The day began with the usual briefing on the route and things to watch for along the way. One advantage of riding with three other guys is that between the four of us, we can collectively get all the details and piece them together for a complete picture.
Now that VBT uses RidewithGPS, we don’t get paper maps anymore which might be a nice back-up when technology fails. There were a number of occasions during the week when my relatively new Garmin 830 would freeze up and I would have no idea where I was. I will admit that there are certainly many things about my Garmin that I don’t know how to do or I am not doing correctly, but that again speaks to the virtue of having paper back-ups.
The other thing they could provide is a written description of things to see or do along the way. Our guides provided so much detail that by the time they got to the end, I had forgotten many of the things they mentioned earlier,
We started the day with a long climb out of town. Stu joined a small group who hopped in the van to skip the climb. Even with very easy gearing, it was a long, slow slog to the top.
Note to self: the next time I see a video that shows riders gliding up a hill to a spectacular view, I need to remember how I felt on these relatively pedestrian climbs. No, I don’t need to do the Taiwan KOM Challenge or spring trip to Mallorca.
Here’s the mid-morning stop. VBT assigns two tour guides to each trip: one drives the support van and the other rides sweep. Today Alessandra was riding and Michol drove the van, so she set up the picnic table.
Soon after the picnic stop and before lunch, there was a stop at a beach on the bay of Baratti. A lot of riders went in the water. Mike and I had drinks on a porch overlooking the beach.
Rather than hang out at the beach, Mike and I took up Alessandra’s suggestion to visit a castle up a hill beyond our lunch stop. This was another long, slow, slog up a hill, but the castle and the village of Populonia inside were well worth the climb.
Here's a picture of the beach at about 3/4 up the climb. You can see the beach where we were before.
Here's the outside of the castle.
And here's the turret from the inside.
A small church, much less ornate than some others that we saw.
We descended back to the farm where we had lunch.
We didn’t have a long ride after lunch to return to the hotel so the lunch was quite drawn out. When the espressos arrived, I used a cot under a tree to put up my feet.
Here's an unauthorized picture.
There was time built into the schedule to take the group up to the castle after lunch (the tour guides mentioned this in the morning briefing, but by this time, I had forgotten about it). Most of the group piled into the van, but I asked the tour guides if we could borrow a couple of ebikes, so Mike and I hopped on ebikes and bombed up the hill. Since we got to the castle sooner than the van, and we had forgotten to grab a lock, I babysat the bikes while Mike roamed around. When the rest of the group passed through the gate, a few of them asked about the experience, and my response was a Mitchism: “stupid fun”.
Here's the stats for the ebike ride: https://www.strava.com/activities/7318751340
Here's the stats for the same ride on the road bike: https://www.strava.com/activities/7323659568
In summary, same distance, same elevation gain,:
- ebike average speed: 12.4 mph, 11:47 moving time
- road bike average speed: 5.3mph, 32:34 moving time
Mike recommended climbing the castle’s tower, so we swapped places. Here's the view from the top.
We returned to the hotel and stripped the bikes of our gear.
The boys went to the pool for drinks. I went to sleep.
Here are the stats for the day: https://www.strava.com/activities/7318752919
The evening’s farewell dinner involved no special activities unlike some events on previous tours but a good time was had by all.
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