Saturday 1 April 2000 (Day 92 - Pompeii, Italy to Rome, Italy [Route goes to Lido di Ostia, Italy])
We got up early to get to the train station. Ended up with 51 bikers with bikes there to catch the 8:30AM train. Only when it got there, it had no baggage car and we couldn't board. April Fool's joke on us. So a couple of the A+ type fellows tried to negotiate with the Italian speaking train folks to get a baggage car on the next train. We lucked out and got a baggage car on the 12:10PM train to Napoli.
Remember the trains are on a tight schedule and very prompt. We are getting so fast loading and unloading which is good because we only had 5 minutes to do it. It is really quite impressive to see our guys work as a team. Had to change trains in the rather large Napoli train station to continue on to Rome.
A very disturbing thing happened about 10 minutes before we were to leave. We were sitting comfortably in our seats recuperating from carrying our bags and hauling our bikes from track 24 to track 18 when we were notified that several bikes were sitting on the dock. They had unloaded about six, for who knows what reason, and just left them there. So there's a mad dash to see if we were an unlucky passenger who needed to reload their bike at the other end of this rather long train. Talk about stress.
Then the train left 45 minutes later than we were led to believe it would so it was 4:30PM or so before we got to Rome. Once there, we tried to get a taxi to the campground but they didn't want to take bikes so I called the hostel where my friend, Laura from Idaho, was staying and planned to meet her a day ahead of our planned meeting time. All worked out well in that regard.
I walked the '5 minutes' from the train station to the hostel and carried two bags. I walked around in circles 'cause it took me a good half hour to get there. Laura and I hit the streets soon after I arrived, looking for a great place to eat. Imagine sitting in a restaurant, looking out the windows at the Roman Colosseum. Pretty cool.
Mileage: 0.0 / 4,270.1 (Today / Cumulative) [KM: 0.0 / 6,872.0]
[Posted distance for today's route: 81.6 mi, 131.6 km]
How does TK&A keep track of everyone? You mention the word "checkpoint" often - what is this and how many are checkpoints there through the day?
--Richard Vallens, Irvine, CA
We have one checkpoint each day, anywhere from 1/3 to 2/3 of the way to through the ride. It doesn't matter how many km we do in a day, we only have one checkpoint.
My preference is to have it half way or more through the day. I hate it when we have 160 km to ride and checkpoint is before 80 km. Makes the second half of the day drag on forever.
TKA has a list of the rider numbers from 1 to 250 with our initials beside our number, and when we get to checkpoint, we have to sign in. Same thing at night. If we go off route, we tell the staff and they draw a line through our number so they know not to look for us.
Like I said earlier, I forgot to sign in one day and they canvassed the campground for me first. If they hadn't found me, they would have sent a vehicle back out on route to look for me. They are very thorough with this system. I feel very safe knowing that if I had a problem and I stayed on route, they'd find me.
Sunday 2 April 2000 (Day 93 - in Rome, Italy [Route: Lido di Ostia, Italy to Rome, Italy])
Woke up to the glorious bells ringing this morning. Slept pretty well for a change. Didn't actually get up til after 9AM. I think I was tired.
Laura and I hit the streets soon after looking for the ultimate Italian pastry breakfast and then on to the Colosseum and Forum. Wow are they neat. We were treated to an Italian band playing marches in front of the Colosseum. What a treat. Made me want to dig out my mouthpiece and practice.
Then we took the buses (with my extra camping gear that I didn't need) out to the TKA camp site. Took the bus half way back, then walked past several historic landmarks, such as the Pantheon and the Piazza di Spagna (Spanish Steps) and other churches.
While walking around Rome, we noticed that everyone was wearing black. Laura was feeling self-conscious because she had on light green. I was completely oblivious to it because as bikers we always stand out. Of course, I was dressed totally in purple and shorts to boot. Most Italians are still wearing their winter coats. I must admit by 6PM, it was getting chilly. Laura noticed that one fellow did a double-take when he saw me in purple shorts. I missed that.
The other thing that is strange in Italy is the way the Italians eat their food. They serve the pasta first, then the main course, then the salad. Kind of hard to get used to. But doesn't keep us from eating.
On our way to dinner, somehow we got turned around and walked in circles and ended up almost back where we started. Then it started to rain and we were trying to read the map in the dark and were getting totally frustrated. I kept walking faster and Laura kept walking slower. We finally, after an hour, found the restaurant we were looking for. It was good and worth it, I guess.
It was 10:00PM when we left. The Italians don't start their supper hour til 8PM so we were fashionable tonight. We finished the meal, sharing a scrumptious chocolate dessert.
On the way home, Laura walked into this dessert shop and had to have ice cream. They offered a flavor I've never seen before, Nutella, which is a chocolate spread used by some bikers instead of peanut butter for energy, I being one of them. So I couldn't let her eat alone and pigged out with her. I'm sure we walked enough today to deserve it.
Mileage: 0.0 / 4,270.1 (Today / Cumulative) [KM: 0.0 / 6,872.0]
[Posted distance for today's route: 39.1 mi, 63.1 km]
Monday 3 April 2000 (Day 94 - Layover day in Rome, Italy)
Slept in again today. Couldn't believe I could stay in bed that long two days in a row. Laura and I decided to visit some wine country today so booked a train to San Gimignano via Florence. Boy, my type A personality kicked in today. She had a Euro-rail pass and I had to buy a ticket, but she forgot and left her ticket in the room. So while I stood in line, she ran back to the hostel and then I ended up pacing, waiting for her to return. We only had a few minutes before the train was due to leave. And, of course, we had to go clear to the end of the station to get to our platform. Bet she was glad I was wearing purple today. Everyone in the station was in black or beige, including her, so everyone looked alike.
There was confusion as to which train and our platform was empty but the one next to it was actually the one we were to take. So we did and then weren't sure if we were on the first- or second-class car. So we fretted about whether they'd kick us off or charge us more money. Neither happened.
Got to the Florence station and had to change trains, only we couldn't find one to where we were going. After asking several people, most Italian speaking, we got on a train to a city nearby via another city but no train went to our city even though my ticket said it did. Are you confused yet? Well, so were we, believe me.
So we get to Poggibonsi, which is the stop closest to San Gimignano, where we wanted to go. Now we had to buy a bus ticket to there, explore, eat, and be sure to catch all connecting trains back to Rome and not get stuck somewhere for the night.
San Gimignano is a medieval town. They have modern-day shops in all these old buildings and people live in the upstairs. This is beautiful wine country, too, rolling hills carpeted in green with the most perfect straight rows in the vineyards.
So after touring the town, we were at the bus stop at the appointed time and NO BUS shows up. Even Laura is getting nervous because this is the last bus to the train station before our train leaves at 7PM. Come to find out it was late because traffic had to be detoured around an accident. When we got back to Poggibonsi, we weren't sure where to get off the bus and we ended up getting off a little sooner than we needed to and had to walk to the train station in the rain. Oh, well. Just another adventure.
Then we waited for the train which was a few minutes late and because we didn't want to get left, we stood on the platform in the rain for 15 minutes. Are we crazy or what? When we got to Florence, we had to change trains again and tried to get on the wrong train. Obviously, we are small town girls who haven't figured out how to travel in the big cities in a relaxed manner yet. We'll get better, I'm sure.
When I think back on what we did and where we were today, we covered a lot of ground in a rather fast-paced way. We never did get to eat more than a snack or two, not that we'll starve or anything. The trip was worth it, a nice change, and San Gimignano is real different from all the other 'old' places I've seen, mostly because it is totally intact and still being used, probably in much the same way it was back then. It sits on top of a hill and has walls around most of it. Really a neat place.
Tuesday 4 April 2000 (Day 95 - Layover day in Rome, Italy)
Three days in a row I've slept in. What is to become of me?
Wouldn't you know it, it was raining this morning and I had to ride through Rome to get to my campground. Turned out to be about 8 miles from downtown where I had been staying. Now that you know a little of how I am in the cities, imagine me alone, on a bike, on wet cobblestone streets, in a foreign city that I'm sort of familiar with but keep getting turned around in, and it's pouring down rain and I have to read a map and watch traffic.
Yeah, I was a little nervous but remarkably calm considering. I just decided to be aggressive and stop every little bit to get reoriented and two hours later, I got to where I wanted to go, not without a nervous tummy, though. I was proud of myself. Only got lost once and I wasn't really lost but ended up on a one way street and I wanted to be able to get to the other side. Had to follow my lane which took me away from where I wanted to go but eventually got there.
However, some of the Odyssey riders drove by in a car at that particular time and said, "Hey, Al, are you lost?" and I yelled back, "Yeah!"
Still raining when I got to camp but set up my tent quickly and went off to the laundromat. Then I played Scrabble with three other riders. What a hard core bunch of players. No mercy. Reminded me of the girls back home I play with. A good time was had by all.
Off to bed early in preparation for a long ride tomorrow.
Mileage: 11.2 / 4,281.2 (Today / Cumulative) [KM: 18.0 / 6,890.0]
[Posted distance for today's route: 0.0 mi, 0.0 km]
Wednesday 5 April 2000 (Day 96 - Rome, Italy to Assisi, Italy)
Left camp this morning to head out in Rome traffic. The first 8 km were rush hour interstate riding. What a way to wake up. Fortunately, it was not raining.
Once we got out in the country, it was a nice ride. Everything was so green. Definitely, springtime. Early today we saw trees just budding out in their pale green leaves. Later this afternoon, we were farther north and there were no buds opening at all. It was very cool today, windy but fortunately a tailwind most of the time, and threatened rain most of the day. We did get sprinkled on the last 5 km.
Our terrain was up and down and around. Once I mentioned that it seemed we were going around in circles. Willma said that was so we could get all these extra miles in.
Another tragedy happened today. One of our riders fell, hit a guard rail, and yes, broke his hip. That's five now in four months. And just a couple days ago, a lady went over her handle bars and broke her collar bone. And at night, camp sounds like a TB asylum again with all the coughing. It almost seems like this crud has gone through the entire camp and now it is starting all over again with those who had been well for awhile. Man I hope it misses me the second time around. Some people have been sick for weeks and just can't get rid of it.
Also, today, our gear trucks broke down and didn't get to camp
until almost 7PM. Our poor drivers worked
overtime repairing the axle. Our staff works so hard to keep things
running smoothly.
They are truly to be commended for their dedication to the job.
On the bright side, I took my bike in for a new chain tonight. Has 4,500+ miles on it and I was told I should change it after 3,000 miles. The mechanic measured it and said it was fine and that I didn't need a new one yet. He said I must take pretty good care of it. Made my day.
We are in a hotel room tonight and tomorrow so maybe I'll get another good night's sleep.
Mileage: / 4,383.0 (Today / Cumulative) [KM: 163.8 / 7,053.8]
Elevation gain: 6,215.4 ft
Thursday 6 April 2000 (Day 97 - Layover day in Assisi, Italy)
Slept in til 7AM this morning when three guys next door woke us up chattering away like a bunch of women. My gosh they were loud. Didn't help that the walls are thin.
Beth and I toured the city, taking the bus from our hotel up to Assisi on what we thought was a round-trip ticket. At least that's what we thought. But the ticket patrol checked tickets and said ours was not valid. The guy got a little nasty and when the bus stopped, he snapped his fingers at me and motioned me up front to buy another ticket. I felt like a criminal. I thought he was going to kick us off the bus.
When we got back, I spent the afternoon cleaning the bike and drying the tent etc. Same old maintenance stuff we do on every layover day. I got done just before the heavens opened up so enjoyed a little relaxing time in my room.
I had Girl Scout cookies delivered to me by some bikers whose friends are fans of mine from the states. What a neat surprise. I never turn down food, except fruit.
We were sitting in our room tonight complaining about how nothing exciting happened today and how boring this must sound but, hey, this is all that happened. Couldn't even round up anyone to play balderdash because our brains are too tired to think.
Friday 7 April 2000 (Day 98 - Assisi, Italy to Urbino, Italy (birthplace of Raphael))
What a day. Got in about 3PM totally pooped and chilled to the bone. Woke up to a drizzle and very wet roads. Started our ride straight up to the top of Assisi, then down the other side. Wet roads are not my favorite on a bike, especially long windy downhills but we survived.
Had two big climbs and descents in the first 40 km. We were so cold after the second descent that we stopped for a hot drink and pastry. I had cold, damp toes and couldn't get them warm. Put everything on I had and eventually warmed up.
Sharon had to stop once on a hill to warm up her fingers because she couldn't feel the brakes. And my toes were numb. Willma finally relented and put on her legs. And Ed rode in shorts all day. I don't know how he did it.
Then about 10 km before checkpoint, we were 'blessed' with a ferocious headwind. There were times we'd go around a corner or go uphill and we'd practically come to a stop. Tortured us for another 30 km after checkpoint, too. Just makes us stronger.
The four of us came in 25-28 out of 160 riders at checkpoint today and finished 28-31. We've been consistently finishing in the top quarter. Remember in the beginning, I said I finished right at the bottom of the top half. Either we have gotten really good or a lot of the good riders aren't riding.
It was a beautiful ride today. Lots of hills and valleys and very green. While going up a set of switchbacks, I looked behind me and what a view. A huge snow-capped mountain loomed in the distance far above everything else.
Tomorrow's ride is supposed to be tougher and longer. After the way I feel tonight, I'm not looking forward to tomorrow.
Mileage: 70.0 / 4,453.1 (Today / Cumulative) [KM: 112.7 / 7,166.5]
Elevation gain: 6,588.1 ft
Craig: Will you please describe the technical aspects of keeping up with a web page like this. What is your computer set up? Software? Protocol software? Hard drive location? Using frames? Etc.
--Bob Lincoln, New Prague, MN
The whole process begins with Al, who took with her a small email device (Sharp TM-20) which is about the size of a small address book. This connects to an email service called PocketMail. With that, she writes her thoughts and observations daily, and periodically emails them back to me.
I use Adobe PageMill software to organize and generate the HTML code for the website. The individual daily journals, notes, and other questions and comments, have been grouped into pages, each covering about ten days. (This keeps the file-size of each page relatively small, allowing reasonably quick access for dial-up viewers.)
The journals may be read sequentially, linking from one to the next, or may be accessed directly from the Table of Contents in the left column, or from the Prior Months page. In the Table of Contents the journals are referenced in reverse order, with the most recent entries listed first. This makes it easy for the regular journal readers to quickly reach the newest update. The two previous ten-day pages also appear, as well as a link to the complete Prior Months index page.
The Table of Contents also links to index pages for Maps, Photos, Impressions, Questions and more, to provide readers with quick access to these subjects.
Once I receive Al's email, that's when my work begins. I start by opening the current website page and beginning a new section with the appropriate date and anchor. (The anchor allows the direct access from the Table of Contents.) Then I "copy" the text from the email and "paste" it into the website page, verifying the day number, date, destinations, etc.
Now I read the journal for content, breaking it up into related and easy-to-read paragraphs, correcting spelling, punctuation, typos, etc., and editing the text, as needed, for clarification. I also insert various technical editing, which you never see, but which helps "shape" the general appearance of the text.
I then take Al's riding distance in kilometers and plug that into a spreadsheet which computes and tabulates miles, cumulative distance, number of cycling days, cumulative daily average cycling distance, and number of century rides. Then for the web page, I format Al's riding distance and elevation figures, and include the "Posted Distance" for scheduled riding days when Al rode only part way, or not at all.
My Impressions of... selections are similarly edited and posted into the journal pages near the final entry for each country.
Question & Answer segments are assembled, combining Al's answer with the reader's original question, and are posted following the current day's journal. Additional links may be added where appropriate to facilitate navigation between similar Question & Answer segments, allowing easy comparison.
Next, the Table of Contents is updated, adding the new daily references and deleting the old. New My Impressions of... and Question & Answer entries are added to their respective indices.
Now I begin internet searches to locate other websites about the cities and points of interest referenced in Al's journals, attaching appropriate links as available.
Al's photographs are sent for processing to PhotoWorks (fka Seattle Film Works), which makes them available to me electronically. Once notified by PW (by email) that a new roll of film has been processed, I review the prints online, compare each to the content list previously emailed to me by Al, and select those I feel would be of interest on the website. Once I receive the actual prints, I scan the selected photographs, crop and resize each, and enhance the lighting and focus as needed. Then I build a web page including the picture, a caption and date, and relative links.
Entries are then added to the Photos index page, providing easy access to any of the posted pictures. Links on each photo page also allow "scrolling" forward or backwards through all the photos. I also re-edit the journal entries associated with each photo, and add links to each related picture.
Once I have finished with all the entries, I run the Adobe spell-checker to help correct errors I may have missed. Then I "view" the updated website through my browser, so I can see the site as you will. If needed, I make further changes or corrections before the update is ready for posting to the world-wide-web.
Up to this point, all the files I've been editing and viewing are on my computer. Next, I use the PageMill software to upload the new and changed pages to the webserver, where the website is hosted by my ISP. Once there, it is available for viewing by anyone on the internet.
Now I review the website through my browser, loading the pages from the ISP's webserver to confirm a successful upload and verify that all the links work correctly.
Additional email chores include a confirmation to Al notifying her of which emails I received (so she can re-transmit anything that went astray), updating my notification list (including an acknowledgement to each new subscriber), forwarding comments and questions to Al, and finally sending out the update notification to all of you.
All of these activities consume an average of two hours per day, and often more, so it's nice to know that so many of you are enjoying the results.
And that is how the website is produced.
Technical Notes: I use a Dell Pentium Pro computer with a 21" monitor, operating under Microsoft WindowsNT 4. The website software, which organizes and produces the HTML coded files, is PageMill by Adobe. The site is built using frames, which allow the readers easily to navigate to their desired page. The website files are uploaded over the internet from my computer to the webserver at my ISP, using standard "ftp" (file transfer protocol).
--Craig
Saturday 8 April 2000 (Day 99 - Urbino, Italy to Caprese Michelangelo, Italy)
This started out to be a 'pitso' day & ended up the same way. This ranks right up there with the worst, maybe even being the worst.
I had chained my bike to a friend's last night in the garage at the hotel. When we unlocked this morning, she mentioned how her tire held air and she was very happy, so off she went. I wheeled mine out to find out I had a supreme flat tire, the rear, of course.
We stayed at two different hotels and I had to go back to the other for breakfast, so I took my bike over there, parked it, and ate breakfast first. I gulped down breakfast because I was to meet Ed and Willma at 7AM. It was 6:45AM before I got to the tire. Major stress first thing in the morning and I didn't need it.
Today was a long, tough day and we needed an early start and I hate to have people wait for me. Luckily, Arnie, who rides a tandem and has had 38 flats so far, was standing by the gear truck and helped me. We finished just as Ed and Willma showed up.
First 10 km were all downhill on dry roads. We were dressed like Eskimos but that was OK. It was a great way to start the day. Soon after, we started a series of ups and downs that lasted the rest of the day and culminated in the highest point at the top of San Marino.
I saw the castle on top from a distance and thought how nice and impressive it looked, not thinking at the moment that we would climb all the way up there. Yuk! We climbed 2,500 ft in the first 37 km. We were already tired and had another 100 km to go. By the time we got to checkpoint at 67 km, we were beat.
We were totally frazzled, especially after the hard day yesterday. And I think the cold takes something out of us, too. We had stopped to change clothes at least six times by checkpoint and several more times after that. I'd get hot going uphill and freeze without everything on going downhill. Of course, everything you take off, you end up carrying up hill on the back of your bike. That extra weight really does make a difference. But on days like this, you can't do without it. It was sunny but with a very chilly wind chill.
Soon after checkpoint, we had a 12 km steep climb. We were dying. Our muscles hurt from yesterday, and my butt hurt big time. I still think I have a bruised 'sitz bone.' There are days it hurts to sit on a soft chair and today was one of them. We tried three times to get a sag and they were always full, so we kept pedaling and eventually made it into camp, but not without a few problems along the way.
After the 12 km climb, the downhill went through what I'd call a moonscape. Lots of fragmented, bare shale mountains with little or no vegetation. The whole downhill side was like that. Soon after, we were on a very rugged little narrow road with potholes and loose gravel.
When we go downhill, we always space ourselves with Ed in the lead, then me, ending with Willma. I had stopped to take a picture and Willma never came by, so I waited and still no Willma. I thought maybe she flew by and I didn't see her so I went on down, only to find Ed waiting for us and no Willma.
So back up we went til we found her with a blowout. Fixed that and continued on, and on the last downhill before the last climb, Willma had another flat and of course, Ed is way ahead of us. I couldn't catch up to him so rode back up the hill to tell Willma and she decided to walk til she could get a sag. When it finally came by, they never offered a ride, only a spare tube (she had no tools and no pump) so she walked the last 6 km to camp.
Poor. She had no good words for the sag people at that point, especially after we couldn't get a sag three times earlier that day. She was fuming when she got to camp. Turned out she needed a new tire and Ed changed it before dinner.
Mileage: 90.7 / 4,543.8 (Today / Cumulative) [KM: 146.0 / 7,312.5]
Elevation gain: 8,200 ft
Sunday 9 April 2000 (Day 100 - Caprese Michelangelo, Italy to Firenze (Florence), Italy)
We headed straight down out of camp this morning and boy was it cold. Had on everything imaginable. Only lasted a couple km and then we started up a big climb, so guess what, off came the clothes. Then we got another big downhill and on went the clothes, then another big up to checkpoint. It was so cold, we about froze and had everything on.
After checkpoint, we went down, down, down, and it got colder and colder. [Photo113] I finally stopped and put on my rain gear to block the wind. That made all the difference in the world. Overall, it was a much better day today. More down than up and I didn't hurt nearly as much. From checkpoint to the end was mostly downhill with a couple minor climbs so we lost all that elevation we gained yesterday.
I treated myself to a massage today since I seemed to be stiff all over. We had to go 3 km from camp for dinner tonight and I was sure it looked like rain. Sure enough, it was raining for the walk home so we hopped on a bus (with appropriate ticket).
Dick told me today how his laundry got all messed up at the last laundromat where he had to leave it. He actually lost a couple nice warm shirts and couple miscellaneous items. So it's not just I who am frustrated with laundry. None of us has enough extra clothes with us that we can afford to lose any, especially cool weather ones.
Someone was telling me tonight he saw the weather forecast for the part of France we are heading to in about a week. SNOW. Now that ought to be fun to ride in!
Mileage: 61.9 / 4,605.7 (Today / Cumulative) [KM: 99.6 / 7,412.1]
Elevation gain: 5,292.7 ft
Monday 10 April 2000 (Day 101 - Layover day in Florence, Italy)
Boy, I don't think the rain stopped all night long. My tent did a superb job of keeping me dry again.
Walked the 3 km to breakfast and then found a bike shop and toured the city. All the museums were closed today, but I didn't mind. My legs were really tired today and I didn't want to do a whole lot of walking anyway.
After lunch, I went back to camp and did laundry. Ed helped me patch all my tubes (four since January 1st) so that job is done. I was kind of procrastinating until I will have those four days in Washington DC, but since he offered to help with mine while he was doing his, I couldn't pass up the chance to get it done.
The campground dryer was still turning out damp clothes after two hours of 'drying' so I decided to take mine to another laundromat near the dinner place. My clothes were nice and dry in 25 minutes. Then I just sat and relaxed til dinner time. So sleepy, I almost took a nap in the chair.
One of the things I saw today was the Duomo and Giotto's Tower. It sits right in the heart of town and is really quite impressive. They are in the process of cleaning the rocks on the outside and what has been cleaned is so white compared to what hasn't been cleaned.
I walked past the David sculpture, which is a replica. The original was inside the closed museum. The museum building itself was huge and impressive, too.
I have noticed a musical thing about car horns while riding my bike. I started analyzing the sounds when I noticed that if they honk directly at you (either facing you from the front or honking directly at your back), it is a certain pitch. Once that same car passes you and honks either away from you in front or in back, the pitch from the same vehicle is one whole step lower. I have tested this many times and it is always the same outcome. I thought it was interesting. Just one of those things I do to pass the time on my bike. [Doppler effect]
I walked far more than I wanted to today, up and down hills. Someone said Italy is 75% hills and one of the riders chimed in and said, "Yeah, we've ridden 74% of them!" That's how we all feel right now.