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Published: September 22nd 2017
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Bob heading off into the sunriseBob left at 8AM today to spend a day in Florence before flying home to Boston; tonight I will be taking advantage of his absence to enjoy a dessert I would otherwise have had to pay for (since our package included all meals we're just going to pretend he ordered it as one of his two menu selections). In that regard it might be worth mentioning now how wonderful the staff here has been (even putting up patiently with my feeble attempts to converse in Italian). Both Bob and I have been very pleased with the way things worked out, and enjoyed being out in the country with clean air, big sky, and peace and quiet; quite a contrast to the tourist town of Riccione and the group rides we had there.
Today I checked off the last of the destinations I hoped to visit, and chose a route to ensure I have ridden almost every road in this area in both directions. I was particularly looking forward to descending from Sassetta on the road I went up the other day, but otherwise - as has been the case since we got here - had no preconceptions about what I
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Sassetta seen from the road was heading into.
I first got to ride up some of what I had descended in the rain the other day, and not surprisingly it was much more enjoyable under those conditions and I made fairly good time, arriving in Sassetta after only a little over an hour. I was also pleased to discover a water source right at the start of the descent to Castagneto Carducci, as I was pretty sure I was going to need it on the way back. But I almost didn't make it to Sassetta in the first place: as I had been heading north, a couple of passing caravans had obstructed my view (I was also distracted by a road hazard I was trying to avoid at the time) and I actually rode right by the left turn I was looking for. Fortunately it didn't take me long to realize it, otherwise I would've been in for another visit to Monteverdi Marittimo. As it was, for the second time I enjoyed a relatively mild ascent to Sassetta, with only a few kms towards the top that required a bit more effort.
It was during my subsequent 10km descent towards Castagneto Carducci that
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Not sure if this was Fall or Death I suddenly realized there was a very good possibility I would be descending all the way back to sea level, giving up all of the altitude I had just gained; in other words it might be a real bitch of a ride back. This thought gained further prominence when I reached CC itself and the downhill grade got noticeably steeper. I continued descending past the town and dropped down so far that I started wondering if I had missed a turn, but eventually the road towards Bolgheri appeared and the grade eased a bit. Meanwhile the number of cyclists on the road - primarily touristy types but also some more performance-oriented ones - kept increasing, and I had fun stroking my ego as I zoomed past groups of the former.
Finally I hit the viale dei cipressi, the tree-lined road that connects Bolgheri to San Guido; seeing said road had been the goal for today's ride. That being the case I didn't feel it necessary to ride the further 2km into Bolgheri itself and simply turned left and headed west towards San Guido and the coast, still not sure if I really wanted to climb back to Sassetta or
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On the back side of Sassetta heading towards Castagneto Carducci instead just stay on the flats all the way down to San Vincenzo. But the road (trusty old Aurelia SP39) was in poor shape and had a moderate amount of traffic on it, so just before Donoratico I made the decision to turn off and head back towards Castagneto Carducci (and regain all the altitude I had just shed). On the way down from Sassetta I had thought the road to be fairly steep, but surprisingly, going up it turned out to be not that bad - either my perceptions are off or I may just have gotten used to climbing this stuff (and with a bike geared much lower than the ones I have back home, that would be easy to do).
At any rate, I made it through town with little effort, and was then pleasantly startled to find the way back to Sassetta almost level, even though the road is quite a twisty one and it had certainly felt like I had been losing altitude going the other the way. As it was still rather early, I didn't press too hard, and after I reached Sassetta I pretty much just tried to let gravity provide the
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The definitive Tuscany photo: olive trees, vineyard, castle, and the sea force to propel me forward (and down) to Suvereto. Here, too, I found my memory/perception faulty as there were a couple of uphill bits I didn't remember, but just as when I rode up the other day, I thoroughly enjoyed riding through the woods on the way down.
My descent through Suvereto did not follow the same route I had taken up the last time (when I went through the old section), though, and emerged somewhat below the little bit of road I hadn't yet seen that would lead me back to San Lorenzo. Since I had already endured the poor road quality of the route back to the ranch from there more times than I cared to, rather than climb back to the junction I would need, I decided to simply turn the other way and continue south to Cafaggio. Because I still had plenty of time I was considering following the road all the way to Venturina and then ascending to Campiglia Marittima via the road I had descended the other day, but leaving Cafaggio I immediately found myself buzzed by traffic, and since the road was lousy as well, I reversed course and chose to leave
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The quintessential cypress row between Bolgheri and San Guido Caffagia via the relative calm of the road to Casalappa. As a concession to road conditions on the Aurelia and the ever-present wind, and also wanting to prolong my ride as much as possible, I then chose not to take the direct route back via Banditelle but instead stayed on SP21 until it intersected the Aurelia, allowing me to finish my Italian cycling adventure with a tailwind and on a relatively smooth surface.
I didn't want my time here to end, but after 6 days I had pretty much biked out all the roads in this region (especially the flat ones I had to endure at the beginning and end of every ride). For my final meal I treated myself to a glass of wine and dessert (thank you, Bob!), and although the main course was not as good as when I had it earlier in the week - there was a different cook then - and the dessert was a bit disappointing, I have no real complaints about my time here. I enjoyed Italy and would definitely like to explore more of it, preferably after I have had time to brush up on my Italian. One thing I
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For my soccer mates; I stopped here for a snack won't miss, though, is the wind, which rose up every single day we were here. Apparently its the same wind as the famous French mistral, and arrives here via Corsica.
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