Day 6: Pinarello for a Day
Treviso is the headquarters of famed bicycle company Pinarello. It's a small and surprisingly not well known brand in Italy - but in the United States people love Pinarello's high end status and beautiful style/craftmanship.
I started the day by visiting the company's retail store, which is located in the middle of the city.
I was fortunate enough to meet Giovanni Pinarello, who started the company building bicycles in the late 1940s at the age of 15. Giovanni is a very nice but definitely old man who doesn't speak much English and keeps repeating the same stories about his cycling career in Italian.
I spoke with one of the Pinarello daughters about getting a tour of their factory. Luckily they were able to give me a quick view of things. Normally they require advanced notice but I explained I send an e-mail but never heard back. The factory is very impressive.
The carbon frames are made in Asia (mainly because they don't have access to high end carbon fiber here) and the painting and assembly are both done by hand in Italy.
I met Fausto Pinarello (current President of the company) and Miguel Indurain's head mechanic (who still works at Pinarello) and got a good shot of them working on a bike.
Day 7: Treviso to Chioggia (51 miles)
Today was a relatively easy 51 miles. Once again I did a lot of pre-work on the route and it paid off big time. I discovered one of my favorite cycling roads in Italy, via Brenta. It sprouted off SP53 near Corte along the river and was like 10 miles of cycling heaven:
I pulled off the road to grab a drink in Rosara, a small town, and the townspeople were shocked to see an American. One guy said I was the first American he ever met and he wanted to name the main street "via Jeff" in honor of my visit. He didn't speak any English but said his daughter did so he brought me to his house to have a chat with her. It was all a pretty cool experience.
As I was entering Chioggia, I noticed I had no choice but to take a pretty big highway into the town because it's basically surrounded by water and there's only one way in. I was sitting at the entrance to the highway ramp stressing about having to ride on it and looking around to see if there was another way. Just as I was about to bailout and head back to find an alternate route, an Austrian man and woman both riding hybrid bikes with no helmets cruised past me onto the highway. I felt like a wuss. I followed them onto the highway with my tail in between my legs.
Day 8: Making Friends in Chioggia
I had a great day off in Chioggia. It's a beautiful town right on the Adriatic Sea, just south of Venice. It's much less touristy and just a short boat ride to Venice if you want to visit for the day.
I needed to sit in the hotel lobby in order to access the internet connection for my online class. It was a blessing in disguise as I made friends with the hotel owner, Fausto. He put me in touch with two friends, Beppe and Paolo, to show me around town. We went to some "locals only" restaurants and bars. One of the guys, Beppe, was a local math teacher -- pretty funny stuff. I exchanged e-mails so hopefully we'll keep in touch. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture with them.
Day 9: Chioggia to Ravenna (75 miles)
Today was a surprisingly difficult ride. While there was a highway that went directly to Ravenna and would take about 60 miles, I decided I wanted to go by smaller roads to avoid traffic. While i found some absolutely gorgeous cycling roads, it may have not been the best decision in retrospect.
Here's why. Today I ran into heat and headwinds, two of the three H's that are a cyclist's worst nightmare (the other being hills). The roads I took were through farmland so there were no trees to block the sun and wind. On the previous 75 mile ride I did, I probably drank a total of 4 or 5 total water bottles. On this ride I think I drank 15-20 water bottles. I was going through water like it was water. Miles 50-60 were a huge struggle. The temperature was over 90 degrees, the wind was blowing fierce and the sun was beating down on me. I could barely crack 12 mph. For the last 15 miles I no choice but to take the bigger highway into Ravenna. When I arrived there I realized I probably should have taken it the whole way. Why, you ask? Because there were TREES on it. The trees block the wind and sun. It felt 20 degrees cooler and I could ride like 17 mph. The scenery on the smaller roads was so beautiful, it might have been worth the effort:
Plus, I found a great little market in the town of Mezzogoro and bought some fantastic meats and cheeses for lunch. I can't even put into words how good the grapes were!
1 comment:
You need to eat more!!! You look so skinny above.
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