Day 22: Tuesday, 31 May 1983

Start: Side of the road, Castel San Giovanni, Italy

End: Hotel, Busalla, Italy

Slept well last night, but very damp and muggy in the morning. Because I'm just in an open field not far off the road, I'm up and rolling at 6:00, powered by repeated doses of pastry. Riding strong, but road rapidly clogging with traffic and running right through more and more bigger towns. Guess I'm leaving the countryside.

I decide to stop for lunch instead of digging into my on-board rations, and four workers buy me beers while we watch the Tour d'Italia on television. As usual, they're all into racing, but rather puzzled about touring. Why would anyone want to carry all that weight? A local guy, decked out in racing togs, comes by with his sleek bike and seems amused at my gear. He gives me a bicycle cap in Italian colors and a nifty water bottle and wants to know if it's okay if he can squeeze the muscles in my calves. I think he's not overly impressed.

After lunch, the road pulls away from the flat lands and starts up into the hills. Soon I'm steadily climbing. The old two-lane road I'm on, the new four-lane divided highway, and about four sets of rail lines twist and turn and cross each other, the new highway and the railways often going through tunnels and over long spans of modern bridges. My old road is steeper and curvier, but the traffic isn't bad and I'm pulling along okay. Somewhere up ahead is the pass, and then I'll plunge downhill toward Genoa and the coast.

Although I'm making steady progress and feeling good about it, constantly climbing with all this weight means I'm not making much speed, and -- as the day starts to wear away -- I reckon by my map and the road signs that I won't be able to make it all the way to the top by dark. I briefly consider putting on my Belt Beacon and doing a night ride, but I pause for a short rest and strike up a conversation with a guy on a battered black commuter bicycle who tells me in halting English the road is much too steep and dangerous to attempt in the dark.

Well, it's getting dark now. No campgrounds around and no likely fields -- everything too steep and crowded with buildings -- to roll out my bag, so I get a cheap room for the night.

Conditions 

Distance: 100 km 

Weather: Warm and humid but cooler as I climb 

Road: Decent 

Traffic: Variable 

Terrain: Out of the valley and up the mountain 

Mechanical: All is well 

Physical: Strong