Introduction

Fibonacci Scribble?

I'm working on improving my photography and occasionally come across a reference to the Golden Ratio, which is based on the Fibonacci Spiral, which comes from the Fibonacci Sequence. But this is a journal about cycle travel so I'll stop with the math. Basically, we are going to Italy, our conceptual route roughly follows a spiral, and Fibonacci (cool name, but he was born Leonardo Pisano) was Italian. Scribble because our actual route will look like one...

Al and I plan to fly to Florence and spend some time exploring Tuscany. After a visit to Elba, we will head north up the coast and around the corner a bit before turning north. We will arc north and east (and up, over the Stelvio) to approach the Dolomites from the north. After lots of scribbling around, we will come down to the sea and fly home to Trieste.

I've decided to go ahead and publish this vague plan so you can tell us about any "don't miss" places we should, well, not miss. Thanks in advance!

UPDATE: This journal was started as I was planning a tour for 2020. Then we were forced to cancel about a month before our planned departure thanks to the pandemic. I resurrected the journal in July 2021 when we booked our flights to do the tour in 2022.

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Scott AndersonBrilliant. Only you would think to describe your tour this way, Jacquie. I drew it out, and you’re right - it looks like a fair interpretation of the great spiral. You should include a concept map.
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4 years ago

Jacquie GaudetA concept map is next up, soon I hope.
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4 years ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesAfter having read, and written, so many cycle blogs I have formed the impression that the index to a blog, if there were one, could cover any subject imaginable. Of course bicycle mechanics, routes, food, accommodation, conditioning, architecture, air travel, train travel, and such are most common, but there is also history and politics, plants and animals, and so much more - even types of road gravel by country. When you modestly defer, and write "But this is a journal about cycle travel so I'll stop with the math", I think, why stop?

So I thought I would mention that if you start with the numbers 1 and 1, sum them - so 2, and then sum 2 and 1 =3, and 3+2=5, etc., you get the Fibonacci series, which begins 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,... The ratio of adjacent Fibonacci numbers approaches a constant as the numbers get bigger. Even at 9 numbers out, you get 34/21 = about 1.62, which is a good idea of the "Golden Ratio".

If you start with two 1x1 squares side by side, and build on these a 2x2, and then on the side of that a 3x3, then a 5x5, creating a graphical image of the Fibonacci series, AND, if you draw a quarter circle inside each square, then all the lines drawn will form a spiral. That's the Fibonacci spiral. It's not quite the "Golden Spiral", but as to what is the difference- you would have to read the Wiki on it yourself!

This golden stuff occurs in nature a lot, in architecture, and even (they say) throughout the Mona Lisa. So if a cyclist ends up at the Louvre, the golden ratio could easily and legitimately be in the blog.

So spiral on in there, Jacquie, the blog is sure to be golden!
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4 years ago

Jacquie GaudetTo Steve Miller/GrampiesWell, Steve, you are a Renaissance man!

I’m working at reducing my math geek tendencies and developing my artistic side —lots of scope there.
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4 years ago

Kathleen JonesTo Jacquie GaudetAs someone who can't do air math, yet is married to a math major/ programmer, I say go ahead with the math angle when you do this tour. And besides, it's your tour and your journal. Don't stifle yourself (reference: Archie Bunker). You never know who's going to be interested. Even I get the beauty of the Fibonacci sequence. And fractals.
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4 years ago

Jacquie GaudetHa! You caught me on the computer making notes from the Andersons' Sicily trips. Fibonacci might have to wait until 2022 (even if we can travel next year--fingers and toes crossed). We have a house sale and move and two weddings in 2021 so if we go, it will need to be earlier in the year. Sicily and Puglia!
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4 years ago

Rachael AndersonLooks like a great trip!
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3 years ago

Keith AdamsMath and art are inextricably intertwined, so you should not feel that it's an either/or decision.

Our first tour in Italy was in 2008 (a fully-supported tandem-only affair) in Tuscany. If you're going to tackle the Stelvio then you need not worry about training for the Tuscan hills: you'll already have your climbing legs in shape. My journal from that trip ("Of Medieval Walls and Hilltop Towns") is still on another bike touring site and will remain there unless/until the site owner takes it down. At that point I may re-post it here- I've already prepared to do so should it become necessary.
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2 years ago

Jacquie GaudetTo Keith AdamsI've always been good at math and never very good at art.

I'm not sure how much hill training I'll get before tackling Tuscany (should the trip not need to be cancelled again in 2022) as the long climbs here in North Vancouver lead to the local ski hills and are both too busy and too salty to ride until the skiing/snowshoeing season is over, typically mid-April.
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2 years ago

Susan CarpenterThought of you this morning when doing my NY Times crossword puzzle - Fibonacci theme. Glad you made it to Florence and looking forward to following the spiral.
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2 years ago

Jacquie GaudetThanks, Susan. I’ve missed the NYT crossword since switching to the digital format of the Vancouver Sun when we moved out of our old place.
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2 years ago