After we did Rome up right, we headed north on the Autostrada in the beemer 3-series and found that driving around 90-100 miles per hour was about right. Still some going slower and many going way faster. Thankfully unlike here people don't think its their God-given right to drive slow in the fast lane and not move out of the way. If you get in the fast lane you had better be going fast, or you better get the hell back in the slow lane quickly. Anyway, 2 hours later we exited the freeway and drove about 45 minutes on beautiful backroads to arrive at our home for a week San Giovanni d'Asso. Not a big place as the Tuscan hill towns go, but it had a store, cafe, restaurant, the classic Italian "general store"-a place with everything from appliances to toys to clothing, to batteries- all jammed in with no place to walk and in no order whatsoever- and was centrally located to many popular hill towns. The cycle I had arranged to use was already at the villa when we got there Saturday afternoon so I was eager to ride Sunday morning first thing. Only problem was the pedals on the bike-shimano spd mountain! I brought road shoes (white ones of course) and my speedplays. Couldn't believe I was in Italy with a Colnago that had mountain bike pedals AND Ultegra-no Campy in sight!! After unsuccessfully trying to use a 6mm on the backside of the spds-breaking my multi-tool in the process, I figured that I would go cruise Sunday am with tennis shoes and look for real wrenches Sunday afternoon or even Monday if nothing was open.
After a glorious ride on the best roads that I have ever seen, we loaded up and went to Arrezo about an hour northeast since on the first Sunday of the month there was an antique street market in town. Great things to look at and purchase along with great and classic European street scenes.
After the bottle of wine with lunch, I needed a pick-me-up and this may have been the best espresso of the week (it was all damn good).
Bike riding pictures are coming next, I promise.
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