Finally a little time to blog last weeks adventures. Its been a crazy week, not so much with bike work but with a ton of different things happening all at once. There were deliveries, pick-ups, tuning bikes in plazas on the road to deliver the same day as a pick-up, haircuts, picnics with tours, dinners with the Fam, vans rented and roof racks installed, even the neighbor kid got in on the clean up action. And in the back of my mind....last weekends adventure still lingers. Heres the photographic proof that such a ride exists.
Anna Blue Eyes, and Fabrizzio the Dragon are newer friends, who love the bike. Fabri also has a house in the Marche, a region south of here. The house was built by his grandfather, is right on the seaside, and needed to be opened for the season after being boarded up against winter's storms. Riding to a beach house seemed like a good adventure to me. And without a real formal PLAN it suits my new style of living.
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| click this map and you can zoom in to see the details... |
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| Loni fully loaded... |
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| sharing the train with a marketing intern, and his bicycle |
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| we found a secret bar where an nice old lady made us amazing piadina, and her son filled us up with a little vino to go |
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| a little lost in the darkness along the coast we tried our best to follow some clandestined camping directions, and found a raging seaside party. we opted to keep riding... |
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| and found a sweet spot to camp at 2am |
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| with an awesome view across the street in the morning... |
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| which also turned out to be a roadside Piss-Spot, which we continued to sing about the rest of the weekend |
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| the start to a long day, after a short night...water stop in a tiny hilltop village |
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| Fabrizio is a pro downhill racer and trials rider...a FUN guy to bike tour with! |
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| roadside cave |
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| Not unlike highway 101 for the flats |
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| mandatory Kebab stop |
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| Mid-day swim at a public beach somewhere north of Senegalia. Nothing beats icing the legs in the cold adriatic in the middle of a 100km day... |
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| a short section was crappy, refineries and run down old buildings, but its still Italy man and even the shitty parts of road were fantastic |
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| into the port town of Ancona |
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| the rest of this guys shirt said "shower with me" |
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| a china shop with everything you need... |
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| atop Ancona...a steep hill, hot sun, middle of the day and the gateway to the Conero |
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| click the wiki link above for info, the park and mountain and seaside are amazing! |
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| WAY above Ancona! |
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| last summit of the day... |
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| and a victory cry from the local kid... |
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| not a bad aperativo, no? |
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| in the town of Sirolo we coasted down to the water, and made for some illegal camping for the night.... |
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| after a dude who owned a store, REOPENED for us so we could buy a melon and refresh the verlicchio stock. nothing like shopping in a closed store after hours... |
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| front wheel table... |
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| with no plan and such an amazing two night I explained my theory about staying outside the brackets to maximize adventures, which prompted this photo. |
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| my best attempt to capture lightning bugs on camera. That night we were serenaded with lapping seaside waves on pebble coastline, the view of the eastern sky, and the flashing blinks of a thousand lightning bugs on the walls of the steep cliff face. I could not ask for a better ending to a long day in the saddle with good friends. |
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| tough to push a loaded bike through but UNBELIEVABLY comfortable night sleep |
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| back up to a coffee spot...STEEP! |
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| Anna started singing "I will survive" half way up and we all joined... |
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| yeah...you can keeps your eggs and bacon... |
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| the dude in the red scarf was racing people up the coast whenever he caught up to them, being so close to the finish, Anna Blue Eyes gave them a run for their money...I dont think they minded... |
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| hill side towns above, crystal blue seaside below... |
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| expecting a "beach house" is a funny thing. You might think you would find something crisp and new and fancy on the Italian riviera, or at least like the restaurant just in front, but we round the corner and I was FLOORED at the awesomeness that is Dragonis Grandfathers HAND MADE house!.... |
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| jaw on the sand... |
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| built after he was released from an African prison in WWII, the original house was destroyed in a flood. the new one was built by hand when the seaside was actually 150 meters further away. The construction and use of the massive port in Ancona pushed the water levels up and now sometimes in the spring when they open the house they not only find sand and water, but sometimes live mussels growing in the kitchen sink! |
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| this year clean up was as easy as sweeping the counters and floors, opening the windows, and unwrapping all the chairs, sofa, and beds from their plastic winter cocoons. |
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| first house on the block with a view of the Conero |
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| Frita Mista rewards. Fabri has been friends with the restaurant that shares the wall since he was a child, his family has spent summers here since his 99 year old grandma (who still makes the stairs to her second story bedroom, and dons a suit to swim) was a girl. An amazing community feeling. |
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| CORRECTED! |
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| one last view fromt he balcony before we shut it up and head for our return train home... |
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| killing a little time in Ancona before our connecting train to Faenza. |
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| tired monkeys on the train |
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| look at our faces... |
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| back in Faenza it was raining. I changed clothes behind the cafe and bundled up for the ride home in the rain... |
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| but first, GELATO! The highschool girls sitting across from me were dumbfounded at the sight of a helmeted scotty, dirty and tanned, devouring gelato in the rain with a loaded bike. as they say in Italy "Finito in BELEZZIA!" |
Keep your eyes peeled for the next adventure with these two, they were fun, local and good riders! We talked about a west coast adventure, where they have spent a lot of time, and even a coast to coast. Tough in a weekend but with the aid of trains, and the laissez faire attitude towards riding untill 2 or 4 in the morning on the first night, we can cover a ton of land.
Summer Adventure Riding Season has officially started!
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