A Minor Excursion (With Some Climbing) 77km

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After yesterday's Grand Tour I really didn't think it would be a good idea to go out for the hard ride proposed for the combined Limoncino and Cappuccino Super groups, so I opted for the milder Cappuccino ride. Apparently this was quite a popular sentiment, as so many people signed up for this level that they had to split us into 3 groups to make things more manageable. We had 15 in ours, and while there didn't seem to have been an official selection process our group was strong enough that I think our leader (Micol) decided to take us over a few climbs that some others avoided.

Surprisingly these were steeper than I had anticipated (14-16%), albeit brief (on the order of 1-2 km), including one memorable stretch on a very trafficky and winding road that started off 16% at before kicking up to 18% for the final push to the roundabout at the top.

Limited by the desire to be back at the hotel by 2:00 so those interested could take a bus trip to San Marino (I believe we were originally scheduled to have ridden there on Sunday but that destination was replaced by a more moderate one due to weather), and owing to several stoppages due to flats, today's ride was even shorter than the advertised 93km, but I think the supplemental climbing compensated for the lack of distance.

As usual, though, there weren't many opportunities to take photographs, and when I did I started getting 'low battery' warnings. These subsequently disappeared so I'm not sure what to think. In fact, having inadvertently switched to 'continuous shooting' mode when I later pulled the camera from my pocket I managed to prove that the battery still had enough juice in it to take more shots than I had taken prior to that point.

It seems this will be another one of those trips where memories will have to suffice.

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Photos

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Confusing Signage

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We've seen a lot of this sort of thing

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Me and my climbing buddy Joe in the piazza at Santarcangelo di Romagna

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More scenery