Allocco to Siena

Sunday November 14, 2010

My campsite for the night by the river near Allocco, Bologna, Italy.

My campsite for the night by the river near Allocco, Bologna, Italy. 

The goal for today: get to Siena. And at that stage I had no doubt I would. I woke up early at about 7 am
My planned early start, however, was thwarted by a puncture in the back tyre which I noticed when I got up.
I ate breakfast, packed up and repaired the puncture, which appeared to be caused by a thorn. The first puncture for the new back tyre.
I hit the road, pretty quiet which was good, and actually saw quite a few other road cyclists - it was a Sunday morning so there were lots of cyclists out and about.

Riding behind a group of road cyclists on the Via Val di Setta, in Vado, Bologna, Italy.

Riding behind a group of road cyclists on the Via Val di Setta, in Vado, Bologna, Italy. 

Riding behind a group of road cyclists on the Via Val di Setta, in Vado, Bologna, Italy. 

This first group was going very slowly, but it was such a novelty riding with other cyclists again that I just sat in behind them and tagged along, until they turned off after about ten minutes.
A few lone cyclists went past very quickly; I wasn't used to having cyclists pass me. We were climbing up a pass, and they were probably carrying 40 kilograms less weight than I was, so I certainly wasn't getting cut up about them passing me.
I noticed another guy, on a Bianchi, was catching up to me. Whenever this happens I can't help but speed up, and somehow I started pulling away from him again. And I stayed away from him, not sure how he could be slower than I was! It was good though, because it pushed my pace right up. And I was quite enjoying this long sustained climb.

On the Via Val di Setta, just past Blogna, Italy.

On the Via Val di Setta, just past Gardeletta, Italy.

I kept going and I was getting rather tired of it after 30 odd kilometres of climbing. I was being treated to some beautiful scenery though.
Near the top, just as I was approaching the ~800 metre altitude peak, I noticed a periodic kind of ticking or rubbing, with each revolution of the wheel. I thought it might be the brake pads rubbing on the tyre or something. I stopped to check, but couldn't see any problems so I kept going, not thinking much of it. The periodic rubbing sound continued though as I rode over the peak, so I stopped again a few hundred metres on and took a closer inspection. It didn't take long to see that the rear rim had a big crack in it, and was bulging out, oh no!

Discovery of my cracked rim as I rode over the mountain pass between Serra di Sopra and Rio Secco, on Via Toscana.

Discovery of my cracked rim as I rode over the mountain pass between Serra di Sopra and Rio Secco, on Via Toscana. 

The lower pressure at that altitude must have increased the relative tyre pressure enough to crack it, to just push it over the elastic limit of my worn down rim, worn because I didn't change the brake pads early enough back in France, and in the Alps. But brake pads will gradually wear down a rim through normal use anyway. This was the first time I'd ever worn out and cracked a rim though.
Because of the cracked rim, I took the descent very slow, not knowing if the tyre was going to explode catastrophically without warning.
It took longer to get to Prato than I expected, my motivation had waned again. I had to email Rosanna to update my ETA from 4 o'clock to 6 o'clock. Next I went through the city of Florence, which was quite nice, although I didn't stop for long.

Looking down the Arno River in Florence, with the Ponte alla Carraia.

I was on the look-out for a pizza shop for lunch. One was foccaccia and pizza shop, not exactly what I was after, so I kept going. The next one was a bit fancy for me, so again I kept going. After that, every pizzeria I saw was closed, since it was Sunday, and now past lunch time :( I started getting really hungry, I stopped and ate the few snacks I had: a banana, some figs. My pace through Prato and Florence was pretty slow, I was feeling flat after the hard climb.
On the way out of Florence, I saw this sign for bike parking which I thought was funny - someone had stolen the wheels.

Would you believe it, someone nicked the wheels off this bike!

After Florence, it was really hilly, and although I was low on energy after skipping lunch, I was determined not to let the hills slow me down, and I hit them really hard. This hilly terrain continued all the way to Siena, and the ride was really testing my mental strength. The kilometres were dropping all too slowly, I just wanted to be in Siena already. I was really sick of being on the bike by that stage actually. The prospect of seeing my sister Rosanna and getting a good rest at Siena kept me going, and I finally got into Siena at around 7 pm. Google Maps gave me a bum steer so it took about half an hour to find their flat, with the help of several locals who I asked for directions.
So I finally got to the flat, and greeted Rosanna and then her housemates: Maja Wojčicky, a girl from Slovenia, Pedro Torres Rodríguez, a guy from Spain and Nani Romero Vieira, also from Spain. I was so relieved to get there!
Rosanna gave me a tour of the flat, it was such a nice flat! Really spacious, really high ceilings, beautiful decorations on the ceilings. Apparently these ceilings were heritage listed, so the owners weren't allowed to fit lights to them, the lights were up on the walls instead.

Me and the ceiling in Rosanna's bedroom in her flat in Siena.

And Rosanna had cooked up some potato cubes (her own recipe) and a big batch of pasta, ah, I was so grateful, I was starving! And it really hit the spot.
I'd told Rosanna earlier that I'd probably be so exhausted that I'd just crash there for the first few days.
After tea we went for a walk to the city's main square, the Piazza del Campo. Pretty impressive really.
We had plenty to talk about, it was so good to catch up with family again.
Rosie kindly offered half her bed for me to sleep on, and I got to sleep at about 2 am. It was the end of one phase of my journey, and the start of the next phase.

My route for the day, Allocco to Siena, Italy.

An overview of my route so far from France to Italy.

Ride stats:
Distance: 169.07 km
Average: 18.5 km/h
Maximum: 64.0 km/h
Time: 9:08:03
Total ascent: 1806 m
Total descent: 1611 m