Thursday, May 13, 2010

On our bikes





Beautiful ride around Volterra today. I was skeptical after all the storms.
The weather cleared and we started on a crisp morning to go on our first ride.
Starting with a screaming downhill on wet roads we had to challenge some hilly terrain
riding toward San Gimignano an old town with a 1000 year history.
After a short stop we continued our ride looping back to Volterra with some nice climbs.




4 comments:

  1. sound great! keep Blogging love the pictures

    Billy

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  2. the blogs stopped, whats your status?

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  3. Yep- no network. Generally, the internet over here is less than satisfactory. Wherever you go, you need to buy a username and password- seems that the gov't wants to monitor the usage.
    But! Apart from that, the trip has been stellar! Tom and Giovanni are 2 of the nicest guys that you'd ever hope to meet; the riding is unbelievable (and unbelievably hard); the food is superb, wherever we go; and the cheapest bottle of wine that we've had (about $10) was as good as any $40 bottle available on the Big Island!
    Hills- boy, have we ridden hills! On the Big Island, we have Kaloko, Kohalas, Kawaihae, Saddle Rd., which we can ride or not, as we prefer. Here, if you're gonna go anywhere, you're gonna ride hills! It's really hard to get a rhythm going, because it's ALL up and down- doesn't seem to be any such thing as just flat. The countryside, however, makes up for it. Acres and acres of olive groves and vineyards, castles, fortified cities and farmsteads, and cobblestone streets; stone is the main building material, and buildings LAST! The architecture is overwhelming, and I don't have the vocabulary to do it justice. Seeing is mandatory! This is really the trip of a lifetime!

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