Day 22 – Tuscany bike rike

50 kms today with 910 metres elevation gain.

Today we travel in the Chianti wine region of Italy, famous for its wines but now also famous for the L’Eroica bike race.

The L’Eroica bike race – pre 1987 bikes and bike clothing from that period in a non competitive bike ride – around the hills of Tuscany.

We travel from Siena to Radda in Chianti.

On our journeys today we stop at the Castle of Brolio – we we have a chance to take in the fantastic views and sample the local wines.

But today is marred by two dramas.

Half way into our cycle today – R’s peddle fell off his bike. Ball bearings going everwhere. We could have been miles from anywhere – we are normally way out in the countryside – going through a small town occassionally. However, our accident just so happened in a small town. Quick phone call to our tour company. We send photos of the broken part.

He advises that there is a bike repair shop in about 200 metres – they will either repair the bike or loan us a new bike. We can’t believe our luck. Repaired in 5 minutes and we are on our way.

Next drama occurs later in the day – there are 5 battery indicators on the ebike – we watch during the day that we still have plenty of battery power. R has dropped down to 1 indicator light – it is not long before R is getting no assistance from the battery. With about 8 kms still to go, it is going to be a hard slog. Not sure how many ups or downs we have before the hotel.

That last 8 kms proved to be our undoing. Our bikes at home weigh about 9kgs – these bikes weigh about

22 kgs. These bikes are not geared the same as our bikes – only 9 gears – our bikes 27 gears.

We are travelling on gravel roads – uphill – when we first notice the problem. It gets so bad that R has to get off the bike to push. Eventually gravel turns to paved road and then a good downhill. Nice while it lasts. Cycling in Tuscancy always involves some fantastic down hills and then some hellish uphills. This last 8 kms is proving no different.

We eventually get to Radda in Chianti only to discover our hotel is further out of town – up or down – who knows – R is struggling – after a further 3 hard kilometres we arrive at our hotel…. finally.

A swim and great meal at the hotel and we put the last 10kms into memory, hoping not to repeat the following day.