Spasso: fun walks and meaningful chats

There is a reason the ancient culture of the Etruscans developed the viticulture of olives and production of olive oil. It serves multiple purposes in bicycle maintenance. Specifically, when you rent a bike with worn threads in the pedal bore holes, olive oil is the solution to screwing in your pedals without scratching the threads. Those Etruscans sure were smart! And good farmers too! We for our part prefer only organic agriturismo oil from AgriRistorante La Palma. Also, it tastes really good on bread and other good things. Ciao!

Three rules of cycling:

1. Stay hydrated or die!
2. Don’t die!
3. If you do die, look good doing it!

There’s no shame in walking when the gravel is loose, the road is rutted and the pitch hits 15% . That’s how the old-timers did it. (…  and we qualify as old-timers)

Just another perfect day. Rolling thunder at start, rain squall mid-route, just enough to cool us and damp down the dust on la strada bianca, then we dried off and climbed the steep hill from Gaiole to Vertine. Lunch at Bettolo L’Eroica, time for a swim and dinner at home.

The Classic! Strada Biancha riding on the old unpaved roads of the hill country.

does it take to inflate a tire?

Bonus Question:

Q: How many engineers does it take to fix a flat?

A: Two. One to fix the flat and one to watch.

What a glorious day! Blessed by perfect weather, we endured the brutal climb in perfect conditions and reached the summit of Mt Ventoux at noon. We celebrated for a few minutes before a rapid descent to Malaucène for pizza lunch, then a few more miles of rolling hills on the return to Bédoin to complete the classic loop route.

Doing our research to fine -tune the forecast and plan our attack!

Demain, nous tenterons l’ascension du mont Ventoux !

Since Mt Ventoux looms in our future (i.e. tomorrow!) we rested today with a ten-mile ride, and ate heartily. See ya tomorrow!

It’s unanimous: the most beautiful winding road ascent and descent we have ever experienced. Col de Murs. 1200′ of bliss up and down the other side in tree-lined canyon switchbacks.

Followed by lunch at Le Renaissance in Gordes.