To Conegliano

September 30, 2021

Once we got to it, the first half of today’s stage was a continuation of yesterday’s ride along the piedmont. No majestic Griffon vultures soaring above, but you can’t expect that every day. The peaks of the Carnic Prealps (surely you’ve heard of the Carnic Prealps before and don’t need elaboration?) soared enough to inspire us though, and the weather continued to shine on us.

First though we have to get out of Maniago. It takes us considerably longer than we expected. It starts with attempts to get breakfast, beginning with showing up downstairs at our albergo. The albergo doesn’t actually serve what you’d think of as breakfast though, and the kind woman on morning duty speaks no English at all and we hVe trouble determining what our options are. After polishing off a teensy cup of espresso in about two sips we moved on to the piazza, where Rachael finds a quite nice bakery open. Four excellent pastries and two more rounds of caffeine later we return to our rooms and pack up to go.

Looking across the piazza in Maniago on the way to breakfast this morning. Looks like another passable day to ride.

Checking out from our room takes longer than expected. The same kind woman is still in attendance but is perplexed when we attempt to pay our bill, which includes last night’s dinner. With the use of Google Translate we get our point across, but she has no idea what was owed so she gets on the phone to call in reinforcements. Finally, fifteen minutes later help drives up, he lets us know what we owe, and I pay the bill and check us out.

In the meantime Rachael has gone to the garage to get the bikes and returns with the unhappy news that my tire is completely flat again. The patch job apparently failed. I remove the tire, start over with a new tube, and manage to ruin it with a pinch flat when I remount the tire. So I go back to the first tube, pump it up, and find a second leak - one I must have just overlooked before when I patched it last night. its right next to the first one. It looks like something had gotten inside the tire and scored it in a few places.

This doesn’t count as a new flat tire. That count still stands at 4. This goes on to the count of repair job failures.

I apply a second patch, reinstall the tube, tire and wheel, and pump the tire again. It won’t take on air.

So finally I take the advice Rachael had been hinting at (well, let’s say strongly hinting at) for the last half hour and we roll the bike down the street to the nearby bike store, Cicli Mauro. Mauro is in and is happy to help once he completes his lengthy sales pitch on a new eBike to a pair of elderly female customers. He throws the bike up on the rack, removes the wheel and tire, and after closely examining the tire concludes that I needed a new one but he didn’t have one my size in stock. He does what he can though and he starts over with a new tube. It has a presta valve of course, which is a problem because the holes on our Bike Friday rims are bored for larger Schraeder stems. Fortunately I’ve been carrying along gromets for just this occasion - they fit over presta stems and into the rim hole, nicely filling the gap.

So, finally we’re off. For most of the day I ride anxiously, half-expecting the tire to fail again; but it holds. And hopefully will it continue to hold until we find a bike store with the right dimension tire in stock.

And the ride? The first 20 miles are brilliant, like I mentioned earlier. The next ten aren’t, as we leave the Piedmont cycle path and angle across the flats to our day’s destination, Conigliano. Traffic, substandard bike lanes, the sort of riding that makes you anxious and irritable - anxious about the traffic, frustrated by looking for gaps in the speeding traffic as you race to the other side of the road where the bike lane has now shifted, and watching out for shrapnel on the road that might flatten your aging tire.

And Conegliano, once we finally get there? Conegliano is a beautiful little place. We like our hotel, though check-in takes a bit longer than normal because the kind woman on duty (who does speak some English, thankfully) has only been on the job a week, has no idea what the WiFi password is, and after several unsuccessful tries finally manages to get a phone call through to someone who does know.

We have a thoroughly enjoyable evening, walking through the beautiful historical center and up the hill to admire the views from the castle. At sundown we walk back to town and have a superb meal at Antica Trattoria Stella. We both have the same main course, cod with polenta. Afterwards, walking back to our hotel through this lovely town and soaking in the evening ambiance of diners lining the square we reflect on how wonderful it is to be back in Italy again.

You can’t see Conegliano yet though. I’m saving that for a rainy day, which looks like will be coming along soon enough.