We had a big day planned for today, a 65K loop ride with five long hills. Rain was in the forecast for the afternoon and we planned on getting an early start. But, as luck would have it, we slept until 8:30. After a quick breakfast and a flat repair on Tamara's bicycle, we were on the road by 10AM. Early start my ass!
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| All smiles now |
Our first town of the day would be Monte Santa Maria Tiberina, one of highest medieval villages in Umbria, a mere 18km away. We spent a short time negotiating the traffic on a busy highway before turning off onto a quiet country road. Then it was time to go up.
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| Steep bumpy road ahead! |
The road was steep, and also bumpy. Did I mention that the road was bumpy?
But the views were outstanding!
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| Wine storage? |
We eventually came upon a road construction crew repairing more than the bumps in the road. It appeared that there was a major washout. There was a sign down at the highway turn off that appeared to say that the road was closed, but our Italian isn't so good, so we continued on. Besides, what else did we have to do?
After seeing us, one of the crew approached and we fumbled through communicating and walked our bikes around the washout.
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| Uh-oh major road construction |
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| Tamara negotiating the detour |
Once past the construction we meandered down the road until our first destination, Monte Santa Maria Tiberina came into view.
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| Monte Santa Maria Tiberina on the hilltop to the left of Tamara |
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| Heading up |
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| And up, |
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| and up, |
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| Finally - Monte Santa Maria Tiberina |
Once we reached city, we locked up the bikes, wandered around and had some caffe. After all, we still had over 40km left and needed a pick-me-up.
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| Ahh, caffe! |
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| One last photo of Monte Santa Maria Tiberina |
We had a nice long stretch of downhill before we started climbing again to our next town - Lippiano. As we started up, the clouds started to get darker,
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| And darker! |
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| Entering Lippiano |
It appeared that the one restaurant in Lipiano was closed for the afternoon. Damn! Sleeping in late does have consequences. We were famished at this point and had nothing of substance to eat with us, so we continued on.
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| Cool old wine press |
The clouds were menacing as we dropped down the hill from Lippiano. Luckily, the wind wasn't blowing and we were making good time to our next hilltop town - Citerna.
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| Tamara is prepared for the rain |
As we entered the outskirts of a town we were not expecting, Monterchi, we happened upon a trattoria that was open. We stopped in and each ordered a plate of pasta for lunch. As our lunch was arriving, the skies opened up in a deluge, and we quickly moved inside.
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| Montecrhi |
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| Waiting for some pasta! |
So we took our time with lunch and even had some more caffe, but the rain persisted. So with 25km left to get back to the hotel, we put our rain gear on, pulled up our big kid pants, and saddled up.
We climbed the last hill to Citerna in the rain. Took a quick look at the town in the rain and headed downhill towards Citta di Castello in the rain.
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| Citerna in the rain |
This ride returned to the same "gravel" bike path that we had taken the previous day. The rain slowed down and eventually stopped during the last 10km to the Hotel Tiferno. Thankfully, the gentleman at the front desk pulled a hose out in the alley, allowing me to wash all the mud from the "gravel" bike path off the bikes.
That night we found our way to a pizza and some vino rosso della casa followed by gelato before heading to bed.
Stats
Distance: 40 miles
Elevation: 4400 feet
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