trying to quantify the weekend

Or as my friend Giorgio slurred through his bubbly wine, "Can you believ-a Italia? Man you ever see spring like dis, its like uh...poems man!"

Spring has indeed SPRUNG. And you can tell cause its that time of year when the birds sing all day...



oops, how did THAT get in there...the markets stay open late on Sunday...



Flowers are in bloom





...and its time for carnivals and HUGE bike rides.

Tuesday we had the beginning of season dinner at Monica and Michele's house, where I was informed I was a Dad...



just kidding, that's Johnny Montana (seen here, shaking)



and the Lovely Eliza's baby girl Analise. We had Black Pudding from Ireland courtesy of Silvia who spent 5 years there...



We pretty much feasted and cut out. It was Tuesday after all and the week was going to be busy.



April 1st rolled around and we kinda forgot that it was April Fool's day. Here in Italy, we were informed at yet another giant carbo loading lunch, it is called L' Pesce di Abrile, The Fish of April, called so for the jokes involving fish. After lunch, to celebrate Rob had the great idea to TECH Silvia's Bike. TECH-ing as mentioned here before involves tricks played on one's bicycle so as to render it difficult, impossible or simply very irritating to use and TECHs run the gamut from ball bearings in frames (very noisy) to old cans of tuna in the handlebars (very smelly) to simply re-arranging the look of a bike, which we did for Silvia's commute home.





The rest of the week felt tense for me personally and I decided to go and do something very big and personal and awesome on the weekend. After the last two weekends of feeling pretty strong on the bike I decided that early spring was the time for riding up and over the Alpines and into Florence for a sunset beer before a train ride home.

For those of you unaware of the geography - its really fucking FAR! Google maps claims its 109KM - my bike said 135km by the time I got the the Piazza and cracked a bottle. A challenging and noteworthy experience in the lexicon of Cycling Emilia Romagna to be sure, and a big feat to start the season off feeling like I can do anything. You know a ride starts off well with a giant cock in someone's yard...















almost out of mountains...





First Pass...



where I sipped on this before the descent...which covered 20+km in less than 15 minutes and reached speeds of 68km. Fast enough to pass a truck on an open curve - yeah.





Mountains in the background at the bottom







and another pass in the distance







Pass numero 2...



Where I spied this little dirt path, Loni suggested we check it out...



glad we did, perfect lunch spot with the city far off in the distance between those two sharp peaks...













I checked the train schedule and headed across the river to Piazza Michelangelo, up one more unbearable hill...



to the spot I wanted to kick it at on the steps overlooking the city with the Arno river stretching out in the distance all the way to Pisa. Amazing! And quite the rush to have checked this one trip off my list!







Afterward, I found a small section of forested trail,



Had a nap, and woke to these views...





Didn't get to see the sunset as the train over the mountains was leaving at 7.44.





Loni convinced me to make one short stop at her favorite bar in Firenze (who knew she had one!?), and we caught the train home without any of the incidents the train stickers advised us about...





It was an emotional ride as I thought my way through the last couple years and the ways in which I have managed to meet the challenges thrown at me, with a little bit of hindsight for the challenges I have shied away from. All in all 1431 meters of climbing (4710 feet!) a 12 hour day with a solid 8 hours of saddle time.

Sunday was a day to have a light spin with Silvia and her new bike sei chiama "Tweety" but we ended up climbing a little further and a LOT FASTER than originally expected.



That Gal can spin up a hill and will prove to be a force to recon with on the group long rides this summer! But the other secret destination was a local carnival festival that as far as I could tell revolved around visiting certain small villages dressed in ridiculous costumes, having food and drink, enjoying the old tyme songs of the past, accompanied by whip-song...no shit... and absolutely SHOWERING bystanders with confetti - which I am told is called coriandoli here in Italia. (Click the blue titles above for video)



















A killer way to spin off the lactic acid on a sunny sunny day. With the glimpse of summer out the window, sunny skies, warmer temperatures, and breezy afternoons chasing carnivals and personal goals by bike, I think we are all in for a treat this summer.

S.