Splendid Solo Cycling

Bagno di Romagna to Rapolano Terme

There are some days when one feels just like "go cat go" - or in my case, "get moving, you grey-whiskered old tom"! today was such a day. A day for riding at my own pace, stopping where and when I wanted to stop and going when I wanted to go. And go I did. No, not fast - I don't do fast - just steady. Yep, I can do steady. It was a brilliant ride, which I will try to convey as best I can.

(Note: most of the scenic photos in this post are at a resolution that are worth

looking at in a larger format if you can be bothered.)

Dianne and I would be revisiting country we'd spent time in many years ago with our great friends Tim and Mary, and we were both excited about the day ahead.

We had our usual milling about before setting off, so I took a few photos. I hadn't realised that we were actually staying in a "bike hotel" ...

John was ready to go ...

... while Dylan and Mark discussed logistics ...

... and Kay, Sharon and Di talked tactics for the day's ride ...

Once we got underway, as expected we all found our own pace up the hill, which started straight out of town. We were moving from Emilia-Romagna to Tuscany via the Passo dei Mandrioli, a col often used in the Giro d'Italia.  The climb was reasonably long at about 12 kilometres, but at quite a moderate and even gradient which meant one could go up at a fairly steady pace the whole way. Here's a graphic that shows its twists and turns and ups and downs from where it starts in Bagno di Romagno and finishes in Badia Prataglia ...

... and the sign at the top of the climb before the wonderful descent starts ...

A little later I paused while crossing a river to take two photos, one looking upstream where some substantial landscaping was taking place ...

... and the other downstream, which I thought presented quite an attractive scene ..

Our morning coffee stop was at the 40 kilometre mark and I stopped briefly to go to the loo, down a coffee and eat a banana. As you probably gathered from my opening paragraph, it was a day I felt like being on the move, so I promptly jumped back on the bike. 

Dylan had arranged for us to have a sit-down meal of pasta in an osteria at the 80 kilometre mark. The great thing about these sort of eateries is that their menus reflect what is fresh and available locally. Generally simple food and not a lot of choice but, from my limited experience, always well cooked and delicious. The chalkboard special for today was a tagliatelle with porcini mushrooms. Fabulous and, as far as I was concerned the perfect mid-ride meal for the day.

Again, I didn't stop long. I had 52 kilometres left to ride. Lunch segued straight into the the second climb for the day, which was a lot shorter and lower than the first. Here's the summit sign ...

The descent led towards a beautiful town below and, against my desire to keep steaming down the hill, I paused for a photo ...

As you can see from the photo above I was coming down into vineyards and olive groves, and I sat up to shoot a little video ...

At the top of the hill a pretty village presented itself and I paused to take a photo coming in ...

The road led from here down onto the plains below, where a slight headwind slowed progress down somewhat but, sniffing the home straight, on I went ignoring any temptations of gelato or coffee - not that there were many options.

I was delighted to come across the sign demarcating the border between Arezzo and Tuscany, and even more delighted to capture the car passing by with a lass airing her feet out the window ...

Not long after, Dylan passed me by while I was stopped taking a photo of this field of flowers ...

Actually, I was so taken with the riot of colour that I did a little panning video that gives an even better impression of the scene ...

Dylan set off, but I found him stopped just up the road waiting for a train to pass. Lucky for me. I was just about out of water and hadn't thought to ask when he stopped earlier if he had some. Getting a top up probably made a huge difference in the finish to my ride.

Between the field of flowers and arriving at Rapolano Terme there were more vines alongside the road and fields of grain as well. What a rich agricultural region this is! Here's another short video ...

There was one last short hill to climb before I saw Rapolano Terme spread out in front of me ...

All that was left today was follow my Garmin route for another easy couple of kilometres and I was led straight into the hotel where, before anything else, I had a quick beer followed by a slow one. Just brilliant! 

Finally, here is a graphic to show the territory we covered today. As you can see, we are getting quite close now to Rome ...

Suddenly, we only have four days of riding left, and the last day is a short procession into the city. I can almost hear the echoes of the gladiators doing battle in the Colosseum, which Di and I will visit the day after we enter Rome. Our epic adventure is almost over.