Orvieto "out-and-back" Ride
25 miles, 2,146 feet of climbing
Today would be our first day of riding. Because of a hotel mix-up, we and our bikes had to be transported by van to the day's originally scheduled destination - Orvieto - where we could do an out-and-back ride to anywhere and for any distance we wished. The forecast for rain proved true, as it started sprinkling shortly before we arrived at our hotel in Orvieto around 11:00 a.m. It wasn't raining all that hard, so Art and I decided to brave the rain and go for a ride. Our plan was to backtrack part of the route we would have done had we stayed at the originally scheduled hotel in Montefiescone. We donned all our rain gear and headed out of town toward Civitella, a town about 14 miles south. The route had us climbing pretty much all the way to Bagnoregio. It rained on and off while we rode - pretty hard at times - but the temperature was mild enough that it wasn't all that chilly, despite the wind. Once we reached Bagnoregio, we decided we had enough rainy riding and headed back to Orvieto. It was a much quicker return trip back because it was mostly downhill (the benefit of doing a lot of climbing on the first half of the route). But - as is the case with many Italian towns - Orvieto is at the top of a big, steepish hill, so we had about a two mile climb at the end. It was a nice ride, despite the rain, and we got to take our rental bikes for a test run. After we put our bikes away and showered, we went for a walk around town. The rain continued through the the afternoon, but it didn't stop us from treating ourselves to a gelato. We walked to the Duomo in the center of town, which was magnificent. After getting drenched with rain one last time, we had a lovely dinner with a few folks from our group at a restaurant right across the street from our hotel. I loved this restaurant; while we were there, a couple came in with a small dog, and the dog sat right at table with them - in a chair! It was adorable. Tomorrow we head to Todi. Hopefully, we'll get our 50 miles in before the rain resumes tomorrow afternoon. I better ride fast!
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| Art "the Whistler" in Parano, a small town on our route |
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| View of Orvieto from the ride |
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| Art looking tres chic in his rain gear |
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| The Duomo in Orvieto |
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