Day 4 Bike beginnings
- Thomas Delker
- Jun 2
- 2 min read
The night before -
We had a really lovely evening with a bike ride around Lucca. They had created a biking and walking path atop the wall which is still intact the entire circle. Then we dropped the bikes back at the apartment (which included the enjoyable carry of the 4 bikes to the 2nd floor - Italy, like the US has a very active bike theft situation and so we always try to find a locked home for them every night) and strolled around town looking for dinner on a Saturday. All the suggested restaurants by our Airbnb were booked so we settled for one that seemed well attended and we enjoyed a decent meal. Then back to bed and an early wake up to beat the heat for our first day or riding!
We woke up with intent and we were out the door by 7.50 am in hopes of staying ahead of the heat. A short cafe stop for always amazing cappuccinos and Andrews double macchiato (‘marked’ by the foam but not much milk). A pleasant ride through Lucca and out in to the flat suburbs for most of the miles. Countryside and small towns for the first 20 km, and then we left the paved roads for some very rough walking path with old cobblestone in the woods. Eautiful, interesting and challenging. After 10 km of that Sara noticed something was off, and we had our first flat tire of the trip. A little concerned it happened so early, and I learned another well known lesson to not use the tire iron to get the tire back on, but we got it sorted and moved on to lunch. I was left with the stress of a only 2 spare tubes and a lot of miles ahead of us. Not many options on a Sunday in a rural area but we had excellent ham (cooked not cured) and cheese on a baguette. Seems only ‘bars’ are open on sundays in these small towns and they are well attended!
On to the final 15 km and the up hill grades started to show up. The final 5 km were notable but we all pushed the pedals and we were at San Miniato by 1 pm. We looked confused as we tried to identify the Location of the place we were staying. Immediately a nice gentleman walked up and asked if we had a phone number, called and help arrange the meet up! Very kind of him!
Showers, gelato, a walk around town and up to the tower then over to dinner recommended by the proprietor of our house. Rabbit and pasta, very good!
Phew, a late night again and Sara needed to make a 1 am zoom with her German exchange program plus an early start tomorrow - we have our work cut out for us!
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