Day 9: Bicycle Fit

Date: 9/16/07
From: Florence
To: Pisa
Miles: 54.7 (500 ft. of climbing)
Miles Completed: 387.2 (13,400 ft. of climbing)
Lunch: Trattoria di Michele
Dinner: Trattoria il Viale
Accommodations: Hotel Touring



Today was a relatively easy day of riding. The bike fits as good as ever with the new stem and my arms feel great now. I also feel very fit physically on the bike after all the riding we have done. We got a bit lost on the ride today – maybe lost isn’t the right word – we were somewhat unconfident in our directions and needed a lot more guidance from strangers on the street.

Our hotel is on the south end of Pisa, near the train station and it’s a pretty dirty part of town. My mind keeps recycling the phrase “man, this city is a pisa sh*t” to entertain myself. It starts to rain as we are finding a place to put our bikes behind the hotel – the hotel attendant is very unhelpful and won’t let us store them under an overhang across from the hotel because it is on private property (man, this guy is a pisa sh*t). The accommodations are okay – the bathroom is pretty small and so is the room. I feel a cloud of depression forming over me as I think about the pisa sh*t room, the unhelpful hotel attendant and the rain pounding outside our room. I look on the bright side and figure this is just some sour forming and that the sweet can’t be far behind.
We decide to get lunch right way at Trattoria di Michele in our cycling clothes and once again people are looking at us like we are from outerspace. The food is awesome (I get pizza with onion and bacon again) but it takes forever. Italians don’t complain much but when they do, they do it with style – a bunch of patrons head up to the manager and put on a hand waving performance saying they have been waiting three days for their food. The manager apologizes, ushers them back to their seats, heads back to the kitchen and a screaming match with the cook begins. None of the patrons bat an eyelash as the manger remerges from the kitchen like nothing happened.


We find out the leaning tower is at the north end of the city and a roughly 20 minute walk. I’m immediately discouraged. However, there’s a bus (LAM Rossa) that leaves from the train station and drops you off near the tower for €1 each way. No walking? I’m in! The tower lives up to the hype and is really awesome looking in person – I’m glad we made the trek. Dr. Ed takes a picture of me with my hands out to appear like I am holding up the tower. “Man, that is a genius idea” I think to myself. I look around and notice every other person doing it and laugh. I buy an Italia shirt for my nephew at the market in the Piazza dei Miracoli, where the tower resides. We head back to the hotel to grab a bite nearby at Trattoria il Viale – the pizza was okay (I’m now officially hooked on pizza) but Dr. Ed thought his pasta was one of the best he’s had so far.

Dr. Ed suggests we head a bit out of the way to visit this city called Lucca tomorrow. I resist at first since our likely toughest ride of the trip is coming up in two days and I don’t want to add unnecessary mileage the day before. However; I recall my instinct to do more riding/town visiting so I warm to the idea and we agree that we will make the decision in the morning based on the weather forecast.