Today we’d be riding into the hills we’d seen off in the distance yesterday, and eventually climb over the Apennines into Tuscany. This would be a real climb, near 1000m total, but it parallels a train line, so those who didn’t feel like going over the mountain could take the train the whole way, or take advantage of one of the train stations along the way to bail out. The first opportunity would be in Brisghella, about 20km in, where we had an olive oil tasting lined up.
But first we had to get out of Faenza, riding through the crappy modern developments. The unpleasant ride was made worse by several flat tires which held us up for almost an hour. But once we got out of town, the riding was perfect. Riding through vineyards and olive groves with the mountains up ahead in the distance; this is what I came to Italy for.
It was great to have some real terrain after four days of flat riding. And for the beginning of the day, the ride was trending upwards but only very gradually, and we had a strong tail wind to boot. Powering over rolling hills like that feels awesome.
The place we were visiting in Brisghella also had a wine filling station. I’d seen one of these on a previous Italian bike tour; you just bring whatever container you like and fill it up on a euro-per-liter basis. The cheap wine was 1.50/liter; the quality stuff was 1.75. I happened to have a 3-liter Camelback.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tholub/44570349285/in/album-72157700956622121/
We learned a little about olive oil making, and tasted three different varieties; nice, but not worth hauling around on a bike.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tholub/44570344545/in/album-72157700956622121/
The road after Brisghella started to get a little hillier, though it wouldn’t really start to climb until we reached Marradi, 23km up the road. Some people were taking the train from Brisghella, and the rest of us were released to ride at our own pace.
It felt great to be able to stretch out my legs a bit; I stopped a few times for photos and chats with friends, but after a while I was riding solo.
It was beautiful and dynamic riding, up and down with turns through the valley along the river, and a great tailwind. I realized how much I love the feeling of being on the open road with mountains ahead of me. Wonderful stuff.
Because I’d been riding well I arrived quickly in Marradi, and set about evaluating the gelato options. (Not bad!) I had lunch at a street cafe while I waited for the group.
From Marradi to the peak was a real climb, with a total gain of about 700 more meters, and grades up to 10%. Fun! I started out cranking and getting into my groove. We went through some small towns, with the narrow road squeezing between the buildings, reminding me of some of the beautiful shots of the Tour de France peloton in the countryside.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tholub/45432510422/in/album-72157700956622121/
The climb came in waves, sometimes getting steeper, sometimes allowing some speed. Beautiful riding.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tholub/45483789811/in/album-72157700956622121/
Towards the top, the road left the farmland and entered the forest, and I started to see pavement chalking counting down from 1500 meters to the top; it turned out that these were done by a tour group led by a friend of Rosita’s, doing more or less the same route a day ahead of us.
I made the summit feeling good, and turned around to tag back the rest of the riders. That gave me more time to admire the beautiful scenery from down the valley, and I got to see most of the group and take pictures.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tholub/44758445964/in/album-72157700956622121/
When I got back to the van I hung out for a while and then re-cranked the hill. There was a bar at the summit (of course), and I had part of someone’s beer, then took off down the other side. The descent was technical and awesome, lots of hard braking into turns, and I had to pull over once to let a car get further ahead of me.
Our hotel in Ronta had some nice hang out space, everyone seemed to be in a good mood during apertivi, and dinner was awesome. This was my kind of bike touring.
