Our last day in Italy was hot, but otherwise rather easy, with most of the day rolling downhill toward Ancona. We got up for breakfast at 8 and left by 9.15, enjoying the first kilometers that were downhill, scenic, and without too much traffic.

After most of the descent, we stopped at a few bike shops to see if we can buy new, thicker handlebar tape. Both Liz and I are struggling with parts of our hands going numb after hours on the bike. My right pinkie and ringfinger keep being tingly even after we stop cycling. Thicker handlebar tape could distribute the pressure better and help, but we only found thin tape so far.

I did find new bike shorts, though, which is nice, because I can, by now, choose either showing my buttcrack with the Pearl Izumi shorts, or my private parts with the Castelli shorts. Both shorts have worn-out, semi-transparent spots in these unfortunate locations. Anyway, now I can be decent again and the other two shorts landed in the bin to save some weight.

Given how tired our bodies are after having done 730km (515 miles) with 7700m (25,000ft) climbing in seven days of cycling since Sestri Levante, we tweaked the route that Strava suggested to minimize climbing today. So we did not visit Macerata, but kept following the SP71 toward the Adriatic.

We also skipped cycling along the Adriatic, which would have brought us through the nature reserve south-east of Ancona, but would have meant quite a bit more climbing. Instead, we just followed the rather busy SS16.

A bit after 13.00, we stopped for a longer lunch with delicious melon with Parma ham and penne all’arrabiata. We also booked the accommodation for tomorrow night, a hotel at the Dalmatian coast just 38km from Split, so we would have an easy, short day of cycling that would give us time in the afternoon to do some research of where we should stay for a longer, two-day rest.

After a last push over the hills surrounding Ancona, we rolled down to the ticket office of Jadrolinija to check in. With the boarding documents ready, we went to a nice gelateria that Liz found on Google Maps, and enjoyed our last Italian ice cream in the nearby park. On the way to the ship, we stopped at clothing stores so that I would have backup underwear again (after the wind took a pair in Sestri Levante) and some non cycle shorts to wear in the warm evenings. After reading reviews about food quality onboard the ferry, we also decided to go buy a picnic dinner. Liz bought a top shelf red wine they had in the supermarket for 4€.

The boarding process was rather confusing. We were not sure if we would have to follow where the cars go, and where to get our passports checked, which the lady at the ticket office told us we should do. We found the passport control, or, better, the huge line of people in front of it and started queuing. Nothing moved for the longest time, so I went to ask some motorcyclists if they had shown their passports elsewhere. They didn’t, so we stayed in line, which suddenly started moving along at a nonzero speed, while Liz was hindering a group of pushy young Italians to sneak past us by blocking them with her front wheel.

Before passport controls, we had to put our panniers through a security scan, which was a bit ridiculous given that the guy watching the scans was more texting than paying attention to the images. Thankfully, we could just move the bikes around the metal detector.

After we were through, boarding was swift and we got the key for our cabin for the night. It was not nearly as nice as that Stena line ship we took from Hartwich to the Hook of Holland, and the ship seemed to be well over 30 years older than the Stena line ship.

We brought our picnic dinner to a bench on the sun deck, and enjoyed sundown views of at Ancona, and the still very long line in front of passport control. Goodbye Italy, you’ve been great!

Total distance/elevation to date: 4205km/33’208m
Rest days: 14
Route and Stats
Relive Video

Today we slowly climbed up a hill and then had a lovely 20KM descent to town. Our last night in Italy, as tomorrow night we catch a ferry to Croatia!

We adjusted start times back to more humane hours, which meant we got to enjoy a breakfast of cakes and coffee at the agroturismo, whose restaurant was a short walk up the hill through their vineyards (tasty wine at dinner last night) past their turkeys and chickens and goats and cows.

Today’s gradual climb was a welcome break over some of the more jagged, climb-only-to-go-back-down profiles we’ve recently done, along a river that cut through beautiful hills on either side. I almost drove off the road at a sign for a truffle museum, but then it looked like an uphill driveway to the entry, so I only longingly rolled past.

After a lunch stop (truffle pasta!) we quickly arrived in Visso, where military trucks diggers actively buzzing about worksites reminded us that the same forces that shaped the stunning scenery we passed can also devastate it. Visso was near the center of Italy’s 2016 August and October earthquakes. If a building wasn’t under active construction, ominous cracks down one or more sides, or missing siding altogether, marked them uninhabitable. We passed many blockades of resettlement housing – one-story cement structures with porches, painted cheerful yellows or orange – that had been built (1,400 people were displaced after the earthquake), and saw signs of activity among these as people walked dogs or brushed off stoops.

More such structures dotted other villages on the descent. We read the poster of one construction site describing 1.4 million euros invested at the state (Marche – not federal) level. With such costs already sunk, it’s difficult to imagine that further funds will be available to restore the more historic homes or town centers, though one can hope for the sake of communities that rely on tourism.

Tomorrow rolling down to the coast and on to a ship to Croatia.

Total distance/elevation to date: 4107km/32’822m
Rest days: 14
Route and Stats
Relive Video

We had a good rest day in Rome. We slept in and then strolled to a nice hipster coffee shop to cappuccino and to route plan for today and tomorrow. Then we walked toward the Vatican to the Piazza del Risorgimento, where Liz’s friend Ivan promised we could get the best panini in town. After a shared panino, we spotted a craft beer bar and did not walk past it (I had a very nice session IPA from a CRAK Other Half collab). I still wanted to carboload more for today, so we also went next door for maltagliati all’arrabiata and a salad.

After an unsuccessful attempt to buy shorts (my cycling butt is now bigger than the regular Italian trouser sizes I think), we cooled down in A/C air back at the AirBnB and napped. For dinner, we went out to meet Marco and Cecilia, old friends of mine from ETH days. We had a wonderful evening catching up on everything we have been up to.

It was midnight by the time we went to sleep, so we decided against getting up before dawn, well aware that we would be hot today. I woke up at 6.30 before the alarm and started packing and prepping, and then started reading a book about the Balkan wars to prepare for the next part of the trip. I know way too little about the history of this conflict. Reading the book also allowed me to relax about our departure time and give Liz the time she needed to get ready. Live and learn.

Then it was goodbye Rome. We are cycling to Ancona to catch a ferry over to Split on Friday night. We left the city the same way as we entered, carrying our bikes down to the Tiber River and then cycling along the nice bike path. After leaving the river, we merged onto a big road with lots of traffic, but at least it was flat as it follows the Tiber north.

Not having had breakfast, we said we would stop as soon as we hit a  “Schlaraffenland” coffee bar. Liz really likes the concept of the Schlaraffenland, i.e. land of plenty, where one does not have to move to get food – the food comes to you (e.g. a rotisserie chicken flying into your mouth). So we use Schlaraffenland as code for a place that is directly on our route. And indeed we found a Schlaraffenland coffee bar close to where we would cross the A90 highway.

Caffeinated, we rolled further north-east on the SS4, the Via Salaria, which was quite busy for a while after the highway. In Borgo Quinzio, we turned off the SS4 onto the much quieter Vecchia Salaria (old Salaria). Liz was not feeling too great in the morning and was having a headache. We did not do too well with hydration yesterday, which might be the reason – or the three hard days to Rome were taking their toll. So we stopped more often for breaks, and soon after we started following the Vecchia Salaria, we found a Schlaraffenland place that sold Gatorade. This helped Liz’ headache, thankfully.

After we reached the top of the first climb, we started looking for a place (yes, Schlaraffenland of course) to eat a pasta lunch. We ran into a nice restaurant in Osteria Nuova and had spaghettoni all’amatriciana (me) and gnocchi pomodoro (Liz). With a liter of sparkling water, the bill came to 15€.

I was quite worried about the heat with the late start, but it was not as bad as I thought. Most of the time, we had trees lining the road providing shade, and even in the sun the temperature was acceptable as the air was rather dry. And we were super diligent about hydration – by the time we finished dinner, we would each have had six liters / 1.6 gallons to drink today.

In the heat, we made it up the last two climbs through hilly landscapes full of olive trees. From there, we would “only” have 30km/19 miles to ride to the agriturismo for the night. We made good progress on the plateau of the town Rieti, and reached the agriturismo at about 18.00. So we spent about 10h to get from start to finish – with a moving time of 6h40min, we spent a good three hours taking breaks.

We should do shorter days again when we reach the Balkans to have more time to relax. And we both feel like our bodies have not yet fully recovered from the long rides into Rome. But, as Liz said over the very delicious dinner here: “We say this every time we do hard routes, and then someone gets excited again about a longer ride, and we do it again”. Live and maybe soon learn?

Total distance/elevation to date: 4016km/32’094m
Rest days: 14
Route and Stats
Relive Video

After yesterday’s ordeal, I was tired and not looking forward too much to another 108km / 67 miles in the saddle today. The tiredness also did not help in the early morning with me getting anxious about leaving on time and Liz wanting more time to wake up. The following argument ruined the otherwise nice cycling morning. A talk over a Cappucino and a Fanta in Capranica helped, though, and we were friends again. This tour is also a big team-building event.

After our argument, we cycled 50m to the bar that is run by the husband of one of the two sisters running the hotel we stayed at. We both asked for a sandwich and two pastries with our cappuccini to prepare us for the ride ahead. Thanks to a deal with the hotel, we got it all free/included in the hotel room. Very nice!

We were on the road by six, and we enjoyed more Tuscan farmland views on our way to Viterbo. I really like hay bales in the dawn light. In Viterbo, we cycled along the large fortification walls of the medieval city. On the SR2 leading out of Viterbo, traffic was already increasing and quite a few large trucks passing us made for some uncomfortable riding.

After a while of this, we got a nice break from traffic on a short offroad section  through woods.

Around 11.00, we conquered the last major climb of the day up the crater ridge of the volcanic Lago Bracciano. My slight early morning anxiety about the ride ahead proved to be unnecessary, as our legs were good and we felt that the last 48km, mostly flat, would be manageable.

The overcast sky helped keeping temperatures reasonable, even though there were the occasional raindrops. So we decided to stop for a nap and lunch at the lake. And we even got in a swim before the nap on a tiny beach at a local pizzeria. At lunch, we were the only people in the pizzeria, but the food was excellent, so it must have been a slow day due to the rain clouds.

After lunch, we only had 35km left to our AirBnB near the center of Rome. We took it easy and rolled into town around three, following a very nice and empty cycle path along the Tiber river.

The AirBnB check-in would not be until 15.30, so we stopped at an ice-cream stand at a summer-fest booth along the river. It was both the most expensive and the worst ice cream I had so far in Italy. The fact that they were also selling bubble tea should have been warning enough.

As a last effort, we had to carry up our bikes up the stairs from the bike path to the street above to reach the AirBnB. Federico who was checking us in was 20min late, but the place is amazing, and at 70€ a night a very good deal.

After a well-deserved nap, we went to a craft beer bar for an apéro, after which rather heavy rain set in. We bought an umbrella (10€) from the random salesmen magically appearing everywhere and started walking toward home, looking for a restaurant along the way. The places with nice Google reviews were full and we were running out of patience, so we ended up in a tourist restaurant. My pizza was dry, the starter fried zucchini flower smelled like fish, and the wine was meh. Liz’ pasta was not bad, though. “I would give it 2 out of 5 stars”, Liz said.

After dinner, a thunderstorm brought torrential rain and we sought shelter in a small bar with what seemed to be a mix of locals and Colombian tourists. After a grappa, the rain stopped and I was tipsy. The Roman sewer system was getting a bit overwhelmed with the amount of water the storm brought, so walking home was a lot of circumnavigating large puddles. Close to home, we ran into a huge, deep puddle that smelled not very inviting to walk through. Thankfully, a nice Roman man gave us a lift on his scooter. We turned off all 4.30 alarms and are planning to sleep well into the rest-day tomorrow.

Total distance/elevation to date: 3901km/30’895m
Rest days: 13
Route and Stats
Relive Video

Today we rode too far and with too much climbing in too much heat. But with good hydration and a lovely picnic breakfast bundle from the hotel last night, we fared well, considering, and made it to the lake for a dip before the World Cup final.

The route started off with stunning lighting and the smell of pine over Tuscan countryside, and we cruised for the first 30+ KM. I was jazzed and unusually playing cheerleader to Philipp’s route skeptic, likely as I had planned it. Then came the first big climb, followed by more climbing. I don’t remember the details of a lot of this – I spent a lot of time on the climbs looking at my computer, counting down to the final kilometer of each section.

I do remember a long forested descent after the highest point (900M), which felt tropical and bizarre in contrast to the hot fields of wheat that lay below. We were high enough to get some spectacular views of said fields – a mix of wheat and grapevines – when we came out of the forest. Then got started on the final ascent, traveling along a road that had been blasted out of stone, stopping for lunch about 2PM in the hilltop town of Sorano, which looked like itself might have been blasted out of stone.

Nothing like a plate of home-made pasta to fuel you to get back on the road, and we optimistically started dreaming of the swim that lay at the end of the last 30KM. You could call this the last mistake.

When planning the route, I had been surprised that Strava didn’t take the course along the shore of the final lake, figuring swims and scenery might be popular with other riders as well. I manually dragged Strava’s proposed route to follow the lake, and checked on StreetView that the new route was paved.

A few kilometers before we turned off to this route, Philipp asked whether I’d checked it, noticing that we had about 300M more to descend and only a few kilometers in which to do it. I had checked for pavement, but not gradient, on the descent, and as we turned off onto what looked like a gravel road, with Philipp’s estimate of 15% gradient, only the knowledge that it was shorter than Strava’s proposal kept me from turning back.

Two kilometers of harrowing descent on full brakes or on foot later, with only patches of pavement, we were dropped off on another gravel road, complete with dust cloud plumes from cars seeking beach parking. Still with 10KM to go, we ate dust until the route turned back away from the lake – and smack into a 20% grade. 

Strava, you win today. But give us a swim, gelato, and some down time watching the World Cup, and we’ll be back out tomorrow.

KM 128 – FIN

Total distance/elevation to date: 3792km/30’023m
Rest days: 13
Route and Stats
Relive Video

We booked half-board at the Agriturismo Podere Cortesi, which made me order more food than Liz suggested we should (a primi each and sharing one secondi). So we each had a secondi. Liz started with tagliatelle with porcini mushrooms and I opted for the same – pasta but with fresh black truffles. And then we had a great wild boar stew (Liz) and a T-bone steak that the Nonno (grandfather) cut up in strips on a cart and then covered and smothered in Parmesan cheese and olive oil. So, so, good. With the food, we had some of the red wine that they produce themselves. A tiramisu rounded off the evening and we went to bed too late and too stuffed.

I did not sleep to well and woke up before the alarm at 4.30, probably because of meat sweats. We made some instant coffee and were on the road by 5.30, a new record.

For the first time, Liz took over routing for today. It would be our longest ride yet at just shy of 120km / 75 miles and with quite a bit of climbing. But we had a lot of time, so we were not too worried.

After the first 14km / 9 miles, we got to the top of the first climb and the sun just started to peek out over the hills, bathing the fields and grapevines below us in a beautiful light. I spent most of the climb regretting overeating last night, but the scenery quickly made me forget about feeling tired.

Then we descended on a super steep path down to the valley leading to Cecina, feeling happy about the fact that we don’t have to climb such a gradient. On this descent, Liz took the picture at the beginning.

A longer approach to climb #2 followed, which we pushed through averaging more than 21km/h / 13 miles/h. In Canneto, near the top of the climb, we rode past one of those Italian mineral water dispensing machines, where we paid 0.10€ to fill all our bottles with nice, cool, and sparkling mineral water (the still option wasn’t working, but nothing a few burps wouldn’t settle).

Rolling down from the top, we noticed whiffs of sulfur and lots of pipes running along the roads and through the fields. After seeing different sets of cooling towers, and signs warning about hot steam in the pipes, we realized that these must be geothermal power plants. And yes, a sign later announced that we are entering the Geothermal Natural Park Biancane. In plants across Tuscany, Italy produces about 1.7% of its electric energy using geothermal power.

Then started climb #3, the longest and highest of the day. The early start paid of again, the temperatures were still reasonable as we shifted into the granny gear around 9.30. Italian cyclists know this, too, and we saw many cyclists on the way up, and even some of the elusive female Italian cyclists (why do the appear to be in such a minority?).

Then it was time to descend again, and we got passed by super fast teams of road cyclists. My own max. speed downhill was 60km/h / 47 miles /h, which is not even at the speed that sprinters need (~70km/h) to win a stage at the Tour de France on flat terrain. Those guys can produce some crazy peak power levels!

The last climb of the day would only climb about 200m, but it started getting warm. We stopped at a bar/grocery store where the whole town seemed to be meeting, too, and got our sugar levels back up with some Coke and Pan di Stelle. At the top, I was ready for a cold shower, but we still had 30km to go, thankfully mostly downhill.

With temperatures now uncomfortably high, we pushed not only to get to the hotel, but also to cool in the resulting headwind. After cold showers and a nice swim in the hotel’s pool, we went back to our room for the siesta. Another long day tomorrow, but I will be smarter about food quantity tonight (knocks on wood).

Total distance/elevation to date: 3667km/27’849m
Rest days: 13
Route and Stats
Relive Video

We liked the early morning start yesterday so much that we did it again. Alarm at 4.30, then tinkering with the B&B’s coffee machine to get some caffeine into the system, and off we went!

By the time we hit the SS1, morning traffic to Pisa was in full swing, which was not great. But we managed and arrived in Pisa early and went straight for it’s famous leaning tower, where the first tourists already started taking pictures posing as if propping the tower up, the classic photo.

Then it was coffee time! Liz found a great hipster coffee place where we had humongous cappucini and some bagels. We also did some more route planning and figured out that with three big pushes/days, we would be in Rome as early as Monday night.

We stopped at a bike shop to buy new socks for me (a dog in space) and to check our tire pressures. With all tires back at 5bar / 73.5psi, we started the ride out of the city toward the Tuscan farmlands and more hills.

The longer break in Pisa (we spent almost 2 hours futzing around) resulted in a hotter than desired ride, which again confirmed the advantages of an early start.

The short, albeit hot climb up to Santa Luce went well, and we stopped for lunch in a small restaurant. The nice salads, lasagna, and drinks set us back 29€, before we did the quick hop (about 3.5km / 2 miles) to the agriturismo where we are staying the night.

Delighted to find A/C in the room, we had a great afternoon nap/siesta and then booked rooms for the trip to Rome and the ferry from Ancona to Croatia at the end of next week. I am already looking forward to exploring the other side of the Adriatic!

Total distance/elevation to date: 3458km/25’917m
Rest days: 13
Route and Stats
Relive Video

12:10PM: It is likely too early to declare our early start test run a success, but so far we’re happy with having cool temps and roads to ourselves!

Alarm went off at 4:30AM and we sunscreened in the dark, getting downstairs by a little after 5AM, where the night security guard made us coffees and had pinched some cake from somewhere for breakfast. Waited out a highly localized storm and were on the road at 5:39AM.

The first 20KM were a slow, cool, humid, glorious time with roads all to ourselves and the post-rain dampness creating the illusion of a jungle ride amidst Ligurian hills. Philipp even donned a jacket for the descent, and we twisted to just past the 40KM mark – halfway – before stopping for another round of coffees and focaccia (5E total). This is usually the time that I’m procrastinating putting on sunscreen before we even start.

Hit what felt like morning rush hour but might have just been narrower roads with more trucks headed into La Spezia around the 60KM mark, but things widened out and calmed down as we honed in on the beachy home stretch toward Marina di Massa.

Wouldn’t be an early start without one argument, predictably about where to have the day’s third coffee and camp out for a bit before we could check in at 2PM. At 11:30 settled on a focacceria that served pasta starting at 12PM. We ordered some focaccia to tide us over but were overwhelmed with the result (basically, a whole pizza’s worth of bread dough with prosciutto tucked in, 7E each) so will now set our eyes on the neighboring gelateria to tide us over until naptime.

Tomorrow’s track and housing is already sorted, so if we can get some afternoon rest in we should have a carefree evening to tour the town’s restaurants and pedestrian area. It has the feeling of Santa Barbara or other temperate walking city with lots of trees and outdoor dining.

Total distance/elevation to date: 3458km/25’917m
Rest days: 13
Route and Stats
Relive Video

Saturday night in Carriosio was busy! There were many people at dinner – maybe the Giro Rosa that we passed also contributed to the crowd. Our room was in the top floor and we slept a bit restless in the heat until about 2am when the room cooled down (I got up and tried to move air in/out using a towel).

Despite or because of the hot night, we set the alarm early to get out around 9.00 to do the first climb in the cooler morning air. We definitely appreciated the early start in the short climb, but realized that to really ride in nice, cool conditions, we would have to get up a lot earlier.

After the climb, we descended down into Busalla, where we stopped to buy peaches and cherries as a snack for later and the rest days ahead. From there, it was a very gradual climb (300m over 29km / 1000ft over 18 miles) to the highest point of the day, from where we could just roll down to the Mediterranean.

In the descent, we rolled into a really nicely located trattoria at a small waterfall, but it was Sunday lunch and too nice of a location, or we looked too sweaty and gross, and they informed us that they were fully booked. A bit further down, we were more successful and had a nice pasta lunch, albeit a bit heavier than usual (I had a thick cream sauce with hazel and pine nuts on my pasta and Liz had lots of bacon and ham on hers).

After we reached the sea, we rode on the coast-hugging SS1 road, which was rather uncomfortable between the many parked cars (Sunday and everyone at the beach) and the traffic. But it was flat and we made it soon to our hotel at the sea. It is rather oddly situated with the large Fincantieri wharf located between it and the town of Riva Trigoso. A bit disappointed about the location at first, we soon embraced the Italian beach life, renting chaise-lounges and an umbrella every day and having panini for lunch. In the evening, we would walk around the wharf to town to eat at the cute restaurants that mostly cater to locals. On our first night, we took the menu in the Trattoria Tirreno, which was delicious and came with half a liter of wine from a what looked to be a 10l bottle, and would only set us back 20€ for both, so we had ample ice cream budget to spend in the Cremeria Delle Gardenie. So we spent 4€ for the most amazing stracciatella and pistacchio gelati and wondered why there are not more Italian gelaterias in Zurich (where, no doubt, the prices would be triple).

Total distance/elevation to date: 3378km/25’114m
Rest days: 10
Route and Stats
Relive Video

The dinner last night at the agriturismo “il Fiordaliso” was spectacular. The theme of the evening was set after I asked Piera, the owner, for a Coke after we arrived and she replied that no, they only have natural and homemade food and beverages. Indeed, we had bread made from flour from their own wheat fields, salami made by an old man in the village, goat cheese made by another neighbor, rabbit from their farm, and wonderful homemade agnolottis, a stuffed pasta (made, of course from flour from their farm). Our half-board deal for 130€ included wine (!) and we shared a bottle of Barbera d’Asti (we rode through Asti yesterday), but, responsibly, also each had a full liter of water (getting my water tally to 5.5l on this hot day).

Today promised similarly hot weather, but a shorter ride of just 70km (43.5 miles). The bicitalia-created route took us past lots of farmland on small, nice roads. Most notably, we rode past many, many Hazelnut bushes. Piedmontese hazelnuts must be special, because I do remember that Sprüngli back home uses them for their delicious chocolate bars.

While it was a bit hillier than yesterday, the gradients remained reasonable or the climbs where short, so that we made very good progress toward lunch in Predosa. We both had pasta at the Bar Roma, with Fanta and Coke to get the sugar levels back up. With the coffee for me, the bill came to 15€. The owners were super nice and gave us two pastries for snacks later and ice for our water bottles (so, so nice if it is hot outside).

We then gradually climbed through lots and lots of vineyards toward San Cristoforo, where we got stopped by a traffic guard securing the route of the Giro Rosa, the Giro d’Italia for women. We were just in time to see the last four racers fly past us.

After a short descent, we got to Gavi, just 5km from our destination, and therefore the place to stop for gelato. We did so at the Bar di Matteo. I had stracciatella and pistache, and Liz went for fragola and limone. The perfect cycling snack.

With the sugar levels back up, we soon reached our hotel for the night in Carrosio. From the looks of the oven, we’ll have to try their pizza. Tomorrow, we will ride a bit over 90km (56 miles) with more climbing, but then we are at the Mediterranean and at a hotel right at the beach where we booked for four nights – time for a proper rest!

Total distance/elevation to date: 3281km/24’331m
Rest days: 10
Route and Stats
Relive Video