Long Way Home

Here's my post written while en route home:
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After 24 hours in Lecce post cycling, we caught a flight from the Brindisi airport back to Rome and holed up in a Hilton Hotel just off the grounds of the airport. Upon return to the airport on Tuesday morning, Wendy and I said goodbye and headed to our separate terminals. In short order, I discovered that British Airways cancelled my two flights (Rome to London, London to Seattle) although they cheerily informed me that my Seattle to home flight was still ok (gee thanks). After standing in a long line to get re-routed (two agents to serve an entire flight's worth of people), I was relieved that my new itinerary was not so bad:  Rome - Frankfurt - San Francisco - home. However, it has turned into a 24 hour trip so I'll be pretty wasted when I finally get back. I'm writing this while at the SF airport, drinking a beer and watching the Giants, so things could be worse.

My new itinerary took me through Frankfurt, Germany. I was only there for 2 hours and nothing went wrong, but still, I was off kilter. After passing inspection by an unsmiling and condescending customs/passport guy, and walking from landing zone A to departure zone Z, I was greeted at the gate by a gaggle of overly efficient TSA agents (German, but employed by the U.S. I assume). The woman who processed me asked a rapid-fire series of questions that I barely understood, and then said something about the TSA random check. She told me to go to the toilette and be back within 1/2 hour because I would not be able to use the toilette after that. This information raised my alert level -- I pictured being ushered off to the gulag to be questioned under klieg lights. Off I went to fulfill my toilette duties (scurrying up and down the hallway because first restroom flooded, second one closed, third one the charm). 

When I got back, I sat where she had indicated and awaited my fate but either I misunderstood or they found juicier suspects because a different set of travelers was selected for the random check (and geez, they WERE ushered off somewhere!)  Still, all of the uncertainty about this stressed me out to the point that I had to buy some chocolate, so I went off to do that while also picking up a sandwich and what I thought were plain potato chips, but which I later discovered were vomit flavored.

Finally!  on the plane and settled in for the 10.5 hour flight. The aisle seat I had paid extra for on British Airways was a lost cause and I was stuck in the middle of the middle, but I was able to sleep and arrived in SF where the customs/passport people greeted me with friendly smiles. I'm happy to be back in the USA!

Calories vs. Kilometers

I know I've already raved about the food but I can't help but do it again. This has been the best food experience I've ever had. I can't imagine how an Italian can come to the U.S. and not be deeply disappointed in the food.

Our meals typically include antipasto featuring fish, grains, vegetables (yes, I'm eating vegetables!), legumes and cheese. Everything is freshly prepared and accented with herbs and olive oil. We can then choose from first and second courses that involve pasta (of course), squid, octopus, eggplant, or many types of fish. Mozzarella and ricotta are served at every meal (including breakfast) and they are so much melt-in-your-mouth better than what we get in the U.S.  Only occasionally have I seen chicken or beef on the menu, although I'm told that tonight's dinner may involve meat.

Even taking just a spoonful of each offering results in a full plate so despite our (minor) efforts at restraint, we are leaving the table each time a little overly satisfied. Of course, the biking helps but I'm afraid even a daily 50 mile ride is not enough to work off what I have taken in. I'm anticipating a few weeks of serious discipline upon my return home!

American Scampi --- boo!

Italian Scampi --- yay!

The Rides

They aren't kidding when they call it "Backroads."  Our routes have taken us through groves of olives and almonds, fields where they are growing chard, artichokes, and other leafy greens, small towns and gravel roads. On the good side, we've seen a lot of how 'the real people live,' often in charming old homes set on agricultural acreage.

On the bad side, the routes are very complicated. We are constantly turning or veering at Y's or negotiating traffic circles -- it's rare that we get to ride on the same street for even 3-5km.  We are given pages and pages of instructions each morning so in addition to watching for potholes and traffic and each other, we are trying to read our route instructions. On top of that, most of the roads are unnamed and/or unmarked so the instructions will say something like "Easy turn to miss - turn right at the unmarked 3 way intersection, green house on your right.  If you reach a stop sign you have gone too far."  So you can see, we often have to read several sentences to know the next thing to do.  We also have to stop a lot to flip pages of the route instructions and fit them back into the plastic map case.

A trip leader generally guides us out of town in the mornings, and into town for our lunch stops and end-points. And they are tracking us pretty closely via van and bike. Still, we are all finding it rather stressful to stay on course, and it's harder to enjoy the scenery when we're having to be so vigilant. At dinner last night I asked some of the others  who have been on other backroads trips if this is typical and they all said no! They said that other trips feature smoother roads where you can get some decent mileage between turns. This is good to know, as I have been doubting whether I would do another Backroads trip. The food, lodging and logistics have all been top notch but the rides have been bizarre --- my fellow bikers all agree.

First Day of Riding

Ok, I know I am way behind on blog posts and it's not because of the wine intake, although the wine intake has been substantial. It's because we are having so much fun.  Blog posting has fallen in priority behind bike riding, incredible meals, wine tasting, and food demos.

We met up with our cycling group at the Bari Centrale train station on Tuesday am. They  drove us by van to our starting point where we first had lunch (a scrumptious buffet of healthy selections: grain salads, seafood salads, caprese, eggplant and more) at a gorgeous beach side restaurant. We also received a run down of logistics and an overview of the bikes. After lunch, it was finally time to suit up and go on our first ride.

This first one was rather short --- just 17 miles to get ourselves oriented and, I'm sure, for the ride leaders to check us all out.  We ended up at Corta Altavilla in Conversano where we checked into charmingly restored rooms in a hotel right across from a beautiful church,

As we explored the area that afternoon, we witnessed a funeral at the church. We watched the funeral procession led by people carrying beautiful flower arrangements that they placed in the piazza in front of the church. Next came four pall bearers balancing the casket on their shoulders, followed by family members of the deceased, solemn and linked arm in arm. I was struck that nobody was dressed up -- even the family members wore jeans and t shirts -- but it seemed that nearly the whole town turned out to pay their respects.

Our trip leaders took us to a nearby restaurant (open only for us since they are usually closed on Tuesdays) and we had a spectacular meal. Really, spectacular, as they all have been -- I have never had food in the U.S. that even approaches the quality of what we've had here.

We tucked into our rooms to rest up for our first real day of riding.

More pictures to come -- internet is spotty!