A long couple of weeks deserves a long weekend...

I just added up the approximate kilometers I have put in since Thursday evening.  And its impressive.  Even without knowing exactly how many on the mountainbike with the club thursday evening, or on the city bike into town at least 4 times, and on Loni for two big giros, topping out today with 160! its looking like a whopping 410km.  Roughly 250 miles for my stateside audience.  Between stretching and eating I will barely have time to get these photos downloaded, and by the time the rest of my vino is "downloaded" im going to be shot!  heres a looksy with a few captions...

Last monday me and this lady went to check out the views from my bike camping spot...

these are onions when they bloom and go to seed...

then off to HannaBi to see one of the weepiest boorish shows I have ever seen...super emo!

Next day, up at 5 to deliver luggage and pick up bikes...but ooops forgot the luggage.  All in all a 16 hour day in the car with a massive fuck up.

stayed the night with a guy named Pietro who has a very self sufficient little house...

a stop in Lago Trasimeno made things look a little better...

thursday a mountain bike ride with the club...

cant see it in this shot but this bike's shock was replaced by a welded metal post...what an impressive shitbike!

Friday to Bertinoro...chasng down the tower in the hills nearby...

 for gods sake DO NOT SWIM HERE!!

getting closer I found some dirt, pushed through a farm, climbed unbelievably loose trails and came out actually above Bertinoro

up a road paved with broken hand painted ceramics...

A sign is not always just a sign...sometimes its a sign...

one last hill to the castle...

I could actually see the seaside...down the mountain to Forlimpopoli and home on the busy Via Emilia...

something I have not done mid-ride in a long time.

friday nite a free concert and a late nite with friends at the Clan...

 Saturday an easy ride through the countryside "Giro in Giro" as my buddy Dario says...riding for the sake of riding...

Stumbled on a vintage motorcycle show...

And fell face first into a gelato in my favorite town...

Saturday nite a dinner party in the childhood house of DJ Livia, where highschool pictures were forever saved in digital format...

It was just that hot...

Sunday I slept very late and used most of the day to plan my vacation in August, get Loni ready for the following (rainy?) days ride, and catch up with friends on the phone.

in the evening I rode to town for one of these...AGAIN!

Custom mud flap on the fenders to keep toes dry.

Monday Morning EARLY!  Was on the bike at 7am, before the market even was set up.  Clouds suggested I was going to get soaked and I was prepared to ride anyhow...

Found an amazing bike path next to the Fiume Savio that goes from Cesena to Cervia!

All kinds of roads, a total of 164km with about 70% in the dirt!  Loni is still my number one.

Dead end road with a gate to hop.

Still no rain, save for the 30 seconds of sprinkle I got while inside a bar peeing.  The first taste of saltwater air coming full force in some heavy headwinds.  Winds that would mean a swift and easy ride home!

look at the bend in that tall grass...

Cervia is home to a really old salt evaporation plant...and really authentic sailors with pink bikes.

Somewhere around 11 I realized my teeth had a thick film of dust on them, probably from the face I was making around every turn...seriously the most fun I have had on a bike in a while.

An unfortunate fire last weekend near the "clothing optional" beach.  I guess no more running around the woods all nekky anymore this summer...

when Italians belive the weather reports they stay home... the seaside was a ghost town!

a quick review while I wait for my piadina...check out the load in that thing!

and a FAT NAP at a vacant Bagno Kuta.  Out cold for 45 minutes, up to coffee and out the door.

As I suspected the return ride was FAST, and if this is a stormy day Ill take about two weeks more of the same!

Not one drop of rain the whole way, another application of sunscreen and some stolen peaches...

cool grassy trail atop the river embankment...

untill you get to this sight... tricky to say the least.  But always friendly.

your house needs a haircut.

I was so pumped on the day that I cruised around Forli another hour looking for a spot to chill and have a beer.  Never really found one so took the long way back for a total of 164kms today.  A day that had I crawled back in bed, or if I had believed the news reports of "storm of the century" or if I had convinced myself it was better to get some work done, I would have missed.  And that would not be the best way to end a four day weekend now would it?

A Lesson in Flexibility

Or "how I learned to stop loving the Tour"

Seriously the Tour De France, and the people who want to chase and or follow it through mountains clogged with tour-specific traffic can suck it.  But thats just me being reflationary to the amount of time I have spent working this week, specifically to get all the Tour de France rentals prepped, loaded in and on and behind vans, and out the door.  All in all a 62 hour week including the following:
   Monday  - a long drive with no A/C to Torino, the BEST pizza I have had yet! and tour leaders that wanted to finish the week with a 4 hour walk around the city (5 hour nap that night)
   Tuesday(a) - 6 hours of bike tune ups between two legs of a tour, in the hallway of a hotel, a bike fitting, loading a van and trying to navigate out of Torino with no map or GPS, an adventure I was only starting to celebrate when the van died unexpectedly on the highway.
    Tuesday (b) - A tow, some negotiations, and a night in a hotel in the tiny viallge of Casei Gerola that was decorated like a 60s off the strip Vegas wannabe.  Amazing hospitality, amazing food, and great sleep. they treated me like a wayward rockstar.  a 15 hour day with 6 hours sleep.
    Wednesday - Mechanics at 8 to be told it will be friday the van is finished.  yeouch!  Cab to the train, three Trains to Faenza (keep in mind this is all in a foreign language people) back home, food and shower and then get to it in the shop as I am behind a day.  12 bikes later its 1am and Im sacked out!
    Thursday - a "regular 8" in the shop getting all the last minute details for Friday, and closing up at 6.  This is where it gets interesting...Thursday nights in June and July there is a 4 Thursday group ride with a local club.  Its called Quatro (4) in Quattro and it starts in a small town by that name and it is basically a group mountain bike ride at night finishing someplace where 5-10 euros will buy you a simple dinner and all the wine you can drink and still ride home.  Staying off the sauce lately had me skipping the first Thursday's dinner but this week I was hungry!  It was really the light at the end of the tunnel for a busy week and I wanted to see it through.  The Ride was a faster pace and dusty as all hell, but cooler temps in the canyons - which is a treat this time of year.  We started out as usual on dirt roads, but diverted into Castrocaro where a fellow club member who owns a small bar set us up with Mini-Spritz and handfuls of chips for "fuel".  We climbed some big ass hills, cut through wheat fields that had recently been cut and looped around the famous Castrocaro Terme Castle where we finished with a not so cold tallboy of beer and Porchetta  I had to ascend the spiral staircase into the guard tower and call a friend I was so overwhelmed with the RAD-ness of it all.  We were IN the castle feasting like royalty, in stretchypants and tapshoes, and by WE I mean the almost 200 people that came out for it.  I returned home via another dirt road climb and descent with the famous Santo Claudio trying not to barf pork fat up the steep sections, had another small glass of vino with Rob (who started the ride but cut out with a catastrophic flat) and Kri and crashed out happy as an overworked clam!
    Friday - woke up all smiles and excited to have a chill day "being available to help" with all the crazyness going on with the final big rental leaving for The Tour.  I had no scheduled work of my own and its days like that I get to shine, staying positive and running wild helping as much as I can and cracking jokes along the way.  But thats NOT how the day ended.  "Helping out" turned into coordinating and completing the assembly of 3 double long roof racks for a rental (yes we rent roof racks!) double checking all the bikes, loading bikes IN a van, ON TOP of a van, IN the trailer behind the van, and ON TOP of the trailer behind the van - a total of 37 bikes, three double long roof racks,a fucking tandem! and all the water bottles, locks and helmets 37 customers might or might not need.  On top of all that a bike was missing and when I found it it was a mess, took another hour to prep.  Sometime around lunch my sense of humor was snapped at by another coworker - something I really did NOT appreciate, a door that took me 3 hours to fix back in the spring was ripped off its hinges by the gusts of wind ripping through the house, and I spent at least an hour trouble shooting a mistake our volunteer helpers made despite having explicit directions.  My flexibility was overly TAXED and my attitude made worse by the winds kicking in a nice allergy attack requiring I just tie a wet bandanna around my face to catch the dripping snot, a fact that left my fire burning, exhausted and angry eyes the only visible facial feature.  Coworkers were walking gingerly around me and I feel a little bad about that, having started the day in such a great mood.   Again I am finishing a job alone, double checking a a massive rental I was only supposed to be "available to help" with and bringing in personal bikes, and making sure The Farm was locked and closed.  What a shit show!  But wait....there's more....
    I decided to finally push myself off the wagon and go for a drink, and since Kri left a bottle of something cold and bubbly in the fridge I figured that would do just fine.  I poured a big glass of sparkling Trebbiano wine and reclined in the outdoor lounge chair with a slice of watermelon resigned to no longer give a fuck and let it be.  Second sip, choked on it, shot bubbly out my nose, which was already suffering from allergies, and was instantly unable to breathe.  fuck.  I go to my room to fall asleep on the cool floor for 10 minutes.  I wake thinking I should have a small dinner before hanging with anyone.  Second chop of lettuce...bye-bye finger tip.  blood, lots of it too.  Remember the broken door?  well I locked it good so people would stop using it till Monday when I can fix it.  It also separates my bloody finger in the kitchen from the first aid kits in the garage and when I tried to charge through it in an emergency I plowed right into it face first getting as close as I ever want to crashing through a plate glass door.  fuck.  Band-aides and tape, some skin glue that burns like a mutherfucker, and a rubber glove to get a shower.  On my bike and the fuck away from this place!  Straight to town for a drink - like old times.  Like olde Jackie Kerouac returning to SF and not able to say no to a good time, I sought a little refuge and I found it in a big tall Negroni and a pen and paper.  Did you know it was Friday the 13th?

What a week.  I was looking forward to documenting adventures on the road and in the shop and telling a story with a photo a day, but I was so not in the mood this week I took very few pictures.  The ones I did take are certainly not influenced by the creative side of my brain, but more the rational side of my brain, overactive this week just to survive in a whirlwind of chaos.  Too many chiefs and not enough mexicans sometimes, you know. 

total comp time as of today - 51 hours!  Which means you will have those adventure pictures shortly.  The rest of the day I am spending prepping Loni for another long multi-day ride someplace cool and quiet, and drinking the rest of that bubbly trebbiano. 

S.