To Montagnana

May 18, 2023

Reading the news this morning we’re reminded that our problems with the weather are really pretty trivial, amounting to no more than an inconvenience and an occasional change of plans. After suffering through a historic drought for the past two summers, now Northern Italy is getting pummeled by a historically wet season resulting in major flooding, evacuations, and loss of life. Two of the worst hit places, Ravenna and Faenza, really aren’t that far from us.

Compared against this, missing out on some riding opportunities or finding EV8 under water are as nothing.

Maybe more consequential to Team Anderson is the discovery this morning that I have a warped rotor on my front wheel, bad enough that the brakes cannot be adjusted to prevent the rotor from rubbing against them. This must have happened in the last few days somehow, because I noticed it when biking yesterday and began this morning by attempting to adjust the brakes before we left the apartment.

Ferrara is the largest place we’ll be for awhile, so we decide we should try to find a bike mechanic before leaving. We pull up the phone, execute a quick search, and are pleased to see that the well reviewed Doctor Bike is only a few hundred yards away.

The doctor is in, and after a quick pantomime Doctor Bike understands the problem and goes back into the shop for the precision tool he uses for this problem - a hammer. And yes, I understand that if your only tool is a hammer every problem looks like a nail; so it makes me a little anxious when he kneels down next to my wheel, gives it a spin to see where the warp is, and applies the hammer.

It doesn’t sound promising - really, I’d rather he had a Park Tool DT-2 Rotor Truing Fork, and maybe I should pick one up and start carrying it with us in the future. He has an interesting technique though and looks experienced with it. He spins the wheel, locates a spot that needs centering, places the end of the hammer’s handle against that spot, and gives a gentle rap on the head of the hammer with the palm of his hand.

Has anyone else seen or tried this technique? It sounds like an emergency roadside repair method, like the time I used the pavement as my tool for straightening out a rim that looked like a figure eight thirty years ago.

Unfortunately, ten raps later the situation was improved but the brake still rubs when he gives up and says I needed a new rotor. He could order one today and have it tomorrow, but that’s no help to us as we’ll be gone.

I decide that it’s improved enough that it’s an annoyance I can bike with, and we plan to just leave town. First though I decide I should tighten down my rear brake, since I’ll be mostly relying on it. I fish inside my underbag for the multi tool I use to adjust the brakes, but it’s not there. And it’s not anywhere else I can find either, and then I realize my pump isn’t there either. The only explanation is that I set them down somewhere in our room when I was trying to adjust my brake there, and we left them behind. Crap.

Rachael messages our host that we’ve left something behind, but we hear back soon that the cleaning lady (who’s apparently been and gone already) reported nothing as left behind. So this makes a poor start to the day. Fortunately we have a second pump that Rachael carries, but still. Crap.

But hey - it’s not raining!

The ride begins with a four mile ride straight north to the Po. Fortunately we’re not taking the flooded EV8 spur, and traffic isn’t bad. In fact it’s pretty much nonexistent for the first mile plus because the Bruce Springsteen concert is today and the street we’re on is barricaded and monitored by traffic cops in preparation for the crowds soon to come.

We cross the Po on the bridge at Santa Maria Maddalena. It’s a poor experience because it’s a busy road, it’s an old, narrow two lane truss bridge, and we have to push the bikes across on the too narrow sidewalk. But we’re at least mentally prepared for it because we crossed it four years ago biking into Ferrara.

Some things just never change. Awful then, awful now.

Crossing the Po. Wide river, long bridge, slow crossing.

The next five or six miles are a beautiful ride, following the Po on its left bank this time. It’s really just like yesterday’s miles, but better because it’s sunny today.

Fair riding along the left bank of the Po.

The church at Stienta. This is the same one I took a photo of from the opposite bank yesterday.

At Stienta we leave the river and angle northwest. We’re back on normal roads again, but they’re still very quiet. Really, it’s a very enjoyable ride with very little work required.

The church at Canda. You can’t see it in this photo, but I’m pretty sure the bell tower is leaning at one or two degrees.

Crossing the Adige. We’ll be crossing it a couple more times before the end of the tour.

We’ve been gradually approaching the Euganean Hills, a volcanic formation south of Verona. They look well worth exploring, and if we’re lucky with the weather I’ll bike over there tomorrow.

An excellent ride today. It almost feels like cheating to enjoy such a fine ride for so little effort.

We’re eight miles from my destination and I’m getting tired of listening to my front brake rub and am counting down the miles when we come to a barricade across the road. We’re not concerned though. As Racpat recently reminded us, “Unless it's a bridge out, detours mean nothing to a cyclist”, so we bike on by.

“ Unless it's a bridge out, detours mean nothing to a cyclist.” - - Racpat.

Fortunately we’ve only gone another quarter mile when we discover that Racpat’s Rule needs a bit more refinement. It’s not just missing bridges that can stop you cold. Perhaps as a result of the recent rains, the road is completely washed out at a minor stream. Maybe if we were really desperate we’d figure out how to get to the other side, but after consulting the map we see that the detour route will add only three miles to the ride. Acceptable, and better than the alternative.

Nice to double back and get a chance to see Wreck #2 in a better light.

And to enjoy another nice view of the Euganean Hills.

Video sound track: High Five , by Yasmin Williams

We arrive at our destination, Montagnana, at not long after 3:30. We pull up to our assumed lodging, can’t spot it right away, and when Rachael checks the phone she discovers that we’re still a mile and a half away just outside the opposite end of town. It takes awhile to figure out what’s happened here, but it’s a Booking misunderstanding. In choosing tonight’s lodging we had two candidates: Villa Mari, on the east side of town; and La Villa, on the west side. I’ve mapped us to the wrong Villa, so we turn around and bike through the middle of Montagnana to end the ride.

Annoying in other circumstances, but I’m so startled by the sight of Montagnana itself that the extra distance counts for nothing in comparison. I want a show of hands here. Who has even heard of Montagnana before or knew annything about it? The CycleBlaze search function doesn’t show any other hits on it, but maybe some folks knew of this place but just haven’t stitched it into a tour yet.

For us though, it’s an absolute revelation. We’re only here by chance, looking for a reasonable spot to break the ride between Ferrara and Verona. Our first thought was to stay in Legnago, but it was booked up. We had no idea what an exceptional place Montagnana is, or that it has maybe the most intact set of medieval walls in all of Western Europe. Maybe if I was a stamp collector I’d have been aware of it though:

Entering Montagnana through the Padua Gate.

In Montagnana. Even without the walls this would be an exceptional town, well worth seeking out.

Leaving Montagnana through the Legnago Gate.

There’s much more to see and show in Montgnana, but we’ll hold that for tomorrow. For this evening we’re happy to walk back through town to a pizzaria and then browse our way back to the room. The town is lively tonight because the spring prosciutto festival is on, and a huge event tent surrounded by booths fills the main piazza in front of the cathedral.

An entire booth for licorice! We buy too much, I make myself sick.

Some olives from Puglia. I’ll bet there are a few from Mattinata in there.

I don’t even like stuff like this, but it looks terrific.

And hams! Montagnana is famous for its prosciutto.

Heart

Comment

Link

Ride stats today: 42 miles, 600’; for the tour: 1,255 miles, 60,000’

Today's ride: 42 miles (68 km)
Total: 1,255 miles (2,020 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	11
Comment on this entry	Comment	6

Jacquie GaudetI note that your backtracking and Villa confusion brought your distance total to the magic number!

I discovered my front brake rotor was bent when I reassembled my bike at home. I own the Park tool but opted to take the bike in because it looked pretty bad. The mechanic got it rideable but said he couldn’t eliminate all the rubbing so I had the rotor replaced. Since the damage happened in transit, I think I’ll add the tool to our “bike assembly” kit, which stays with our cases. I’ll have to give some thought to carrying it.
Reply to this comment
1 year ago

Scott AndersonYes, there was discussion about how great it was that the extra mileage brought us up to Rachael’s favorite number for the first time in awhile.
Reply to this comment
1 year ago

Suzanne GibsonBeen there - on a very early tour, before I published on cgoab. Montagnana is amazing, isn't it.
Reply to this comment
1 year ago

Suzanne GibsonLink to my old 2003 home made journal
http://www.suzannegibson.de/veneto/veneto1/03soave.htm#soave
Let's see if it works.
Reply to this comment
1 year ago

Scott AndersonTo Suzanne GibsonYes, the link works fine. Insanely beautiful is right.

I can’t believe I didn’t notice Villa Pasani, catty-corner from our second stay. The traffic is so dense there that I never really looked up in that direction.
Reply to this comment
1 year ago

Kelly IniguezI carried a spare rotor (and tandem length brake and shifting cables) as spares on my Alaska bike. They were fairly light weight, and not items I thought I could replace easily in the middle of nowhere. The bike is long gone. I haven't owned a bike with rotors since. But I think I still have that extra rotor floating around somewhere . . . I carried a spare pair of brake pads with me all last summer. We were traveling in areas with extended descents, I don't like high speed downhill, and I'm heavy. The extra brake pads were peace of mind. I haven't planned to take them to Spain.
Reply to this comment
1 year ago