Today was our turn for the tough Asciano ride Brian did yesterday (and he decided that once was not enough, so he came with us today). The group this day was Jan, Leslie, Brian, Damon and me. While it did sound like a crazy ride, there was an option to take the train back from Asciano to Siena and keep it a 30 k one-way ride (remember this was an option when I get to the part where we don’t take the train back).
The weather was a bit chilly and overcast…ideal for the kind of riding we’re doing. After a short downhill out of the city we started going up (but, of course). We went through some residential areas and then came to a part of the route sheet that seemed to have changed due to brand new highway work. After determining the route now needed to go along someone’s driveway for a couple of hundred meters, we were on our way.
OK, here’s where I throw out a new, more impressive % grade…as we finished climbing a long, curvy uphill stretch, we turned to see that the sign indicated a 20% grade for the hill we just climbed.
Hey...we doubled the 10% we found tough the first week. The rest of the ride to our destination was relatively hilly (both up and down in our direction) and very much out in the ‘boonies’ so to speak (though there’s something about Tuscan boonies I would take over New Jersey boonies anytime).
About ½ way into this ride I spotted a little black kitten meowing and poking his little head out of the grass under the guardrail to the road we were on. Afraid he was going to run out and get hit by a zippy little Smart car, I stopped my bike and went in his direction, of course scaring him into the brush not to be seen again—at least that morning.
About three hours after we left Siena we arrived in Asciano. It was a sleepy little town, but nice nonetheless. We locked the bikes and sat down for lunch at a restaurant on the main street. Jan, who is absolutely hilarious and a lot of fun to ride with, decided she would stop by the somewhat upscale store we had passed earlier. She and Leslie disappeared across the street...a couple of minutes later Leslie came back alone. We asked if Jan was making a purchase… “Yes," Leslie said, "she moved something and a little ‘thingy’ fell on the floor and broke…they’re making her pay for it.”
When Jan came back to the table we hypothesized that’s how they made their money…booby-trapping little thingies that tourists have to pay for. If you’re ever in Asciano at the store across from the restaurant and something falls and breaks, just run.
So, we had every intention of taking the train back to Siena before we sat for lunch…I’m not sure what changed (maybe it was getting close to the end of our riding days…for this trip at least) but I really wanted to ride back instead. Leslie, Jan, and Brian were having none of that and were taking the train. Damon, possibly during a lapse in judgment, said, “Sure.” It did look a little like rain, but Leslie (bless her heart :-) assured us they were NOT rain clouds…they weren’t heavy like rain clouds... "you guys will be fine." (remember this)
Back we go…those glorious downhill patches from earlier are now….yep, you’re following…uphills. It’s funny how it seems there is always more uphill in your direction regardless of which direction you’re traveling…doesn’t make sense to me (must be a Tuscan thing).
We’re about ½ way back and Damon stops suddenly—on a downhill. I figure something is wrong, and then he says, “the kitten…” and points to the same curve I stopped at earlier. There’s the little guy…head sticking through the grass and meowing like crazy. We go over to him and, again, he runs away, but not too far away. We get off our bikes and try for 30 minutes to coax him out to us...even feeding him a VitaSnella bar we had with us.
Now we're not really cat people (Damon is allergic), but we are animal people. We weren’t sure what we would do with him if he did come to us, but we didn’t see/hear any other cats and the nearest house was quite a ways away. We figured we’d either take him to the closest house or maybe bring him to Siena. He was just hanging out a bit too close to the road for our (and his) comfort.
Once it was clear he wasn’t getting within more than a couple meters of us (and it started to rain) we tossed the last of the bar in his direction and said, “Ciao.” [Sorry, wish I could have ended this with something like “we heard some hikers found him later in the day and took him to the house where everyone lived happily ever after” but that wouldn’t be completely accurate.]
For the rest of the 30 k home it rained off and on (mostly on) and we were cold and tired when we got to the hotel. It was a great/challenging(!) 60 kilometers today….we were feeling pretty good about that at the end of the day (at least once we were able to stand and walk without assistance).
Dinner this night was with the whole group. I had the opportunity to sit with Leslie and Jeannie. Leslie is very smart and funny and Damon and I enjoyed the time we spent with her. She’s a math teacher (but I didn’t hold that against her :-) in Canada and majored in foreign languages (French) and European History, so she was quite interesting to talk to.
And it was always a treat to spend time with Jeannie. She’s very bright…her interests were diverse and ranged from dance to psychology and personality types…also quite interesting to talk with. She also lives in Aspen, so our discussions of home brought back fond memories of my years in Colorado. She and John had spent much of the time in Siena with their daughter Katie, who was visiting the area with her husband, so we didn’t see a lot of them these three days.
No after dinner drinks or cafes or gelato or anything that involved an activity other than sleep…we had pretty much “hit the wall” by the end of this day’s ride.
Day 13 Stats:
- Ride Sheet - Loop Day (52 - 107 k)
- Actual Ride - 60 k
- Lunch - Asciano
- To Remember - Little black kitten, Broken objects, Riding in rain, German tourists, dinner with group
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