Bob and Ann in Italy 2011

We had a good breakfast buffet with lots of protein this morning. This helps me keep down the hunger pangs after a couple hours of riding. We were expecting rain later today, so we got on the road shortly after 9:00. The sky was dark and the weather was cool. After several days off of my bicycle, it felt good to be riding again.

Bicycle Path Sign

Our ride was an out-and-back to the city of Rovereto. The entire route was on a bicycle path. Parts of the path were shared with cars, tractors and pedestrians. After leaving Riva, most of us made a turn too early and ended up climbing our major climb of the day on a semi-busy highway. It was OK because we merged with our intended route at the top of the hill. Tom and Julie Leever were waiting there with the van showing us which street to go on. From that point, we were on a few minor ups and downs until we reached Rovereto. We cycled past vineyards and corn fields most of the way. We managed to navigate through one small town and its outdoor market. When the route sheets were confusing, we just kept following the brown bicycle route signs.

Houses with Frescos in Rivereto

I rode the out portion of the ride with Claudia and Barry Spaulding, Alan Deda, Sandra Eve, and Ron Guidotti. When we reached the end of the bicycle path in Rovereto, Ron and I stopped and looked back. The other four riders were missing. We waited for a couple of minutes and then went on our own tour of the city. Dead-reckoning our way back to the bicycle path, we were fortunate to ride through the oldest part of the city. There were very old buildings painted with frescos, a fortress and narrow, narrow streets.

Ron and I stopped to eat bananas and then headed back to Riva. On the way, we played leapfrog with Paul Braithwaite. Halfway back, we met Jan Hansen and Jane McGrath and rode with them almost to the end. At one point we helped Jane change a pinch flat.

When we reached the top of the hill where we came up the wrong way earlier, we went down the correct way. We were glad we did because the view of Riva and the lake were gorgeous.

Jan and Jane descended slower than Ron and me. We did not see them after we reached the bottom of the hill, so we continued on and promptly got lost. We should have waited for them to help us with directions. We know that we were off of the bicycle trail when we dead-ended into a hotel parking lot. No problem, though. We walked our bicycles up some stairs, rode down a dirt path, crossed a bridge and were back to a trail. It wasn’t the bicycle trail, but it soon merged into it.

I met Ann back at the hotel. We went to lunch at the same place where we had lunch yesterday. I had salad and a huge portion of lasagna. Ann had a big salad. Afterward, I had apple pie gelato.

The skies were partly cloudy when we went into lunch, but they were turning more cloudy as we left. We took a short stroll around our end of town until we felt rain drops. Then we made tracks back to our hotel.

Happy Hour was at 6:00. Our group dinner was at 7::30 at the hotel. Ann and I had eggplant baked with cheese. Our main course was fried swordfish with mashed potatoes and pickled onions. Dessert was flan.

This was the day’s route.