Bob on BAC Umbria - Rome to Assisi 2009

Sheep near the Road

Double ear plugs and Tylenol PM were real useful last night. I slept very well and defeated the third-night jet lag jinx. I was up at 6:30 and down to breakfast a bit after 7:00. The breakfast buffet was mostly bread and cakes with some protein of cold ham and cheese. There was yummy red-orange juice and a coffee machine where you could select the type of coffee that you wanted. I started with cappuccino and topped it off with some coffee americano. Several people from our group drifted in so we were able to chat.

I got my bags in the van and started riding around 9:00. The weather was in the low 60’s and overcast – muggy but no precipitation. I took the first few tricky turns with some other riders. We were giving each other confidence that we were going the right way. Soon after we left town, I was riding alone. I stopped a couple of times to take pictures, but nobody caught up to me. I found out later that most of the group took a shortcut so that they could get to a prime scenic area early enough so that they wouldn’t be too late getting into our hotel.

The route went through pretty farm country and old villages. It was not too difficult but it had lots of rollers, some of them relatively steep. I’m glad I got lots of miles in my legs before I got here. My Bike Friday was performing well, so I’m glad I brought it instead of my regular road bike.

The route went east to Magugnano then northeast to Graffignano. It then turned north then west through Civitella d’Agliano. I stopped here for a banana and to take off my leg warmers. I had already taken off my jacket and the temperature was nearing 70. Right before I reached Bagnoregio, I headed north again and met the sort-cut route. I caught up to Steve Mendleson (a GPC’er from Oakland) and we rode together into Bagnoregio and out to Civita.

Civita

Civita is a prime scenic area and draws lots of tourists. Here is an explanation that our ride directors provided. “The saddle that once connected Civita to its bigger and busier sister town, Bognoregio, eroded away. Civita teeters atop a pinnacle in a vast canyon ruled by wind and erosion. But, while its population has dropped to 14, the town survives." Rick Steves describes it here. Steve and I did not walk over the bridge and climb up to the town. I just took a few photos.

We turned and back-tracked to Bagnoregio. We stopped at a bar (in Italy, bars are coffee and snack shops). I had a couple of panini and some juice. After that, we forged on north to Orvieto getting a terrific downhill. We paid for it with a climb up to the town to Hotel Aquila Bianca in Orvieto.

Duomo in Orvieto

Orivieto (by Rick Steves) is known for its Duomo. It has Italy’s liveliest facade (according to Rick Steves). I strolled over and visited it after cleaning up from my ride. I realized that we had been here before with the Bensons and the Parkhursts several years ago. The town has much more to offer than what we saw back then. I remember having some really bad pizza or panini at that time. Today, there are lots of cafes, museums, shops and surprising underground excursions of St. Patrick’s Well and the Pozzo della Cava – a network of Etruscan-era caves. Some of our group went for a tour of the well. I decided to come back to my room and catch up on my journal.

My room is really nice. It’s much larger than the single room that I had in Montefiascone. It has a real shower stall and a queen-sized bed. The first hour of wifi is free which is a real bargain in Italy.

We had Happy Hour again at 6:00 – local wine with apple slices, cheese, crackers, tomatoes and peppers. Julie talked about food and the restaurants she chose for tonight and tomorrow night. Tom reviewed today’s route and took comments from people that had them. (This is the first time the Leevers have offered this trip, so Tom was anxious to get suggestions). Then he talked about tomorrow’s ride. Finally, we started to talk about ourselves – what our occupations were or are and where we worked. We didn’t finish but we will tomorrow night. There is quite a variety of professional skills in our group.

We split up into groups for two restaurants. Our group went to Maurizio. I had noodles with ham and asparagus and veal with cherry tomatoes and rocket lettuce. We finished at 9:30. This is near normal for dinner in Italy. Breakfast isn’t until 7:30 so you can stay up a little later and sleep a little later.