold which seemed to bother her a lot. She will be scary strong when she gets back home and rides her own bike.

The weather today was fantastic and in some spots a little too warm. There was hardly any wind. We heated up on the uphills and cooled down on the downhills. We rolled through every type of terrain imaginable seeing vineyards, olive tree groves, newly plowed fields, forests, hilltop towns, etc. It was a center piece for bicycle riding in Tuscany.

My Single Room

Hotel Castello in San Rocco a Pilli is basic, but clean with free internet. I have a truly single room which is really nice. There is a group of mentally challenged young adults staying with us. I really enjoyed turning on my laptop and showing some of them slideshows of my photos. They were entranced.

At Happy Hour tonight, we met on a terrace outside one of our rooms. It was highlighted by a thunder storm a short distance away. We were spritzed by a little rain. Dinner was at the hotel. I had gnocchi in a tomato sauce with mozzarella cheese and a mixed grill that had rabbit, sausage and some mystery meat in a bolognaise sauce, I think. It was spicy and tasty.

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