BAC Green Roads Of Tuscany 2009

The terrain during the early portion of the ride was long, gentle rollers – no steep grades. I stopped at 30 K for cappuccino, a croissant and a banana for energy. It’s a good thing I did because the gentle rollers became steep walls. I made another wrong turn (I must not have been paying attention to my GPS) and became lost. Because I was on the wrong road, the GPS was routing me in strange directions. I finally decided to ignore it and follow the road signs to the next large town on the route. I had to retrace my route for about 5 K and do some extra climbing, but I got back to the real route and began using my queue sheet and the GPS together.

The weather was getting hot and the climbs were getting steeper and longer. I was getting hungry but I couldn’t find a bar that was open. So I broke into my stash of Mars Bars and ate one to get me through the next 20 K.

Bar/Restaurant that Re-Energized Me

At one point, I stopped at a turn to make sure that I was going in the right direction and an Italian cyclist on a mountain bike went past me. He was going to one of the towns up ahead and made sure I was going there, too. Later I told him that I was going on to Castellina and he showed me the correct turn to get there. I was getting hungry again so I stopped for another Mars Bar. Fortunately, I had a long descent to rest. Then it was a long, medium difficult climb into Castellina. At about 3k from Castellina, I spotted a bar/restaurant and stopped for a panino and a cold peach tea. I also drank a pint of water.

Paul, Denise and Betteanne Preparing Happy Hour Snacks

This rest stop made the rest of the ride easier. I pulled into Villa Casalecchi in Castellina in Chianti at 3:25, made a beeline to my room, took a shower, washed my riding clothes, turned on the Giro d’Italia and started my blog. I was in the carriage house with many of the couples in our group. My room was large and furnished with antique furniture. I had a good view if I stretched out the window to look at it.

Happy Hour was in a common area outside of my room, which was very handy. Tom gave a route wrap for tomorrow’s ride. The route is a lot easier than today’s ride.

Umberto with Our Menus

We had four seating times for dinner. I teamed up with James and Betteanne Barash, Paul and Denise Eckstein and John Datsko. I had fettuccine al ragu chiatigiano con fili di pecorino and arrista di maiale alla salvia e rosemarino with confettura di cipolle e potate arrosto – noodles with wild boar and pecorino sauce and roasted pork with potatoes. They were very good.

We had a lively dinner conversation and broke up at 8:30 after John’s leg began to cramp.