Bob on BAC Umbria - Rome to Assisi 2009

The Coffee Machine

It was cold when I went to bed, so I turned on my radiator which warmed my room and dried my cycling clothes. The downside was that I had to open the window and turn off the heat early in the morning to cool the room. Sleeping was very good, though – no noise at all, hence no earplugs.

We woke to clear skies and cool weather. Breakfast was fun because the hotel has a machine that brews all kinds of coffee, tea and hot chocolate. It’s hard to resist trying them all.

I started riding with Ted and Kathy at 9:00. We had a little trouble following the routes sheet for the first few kilometers, but Ted’s Blackberry and its Google Map routing feature got us going along the correct roads. (My GPS was still out of service trying to dry out). The first part of the route took us along sparsely travelled roads through rolling hills with vineyards and olive tree groves. The weather was clear and warming up – time to take off our jackets. We saw several other cyclists along the way – some with their team and some solo.

Kathy Rolling in to Castel Rinaldi

After a short, steep climb we stopped in Castel Rinaldi for a photo op. I went ahead while Ted and Kathy were still taking photos. I was looking for some bushes. I didn’t find any until I started to climb again. I waited for my cycling partners, but they didn’t show up. I carried on to the climb up to Montemartano. It was fairly long and steep in places. I stopped near the top at the turn to Montemartano and waited again while eating a Snicker’s Bar. The altitude was 586 meters and the view was terrific.

Sleepy Dog

I decided to ride on instead of waiting for Ted and Kathy because I wasn't sure if they were following the same route as I was. After some more ascending, there was a nice, fast downhill. As you can see from the photo on the right, there was hardly any traffic. This prevailed until I reached a T at the main road. The right turn would take me to Spoleto, one of today’s options. The left turn would take me on the route back to the hotel. I stopped at a bar for a panino and peach tea to make the decision about which way to to. I decided to go back to the hotel.

There was some traffic on the main road, but not enough to bother me. After a few kilometers, the route took us onto more country roads. This lasted all of the way back to Montefalco. I arrived at 2:00.

I spent the afternoon blogging and then walking around the town. It was Labor Day (May 1) so it was a holiday and things were happening. There were lots of people in town and some celebrations. I stumbled upon the local Democratic Party’s picnic. This was after I had some of the best gelato of the trip (the lemon gelato just bursted with flavor) and looked unsuccessfully for a grocery store to find bananas for me and for Phyllis.

Julie with the Wine Ladies

We had a route wrap for tomorrow’s route to Assisi at 5:30 and then we went to a wine tasting. The local wines were good but not good enough to bring back home. Julie helped the staff interpret the fine points of the wine. We also tasted the olive oil, but it was not as dramatic. Wine tasting here is not the same as in the California wine areas. They give you large samples. Needless to say, I had a lot of wine especially when Steve and I discovered that there was lots of wine left in the large bottles.

The wine tasting carried over to dinner where I shared a table with the Annapolis group – Judy and Harold along with the other Bob and Joe. I had roasted bacon with a balsamic sauce along with polenta. It was very tasty and filling. After dinner, my table mates went off to search for gelato while I went to my room.