I won this Italian cycling vacation in a Livestrong raffle and it is due to the generosity of many people, most especially the tour operator, Cicloposse, which is owned by a husband and wife in Pienza. She does all the correspondence; I think I have about thirty emails in my gmail account helping me figure out which trains and make other arrangement. She’s been very pleasant to work with and extremely helpful.
He does the cue sheets, which give bicyclists the directions on where to go along the route. For the interesting days, I have an elevation graph so I know when I’m suppose to panic. (I’m breaking no land speed records over here.) But for every day, I have a full page color map with the route highlighted. There are a dozen or so numbers superimposed on the route that correspond to the times I have to turn.
The separate “cue” sheet, I have diagrams for each of those numbered locations. They are hand drawn representations of the intersections with landmarks and arrows indicating which way to turn. Next to each diagram is description of the intersection and what to do. Here is an example of just one of the paragraphs:
Continue along the Cassia. After the road sign marked Buonconvento and behind the train tracks, you come to a large intersection with a gas station: stay on right on the Cassia road.
At the third intersection, after passing a building marked “consorzio Agrario” on your right, turn right into road SS451, towards Chiusure, Asciano and the yellow road sign marked Monte Oliveto Maggiore see picture 4.
And that is just the details for a single turn. Only an idiot could miss a turn with that much information at his disposal.
But I can explain… I was pre-occupied with the beautiful scenery.
There is a fresco in our hotel room. It is in the corner of the front room and under glass while the rest of the room is finished. It has deteriorated quite a bit since the 15th century, but you can make out a cherub and what I think is the Papal crest.
Hotel room fresco
Pienza was put on the map in that century when one of its own became Pope. As would be his want, he threw church money behind building construction in his native town. A Duomo with beautiful art from that time period is the centerpiece of this walled city. For these first two days, the hotel we are staying at is a former cloister built in that time period.
As far as I can tell, the WiFi was added later.
My wife is exhausted from 22 hours of traveling. Car. Plane. Plane. Plane. Taxi. Train. Taxi. Chris, the sane one, is pooped and resting in the hotel room but I, on the other hand, am wide awake and psyched. Starting tomorrow it is: Bike, Bike, Bike…
On the flight over to Europe, I had a chance to watch the Hanna Montana movie on 5 inch screen from 8 feet away, but I chose to sleep instead. You know you’ve been traveling alot when your wife remarks, in all seriousness, that there are only 7 more hours left in the flight. It took way too long to get through Frankfurt security during its Monday morning rush hour, but they held the tiny plane to Florence for us and a dozen others (I’m guessing).
We took the train from Florence to Chiusi and, with the help of two strangers, found out which track to stand on. I for the life of me couldn’t figure out where that was documented on the ticket or the gigantic posted schedule. A particularly unhelpful person at one of train stations took one of our bags (the lighter one) out of Chris’s hands, carried it 30 feet, then demanded 3 euro ($4.50) for the privilege. Ug. I have also learned to say “metered, please” before entering a taxi. Lessons learned.
The road to the hotel was blocked when we arrived due to an open air market, so we had to drive around on some narrow cobblestone roads to get here. This village defines gorgeous and quaint.
The bottom legs on Chris’s heavier bag have broken off and it no longer stands upright, but I’m not concerned as the contents are still intact. After viewing the steep hills from Chiusi to Pienza from the back of a taxi, I doubt I will be standing upright either by the end of the week. But I hope to keep my contents intact too.
My wife and I have completed our arrangements for cycling in Italy. Originally I was planning on taking Katie, the second most seasoned cyclist in the family with hundreds of miles under her feet, but Chris could not turn down a trip to Italy. So Katie was bumped.
Understandably, my young stoker is a little disappointed. But if that is the case, Chris is okay with that.
My wife hadn’t cycled appreciably since we got married, so she had to get back into the swing of things. She bought some cycling shorts and I got touring shoes and pedals for her and has been cycling on the local bike path a few days a week. Nothing like the hills of Siena, but it is a start. When she felt comfortable with her progress, I starting planning the trip with Cicloposse. Chris Daguanno was kind enough to donate and arrange for the flights. Meanwhile I’ve been rescheduling my fall dental appointment, notifying the credit card companies of our imminent travel, and changing my PC’s desktop background to a landscape of Val D’Orcia. Yes, I know I’m getting off easy.
After the plans were finalized, Chris has discovered that perhaps this was quite a bit of training to do in the span of just eight weeks. While I ride along side her at her pace and I’ve waited at the top of hills, she doesn’t find cycling the rolling roads of southern central Ohio as enjoyable as I do. I’m looking forward to the trip, especially the days I cycle. Chris is looking forward to the trip too, especially the days she doesn’t cycle.
I hope she isn’t disappointed. But if that is the case, I’m okay with that.
I’m sure it comes as no surprise that I follow a few bicycling blogs. Probably the most enjoyable for me is www.FatCyclist.com and not just because I am Fat and a Cyclist. That’s just a coincidence. Elden posts pictures and videos about his rides in Utah, funny stories on how to buy the right bike, and the shelf life of gummi-based nutritional supplements. Meaningful stuff.
What comes through in his postings is that he is a real nice guy and a loving father and husband. In between his rants about overpriced bike clothes, he shares what it feels like to care for a spouse living with cancer. Really meaningful stuff. Susan is blessed to have that particular blogging cyclist as a caring husband. And while I just walk around wearing a yellow wristband, he helps raise tens hundreds of thousands of dollars for cancer support and research.
A few days ago, “Fatty” and Dorothy Gibson and Cicloposse (and several other readers who donated frequent flyer miles) got together for a contest: Donate to the Lance Armstrong Foundation and be entered in a raffle for a chance to win a cycling vacation in Italy. Since I’ve always wanted to cycle in Europe, I was one of hundreds of people earlier this week that helped them reach their goal of $5000.
And yesterday when my wife and I got home from a local production of Rent, there was a message on the answering machine from Dorothy telling me I was the winner. With Fatty’s post today, I suppose it is official. In his post he mused over the many good things for the week. My raffle win is mentioned as #8. It pales in comparison to the importance of #6: His wife made out of bed to watch TV with her family.
Win Susan.
