When we sat down to plan this trip, we thought it would be best to stick to the smaller roads. Less traffic. Less trafficked. Great. Today we found out what the repercussions of following the "white roads" on the map can be. That would be: bad. You see, on the map of Tuscany we use as our base, the smaller roads are white, the medium roiads are yellow, and then there is a whole different logic for the big ones. White roads are gravel and do away with the notion of switchbacks and other leg (or engine) saving technologies in favor of an older, less sophisticated diagram: straight up. It was with great regret that we both found ourselves in our lowest gears (the granny gear...) as we plodded away at the beast leading up to Montechiello.
Oh. Did I mention it was raining?
It was raining.
And windy.
Really windy.
There is an old song called Cold Rain and Snow which was caught in Rich's head pretty much all day. And that pretty much defined today. Well. Almost (no snow...but wind)
(oh...and lots of hills)
The landscape is beautiful, of course, yadda yadda. We came upon a town which has as its piazza a thermal spring. It was really cute.
The climb into Montalcino was NOT fun. Until it was over. We are quite proud of our 5807 ft of climbing today, though we know that there will be 20,000 more before we leave Italy.
Oy.
3 comments:
So great to read you! I wish you good luck for the next 20,000 ft of climbing. Keep going, as I'll be L.B.P. (not Lettuce, Bacon, Prosciutto, but Living By Proxy... proxy being my new word for the week). Oh! and I want to hear that French teeth song when you come back! Love. Alex.
OK so I know it is the furthest thing from your mind......but I taped the finale of Lost for you in case you don't have it when you get back.
Hopefully all is well. Keep safe!
Think how fit you'll be for the Triathlon -every downside has an upside - and that goes for hill too! Sorry I missed your call last night -hope to catch up soon.
Love to you both
Ma
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