As you remember, I took monday off to get some good riding time in me before what I knew to be a busy week. I was not wrong! Most days I was at it by 7:30 in the morning and still at it when the clock struck 8 or even 9 pm. Gotta do whatcha gotta do, and this being a seasonal job with a well forecast calendar of tours, where getting things done inadvertently falls on my early rising shoulders...I knew things would be crazy. I washed every single one of the 60plus bikes we prepped this week and know I tagged at least 36 of those. Most days it looked like this by 9am, a row of clean bikes waiting their turn in the repair stand...
But its not all work around here, and finishing a crazy week with an 8 hour shift on Friday made for the start of something "special"...short bus special!
The Saturday Plan included not much of anything, in fact after having coffee and cake with a friend who just returned from China I passed back out for a bonus 2.5 hours of sleep! Air conditioning and a dvd made the rest of a hot day pass pretty easily, with a solid plan to meet up with Puglia's Forgotten Son Chef Alesandro "Miro" Miroballo for some hell raising and beer drinking. Miro wanted to check out a hay bale amphitheater in the countryside near Cotignolo, about 12km away from Faenza.
from upper left to bottom right: real moon, fake moon, hay bales with lighting...pretty cool.
this picture tells another story though, notice the shit in the air first of all, turns out an amphitheater made of hay puts a lot of dust and allergens in the air. also note the passed out Chic in the row on the left, and the fact that groups of people are facing AWAY from the stage is a good indication of how bad the music was for the setting. it was lame even before the dorky singer mentioned how good a friend he is of Vincent Gallo...barf.
but that did not dissuade Miro and I from doing our best to make groups of young ladies feel uncomfortable and slowly back away. I really have not had that much fun creeping people out since I used to go on Hater Dates with Bike Bee in SF.
a drunken shit show of a ride home in the middle of the night...
Saturday morning, a little hung over but wanting to ride again before it got too hot, another Campagna ride though the countryside farm land.
found a shady dirt road that quickly became a rough path - what disappoints so many bikers makes me smile like a kid!
summer beach traffic...SUCKEEEERRRRRRSS!
old bridges and even older motorcycles...
wanted to check out a town called Massa Lombarda, which I did, then on to explore a little of old town Imola. Both towns due to the heat, the lunch hour and the proximity to the seaside, were vacant! and I kind of dig em that way.
a fine town, with old churches, HUGE castles, and a place where you can turn your (or someone else I guess) pictures into decorative pillows... if this shop had been open I would have bought that thing!
and for those who dressed like robin hood, played with bows and arrows, and had a general fascination for anything medieval (namely ME) that is a REAL drawbridge, and am empty moat. cool.
Via Emilia on the way home was hot and almost killed me were it not for the church-side water fountains...
As much as I miss chowing on huge burritos and tall cans of tecate after a good ride in California, this ladies and gentlemen is home made carpaccio tartar with fresh ruccola and crostini, and along with the gelato Guinness float (that was devoured too quickly for a photo) Italy has the BEST post ride eats!
all the rides this summer have been adding nicely to my vintage glove tan lines...which secretly is kinda why I bought them in the first place.
get outside and Play as much as you can, weather be damned, flaky friends be damned, relationships and prior obligations be damned as well, today might be all we have!
S
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