Italian Adventure
Earlier this year we were talking with some friends and hatched this wild idea to go to Italy to watch the Cycling World Championships in Florence. This somewhat joking idea turned into a full-fledged vacation with multiple cities, planned stops as well as some delightful unplanned surprises. We took off with a hole in the middle of the trip where we were going to "just look for a place in Tuscany" as we drive from Cinque Terre to Rome.
This little unplanned stop turned out to be one of the many highlights of the trip. Via the interwebs we found a remote villa in Tuscany. It turns out that the Italian version of remote is even a little more remote than my version. Miles of twisty mountain roads that looked more like a sidewalk and switchbacks (some that hit 10%) made the journey as fun as the destination, as least that's how I'm going to remember it.
Driving through Chianti we ran across a vintage bicycle expo and ride. To a bunch of cycling nuts this was like nirvana. Wool jerseys, bikes from the 40's - 80's as well as all the crazy facial hair you can imagine. Think handlebar mustaches and other totally silly styles from years past. The event is called L'Eroica and has been going on for 10 years. Who knew?
Sometimes throwing the playbook out the window makes all the difference. You can check out some of the photos in the gallery.