Oh wheels, you complete me

We got a fairly early start this morning. Had breakfast at our apartment that we're staying at. We have our own room but the kitchen and dining area is communal. There's this sweet little old lady that puts on a little German made outfit (think Heidi) and serves us breakfast. We talked with the first Americans that we seen since we've been in the mountains. I love sharing stories with people. They were celebrating there 25th anniversary. Everyone we've told that we are celebrating our five year comes back with "Really! We thought you were on your honeymoon". Bam! Still got it.

We got riding around 11am. The bike shop gave me a trail map instead of charging me which was really nice of them, and he showed me a whole route to take. The bikes we got are pretty nice. Much nicer then other rentals I've seen in the states. Both of them are hardtail cross country race bikes. After riding it all day it wouldn't be my choice for a bike but did the job great for today. We started out on some pavement till we hit a dirt road.


We climbed for a little while but nothing too difficult. The terrain is pretty rocky and loose gravel in some areas. The trails were more of a scenic leisure fire road than an aggressive fun trail, but that's okay cause the scenery more than made up for it and we kept wanting to stop and look.


We dropped back down into a neighboring city and stopped to have lunch. We finally found a good authentic pizzeria. This was probably the best meal we've had yet. A local was telling us that the one guy who runs it and cooks is really famous around here for being the best. I can see why. The cook didn't speak any English, but we finally got the point across to just bring the best and he did.

We started the ride back up on a trail out of town, and I ran into this (see pic). The cows just kind of wonder around town grazing. There's some fences but I don't think they do much good. We had to act like cowboys and herd him out of the way. Cyndie was scared of course.


After that we rode a trail that had some sort of Jesus sculpture carved in a tree about every 100 meters. Then came some really challenging climbing. I probably had the most fun on this section of trail. It felt good to be back on a bike. My legs were saying "See you idiot! This is what we like to do, not hike!"
Cyndie wasn't having as much fun as I was climbing.



At one point I raced ahead of her and made this in the grass. She really like it.



Every once in a while we would catch some single track that was pretty fun. At one spot we were flying down the grass like little kids frolicking down a hill. This section was pretty fun.



Occasionally we had to ride through farms. This one had a huge rooster in the road and he stood up all tall at me and started flapping his wings. I had a flashback from my childhood when a rooster chased me all the way to my friends house scratching my legs. I rode away quickly and some what teary-eyed from the flashback.



Over all we only road about 26 miles and it took us around 5.5 hrs. In a race I usually do 26 miles in about 1.5. We lost time mostly because we wanted to stop and enjoy the scenery, or wait for Cyndie or take pictures or try to figure out where to go. Navigating was probably the biggest time killer but for someone who doesn't care what time or day it is, this is no problem.


We finished the ride, came home and showered, and went to buy groceries to make dinner together again. This has been super great. We save money and it's pretty fun. Our apartments have this little nook in the dining room where we eat and we can see most of the small town. It's so quiet and peaceful. Probably the most romantic dinner we've had yet. I tried to take a picture but the room was to dark for the iPhone, but I got one with the canon that I'll post when we get home.



Another fun day for the adventure lovers. More riding planned for tomorrow and we need to figure out the best way to the Swiss alps.

Location:Rezia Strasse,Urtijëi,Italy