Two and a half Aussies - part 4

The best laid plans of mice and men...

I was going to leave ultra early to ride out to Carpenga and Cippo, however managed to get away at about 945am - just in time for the heat of the day.

I spun my way out there really easily and took over two and a half hours to ride about 50km, however it was mostly uphill at various gradients.

I knew Cippo would be tough, however I had to go into my 27 very early. I had moved past the decision of whether I should stop and resolved to do so in a corner or two. Then I started seeing pictures of Pantani, Merckx, large newspaper billboards, etc. I was not dreaming, it was all there. Apparently there was an event on at Cippo recently, so all of the stuff was still on the mountain. There are a number of permanent billboards as well. All of this spurred me on even though I felt like I was about to die.

There was a short stop where I had to go around a gate, which meant that the rest of the climb would have no cars (apart from a ranger or workmen possibly). I passed one sorry looking fellow who I would later learn is from Holland where there are no hills (hard to train for hill climbing).

Once that was sorted I descended down the other side and proceeded to search for a place that had food and drink. Normally not a difficult task, however at 2pm in Italy the country is in shut down.

I happened upon a place that was open and proceeded to buy two bottles of water, two gatorades and a sandwich. I drank three of the four, poured the fourth into my drink bottle, ate the sandwich and was on my way back.

I was expecting a much faster trip home, considering I was going from 1,400ish meters to 0 meters. It was quicker, apart from a small section of 1km that was as steep as Cippo! I descended it on the way out and the worst part is there was a sign pointing to Rimini before it that would have been much flatter, however I chose to follow the Garmin. Well apart from that blemish, the Garmin got me there and back, so it is doing its job.