day 3&4: gentler terrains, a cause for greater optimism

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The third day of riding was our last day riding in the Tuscany region. According to our maps, there are less contour lines, which means less slopes, which means we get to cover more distance everyday. Griting our teeth, we took the longer way out of Siena on country roads, and did no encounter major slopes for the first half of the day. We were cruising and morale has never been higher.

Tunnels: Tunnels are god-sent for us. Whenever we see a tunnel we would be very happy. Kind engineers have blasted a hole in a hill/mountain in order for us to pass through on level ground. How nice. Good work guys. What ranks higher than a tunnel? Never-ending downslopes. What goes up has to come down right? After about 2hrs riding, we encountered a meandering downslope that was exhilarating to say the least. It was basically what we have been climbing up the past 3 days. It went on forever. A good 15-20 minutes of downhill at 40kmph on a bicycle. The refreshing wind and the comforting howl in my ears brought tears of joy to my eyes. We covered a good 15km going downhill, without having to pedal.

However, never rest on your laurels just yet. After hitting rock bottom altitude, the only way out is up. So we were still cautious and mentally ready to tackle the next upslope. No it did not come. Being greedy, we did not stop at many towns although the sun was setting and we have covered more than enough disntace for the day. We were running on exhilation and sheer adrenaline. Then it came. An evil upslope that had no end in sight. It was painful, as we have burnt most of our calories for the day. The calf muscles were tight, but we had to push on. We werent moving very fast so we were pushing our bikes up the slopes.

Finally, a town. A beautiful one. From far, we could see that it was surrounded by a fort. A brown fort that looked like something out of the 15th Century. We went in and it was beautiful. Tall majestic walls marked the perimeter of the town. It was alot like Florence, just without the tourist. In fact, because it was almsot dinner time, the streets were eerily empty. We soon found a nice public toilet, that had showering fascilities, and a perfect camping ground with a picnic chair and table. Our best campsite so far, by far. A pity that we did not take much pictures as we were exhausted.

Day 4: An easy ride. Flat and nicely-paved roads, we had alot of fun riding on day 4. We loved Lazio, haha. This was the half-way mark of our journey to Rome, so we decided if we found a nice hostel or hotel we would stay for the night. No dramas that day, just riding and riding and chatting on the way. Our body were absolutely conditioned by this stage, and the day's 50km ride was a piece of cake.

At the end of the day, we observed a large blue lake on our right. It looked like the ocean, but our map confirmed it to be a lake. We ended up finding a very nice camping ground (payable ones with caravans and motorhomes) that had a private beach. We decided to rest for the day half of the day and relax and this place. We deserved it. Looks like we are actually ahead of our schedule to get to Rome. Angela and Marco would be surprised! Angela bet that we would make it but Marco said its too far and we would end up taking a train. We shall see...

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