Buon Compleanno to me!
The first of several birthday presents was given to me when I woke up – I had my usual “ready to eat before my feet hit the floor” feeling – that meant my stomach was finally back to normal. Unfortunately for me though, the hotel in the mountains we stayed at had a poorer continental breakfast than usual – with only some weak cornflakes even resembling something I would normally have for breakfast. I continue to lament the “Italian” breakfast, or even their version of the “continental breakfast”, but because I eat dinner so late here, I can get by with very little to start the day. Last night I “carbo-loaded” for what should be my longest ride of the trip, so I was probably OK for the day.
I was made to feel right at home starting the day with the road turning upward within the first 2 km – ahhh… just like home and the hills of PA – but my legs felt good, my stomach was not turning in knots, and the predicted rain had stood up the mountain like a bad blind date. I could feel a good day coming on. To confirm my “inner barometer”, almost immediately I was treated to views I could not pass up. This was the type of riding I expect to do in Italy – stop and go, photo & fly, too many views to let go without capturing them. By the time I arrived at Verghereto (the highest point in my ride), I had already stopped 18 times for photos or video.
My reward for the climb then was a nice switchback decent – the kind I can’t really do in PA because the roads are either too busy, or they are too pot hole ridden. Here in Italy, the roads are in MUCH better shape than in PA, and mountain descents can only be compared to my experiences with boardercross racing – fast with banked turns, and for me, unable to be done without a huge smile across my face. This was also the section of the ride where the road was closed to cars, but local traffic and bikes could go – it was “bellissima!” and I could see why it was closed to local traffic – it looked like a PA road after winter J. This decent and the next section of rolling hills took us eventually to Sansepolcro; a little town famous for the Italian painter _________. For such a little town, it had an enormous church, with an awesome wooden door that had to be quite old but obviously restored. It was a perfect place to get refueled. I knew my stomach was back to normal because I had 2 pieces of pizza, 2 jars of juice and a double espresso.
This set me well until our next major stopping point – Citta’ di Castello. Just as the name implies, it is an old medieval town with castle ruins of old, and some “restored”. It is probably the oldest or at least one of the oldest cities I’ve been in, in Italy. I had a blast doing my “favorite thing” – tooling around taking video and photos, but this time I almost exclusively did video. I’m going to have to figure out how to post my videos, at least the best ones. After my tour, it was off to Umbertide, where there was yet another castle, but with that exception, nothing much else to linger for… but I forgot it was “gelato time!”. Marzia had pulled off right near a Gellateria where home made (arte di genali) gelato was made, and I had my last “fuel up” before the push into Perugia.
This is where my next “birthday present” began to be apparent. I had already ridden over 90km and had hardly a drop of rain fall on me after predictions of a thoroughly wet day. In fact, after the next few km, the sun came out, and I was able to give my jacket up to Marzia to best prepare me for a strong finish. Little did I know just what a strong finish was ahead. After the jacket handoff, I started to really hit my stride – my “third wind” kicked in (I hadn’t seen that since my big Saturday ride at home) and I started cruisin’ around 38 to 40 km per hour. After about 15 minutes of this I saw Marzia stopped at a major intersection and obviously wanted me to stop – GRRRR!! - I really wanted to just keep “bookin” but I also didn’t want to get lost. Seems like we needed to make a course correction but one that would be more direct to Perugia. From the sounds of it, we would not need to meet again until we were at the hotel in Perugia (one of the few places we decided on where to stay before we got there). She made sure I had enough water, and didn’t need my coat, etc – and I quickly took off again while I was still warm and “in the mindset”. At this point, I had probably 20km left.
This is where my ride moved from the normal to the “spiritual”. Let me explain. I ride with music (via an MP3 player built into my sunglasses…no surprise right?), I always pause it through towns and busy areas of traffic – but most of my riding does not qualify as those, and thus I listen to a lot of music when I ride. It’s one of the only examples of taking two of your favorite things, putting them together, and that act of combination makes them both better than they are alone – just try to think of an example where you can do that and almost without exception, one of your favorite things will be “diluted” instead of enhanced – but not so with riding. I’m able to hear the words to the music more clearly and thus focus on its meaning, while my riding cadence becomes tied directly to the beat, thus allowing for more consistency and even motivation especially when climbing. Given that I listen to a lot of music in the “inspirational category”, the stage is set for great times of Praise & Worship, introspection, and even critical thinking.
As the sun began to shine even brighter, I was hit with how blessed I am in every way. I have a family, a business, friends and eternal salvation all secured not by my hand, but by the good fortune shown to me by a loving and merciful God. I was not supposed to have such a life given what my parents went through, and even how difficult life has been for all of my siblings, but for reasons I can not justify – things I can not claim credit for – I have been blessed. Here I was doing one of my favorite things in the world, in my favorite place in the world, and with the exception of not having the love of my life with me (Lorraine), I was in a perfect place in a perfect moment and was overwhelmed with gratitude and humility. I’m not sure that ever happened to me before on a bike, but I was cruising now at a steady 35km per hour wiping my glasses inside and out.
But, God has an eternal sense of humor, and never wants me to get too comfortable. Ten minutes into this “mountain top” experience, I am confronted with a confusing turn that might lead me onto the “quasi-autostrada” (that would be like riding on route 80 at home), and the rain has begun to spit. While confirming directions with a local I flagged down for the last 6 or 8 km to Perugia, I was informed that there was “una salita dura dura” (a very hard climb) required to enter the city. Ofcourse this would be so… how could I expect otherwise. After 5 trips to this country, I should remember that they like to punish their cyclists here with destination cities always at the top of steepest hills they can find. As I got into it, I was reminded of the dolomites – finally, a climb so steep they need switchbacks to make it work. I was going to earn the end of this stage with a “worthy climb”, but I was still on my “spiritual high”, and I told the Lord to “bring it on!”. Ouch, I should have been a bit less cocky… because here came the rain in absolute buckets… I mean it began to rain so hard half of the road became a river and the other half I could hardly see. My only saving grace was that the cars became afraid to go very fast at all, with the wipers not able to keep up with the deluge.
As I continued to climb, and it continued to virtually flood before my eyes, I had this incredible sense physically as well as with my emotions which were already spiked. I did not feel tired at all (after 120km), I did not feel cold, I did not feel sore, I did not even feel wet – now THAT’S weird – yes, I knew I was wet, but that was only academic – I felt as perfect as a human can possibly feel. This is not normal, but I continued to marvel at the grace of God. This was yet another lesson to me – my life may be blessed, I may be in a “high moment”, but when I least expect it, the rain may come, and it may come hard. It does not have to slow me down, discourage me, or “break me”. God does not promise ONLY sunny skies, He only promises to never leave me nor forsake me. I’m sorry for the preaching here, but I’m just retelling how it was – unmistakenly clear in every way – I do not need to let my circumstance every determine how I feel or what I do, I will take my lead, direction and motivation from the Lord and He will never leave me. THIS… was my birthday present for the day… Grazie il Signore!!
I’d like to end the story here, but I have to say that my final approach into the center of town was not without its additional closing remarks. While the deluge continued, traffic increased nonetheless, and now I had to follow only one sort of sign – the one that said “Centro”. Unfortunately, this took me through two tunnels, now flooded with flowing water, fast cars, and clearly not the place for bikes. But, what was I to do, my phone was wet and wouldn’t work anymore, there seemed only one way to the hotel, and well… I didn’t want to stop. So I didn’t, and I made it fine, although I’m sure many Italians were shaking their head at me that day. When I got to the hotel where I expected to find Marzia, instead she was still out on the road looking for me, thinking I was dead lying on the side of the road after such a deluge. I called her to tell her I was fine and that she can stop looking for my body. While she was relieved, she reserved the right to kill me as soon as she saw me… I agreed to order knives or blunt objects through room service as soon as possible – I figured a gun would probably disturb the other guests... :-)
