Not bad for a Rest Day

Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Todi Loop Ride
50 miles, 4,300 feet of climbing  

Since we would be spending another night in Todi, we had the option of taking a rest day or riding one of the offered loop rides.  Art & I opted to ride, but deferred the start time of our ride until sometime after noon in order to give the temperature a chance to warm up.  This proved to be a good plan, as the temperature was in the low 40s when we got up this morning, but warmed up to about 56 by the time we left for our ride at 12:30.  It was a nice, sunny day, a few clouds here and there, but very windy - a crosswind that nearly blew me off the road a number of times.  The loop ride we decided to do was supposed to be 39 miles with about 3,600 feet of climbing.  But we magically increased the mileage and climbing with a couple of really hilly wrong turns.  The first wrong turn took us down a step grade of about 12%.  We realized it was a wrong turn when the road suddenly metamorphosed into a narrow gravel path.  It was only a two mile mistake, but I could have done without the bonus steep climb. The second wrong turn was more costly in terms of distance (6 miles), but the climb back up was not nearly as steep.  The ride became even more interesting when Art got a flat tire at mile 25, which he fixed in a jiffy, because he is unquestionably "the master of all things bicycle."  In any event, it was a wonderful ride - lots of sunshine, great climbs and gorgeous scenery - not to mention the value we added to the per-mile cost of the trip with all our wrong turns!  We arrived back at our hotel in Todi just after 5 p.m.  We had a lovely dinner at a restaurant not far from our hotel with fellow riders Beau, Peter and Susan.  Overall, a banner day.  Looking forward to tomorrow's ride to Montefalco.

Art at the center square of Morre - we stopped here for a snack break

View from the road in Montecastrille