Italy Cycle Journal

Day 6 - Ride to Montecatini Terme

Day 6 – Ride to Montecatini Terme – May 18, 2005

Today was the real test. When I look back at this trip, this will probably be the most memorable day – in the same way that catching cholera would be memorable.

First off, I slept more than 10 hours so it was after 8am when I woke up. Not sure why I slept so much, probably just a cumulative effect of doing so damned much stuff for the past several days. Anyway, as I mentioned in yesterday’s entry, this didn’t give me any time to write on Wednesday.

It was raining all night long – at some points thundering, lightning and some serious monsoon-type rain. Had me a little worried about the ride on Wednesday, but I slept through most of it.

When I woke up, had breakfast & brought my luggage downstairs so it could be taken to my next hotel in Montecatini Terme.

When I set out, I didn’t put on my rain gear. There were only a few sprinkles so I loaded my rain gear into my backpack and headed out. After about 2 or 3 miles, the skies totally cleared up so I thought I might have a great day of riding and I lucked out with the weather. Hahahahah – ah, you are sooo silly, signore. You make me to laugh at you silliness.

Even though the skies were clear, the ground was wet as Hell – including on the gravel path I had to ride for a few miles. I knew right then that I was going to be getting a bit muddy. As it turned out, being muddy wasn’t an issue (note the effective use of foreshadowing here). It got so nice, I even took off my jacket and packed it away with my rain jacket and rain pants.

My shoes and pedals were a bit of a problem on this ride. I brought brand new pedals with me so they were a bit stiff. Meaning, I had a bit of trouble getting my cleats un-hooked at times. I only fell over once, though. And I kind of meant to. As I was trying to cross a busy street, I pulled off to a shoulder to let the traffic pass me by. When I tried to pull my shoes out of the pedals, my foot got stuck for a second so I was pretty certain I was going down. Only problem was that if I went down to my right, I would be falling into a truck’s path. The other option was to fall to the left into the grass on the shoulder. Of course, if I fell too far, I’d be rolling down a hillside. Hmmmm… let’s think about that one for a second. Okay. Falling down a hillside it is.

Got up and brushed myself off. When I got back on the road, I practiced pulling my shoes in and out of the pedals over and over to ensure that didn’t happen again. This was another case of me worrying about something that would soon not be an issue (please note the use of additional foreshadowing).

Started a nice long ride up the hills along the vineyards (known as Strada del Vino – with signs along the way as kind of a scenic drive). Some beautiful and amazing views.

I heard actual cuckoos along the way (at least I think that’s what they were). Every time I heard the cuckoos, I honestly thought that if I kept listening I could tell what time it was. I didn’t believe that, of course, but the thought kept popping into my head.

Started to cool down a bit, so I pulled out my jacket again and put it on. Then, it started to sprinkle. Then it started to rain. Wasn’t too cold, so I didn’t bother to pull out my rain gear. A little water never hurt anything as long as it wasn’t cold.

Oh, I’m sorry. Did you say cold? Did you say water? All of a sudden, it started to pour. I had to pull off to the side of the road under a tree for a minute. I pulled out my rain gear and finally put it on. Too bad I was soaked underneath the rain outfit. I also took off my backpack and packed it away into the plastic dry cleaning bag I had brought with me. My careful planning was paying off! Well, for now at least (yet more foreshadowing – stay with me!!) – the backpack fit into the bike’s panniers (bags fastened to the back of the bike to carry stuff for touring).

I’m glad I put the rain outfit on – I was now in Montecarlo (the town, not the country) and it was coming down in sheets. Unfortunately I had no real protection for my head and face so it just got really wet underneath my helmet. My glasses fogged up. Oh wait, I’m not wearing glasses – those are my EYES.

And I was a bit uncomfortable since underneath the rain gear, I was soaking wet. And my shoes weren’t water-resistant so my feet were living in a blend of wet sock and water.

After Montecarlo, really steep hill down a cobblestone street – now, THAT was fun to try to ride down. Wet cobblestone on a bike at about a 15% grade. Nice.

But wait, there’s more.

After a couple more miles, I noticed that I didn’t seem to be getting very far according to the cycling odometer (the Cateye). Well that tends to be the case when the thing isn’t working. The constant stream of water made the thing unusable since the contacts were shorted out. It still worked, but couldn’t track distance until it dried out.

Turns out that not tracking distance is kind of a big deal when all of the directions I have say “Ride 1.2 km and turn left onto via Pallonia (street not marked)” – the lack of road signs and directions that don’t reference much in the way of landmarks makes the Cateye a pretty critical component.

So, for the rest of the trip, I wasn’t even flying on instruments. I had to use my instincts to figure out how far I had gone. It didn’t work particularly well. Between the directions getting wet, no odometer and pouring rain, I made a few wrong turns.

And let me tell you – nothing is better in those conditions than making the ride LONGER. I managed to find my way around by following road signs to where I was heading. But I don’t think I ever made it back to my original route. I was on streets a bit busier than I was supposed to ride on. And I visited a nice little town that I call Chinese Uzi. It was something like Chienesa Uzzinni, but I like Chinese Uzi better.

Well, I’m only about 5 miles away from the hotel now, as best as I can figure. The rain has slowed to a light sprinkle, so I’m happy that the worst seems to be over.

That is, until I try to stop and pull my shoe out of my pedal. Remember all that practice I got pulling it in and out to ensure I didn’t get my shoe stuck again? Well, it was nice to practice – unfortunately, it loosened the cleat to the point where I lost a screw from the cleat. Which makes it almost impossible to pull out because the cleat just rotates when you try to pull it out of the pedal. So, I pulled my left foot out and tried to get my right foot out, while standing at the side of the road (still way off track, mind you).

This is great – so to add to everything else, now I have to remove the cleat entirely and ride on my little pedal without being clipped in (the pedal is designed for the cleat, so riding without the cleat is like trying to pedal while balanced on a coke bottle).

A few more wrong turns, some directions from some Italians at what appeared to be a biker bar and I made it to the hotel. Wow, look at that. The sky’s clear. I shit you not.

So, at this point, I look like Hell. Wet, streak of mud up my back from the tires, hair’s looking like a drowned rat. And I get to the hotel. Unlike the last couple hotels, this one is a sparkling luxury hotel. And I walk in looking like an extra from Deliverance (but in neon green).

All I want at this point is a shower and to sit down. Nice thought, but what did fate have in store for me now? Oh, what’s that? My luggage hasn’t arrived yet? Wonderful. So, I take my crap up to the room and leave it there. Figure I can use the restroom then head back out into town and walk around. Screw how I look.

As I headed back down to the lobby, I had a nice little turn of luck for the first time today. My luggage had just arrived, so I headed back up, showered and cleaned up a bit.

After the shower, I turned on the Italian TV. They had MTV, so I tuned in to that for a bit as I got dressed. TRL in Italian was on, which was kind of funny. The song “Holiday” by Green Day was on – since this is my favorite song at the moment, I stopped and listened. Just like the American version of TRL, they interrupt the song with teenagers on camera. Not sure exactly what they were saying, since it was in Italian, but I think it went something like: “I’M MARIA FROM GENOA AND I LOVE GREEN DAY BECAUSE TREY IS REALLY HOT!!! WHOOOO!!! YEEEEAAHHHH!!!”

Searched the rest of the day for a place that could replace the screw from my shoe. I can ride without it, but I can’t easily climb the biggest of the mountains. No luck.

Looks like Thursday is going to be a ‘non-riding’ day. Since there is an optional day ride from here into the mountains, I’m going to catch a train down to Florence to look for a replacement screw, instead. I can’t really do the mountain ride without it and if I can find one in Florence, it’ll make the rest of the trip more enjoyable since I can take the optional hilly routes. Without the screw, I may have to limit my riding to the basic routes.

Can’t believe all of my pre-planning and I didn’t think to bring extra screws. What a dumbass.

Anyway. Not a lot of good photos for Wednesday (because of the rain) or probably on Thursday either (since I’ll just be looking for a screw and passing through Florence, which I’ve already been through pretty extensively).


Random thoughts:

The bike chain is all black from use. So it keeps getting my right leg black every time I stop and my leg rubs against the chain. I’m used to the self-cleaning chain lube I use in the US – it’s kinda like wax that collects the dirt and causes it to fall off while you ride.

Group of Irish people next to me at dinner. Nice to hear them speaking English since I think they’re the first native English speakers I’ve heard all day long. One of them was funny, though. His accent was so incredibly thick that I could barely recognize it as English. If you’ve ever seen Brad Pitt’s character in Snatch – that’s what it was like. Nearly incomprehensible.

It stays light in Italy until 9pm. What’s that about? At home, it’s dark by 7:30 or so.

Montecatini Terme is a much newer city than the others I’ve seen. It’s not much more than 100 years old. It’s also a very different vibe than the older cities. Rather than tourists here to look at sites, this is more of a resort town. Luxury hotels, nicer restaurants and homes.

posted by Joel @ 4:12 AM