Bella Italia Stage 13

Narni to Rieti

Strava: 71.8 km, 1,453m, 4:14, 318 shifts

What an amazing day! It was the best weather of the whole trip so far, and we had maybe the best mid-ride lunch. The day looked easy so we had another relaxed late breakfast at the agriturismo and left at 10.

Once we rode up to Narni and rejoined the route we had a nice paved climb with no traffic. It was going perfectly, gentle climbing in cool temps, when a navigation error led us down a steep gravel path. This type of redirection is so normal we didn’t think to question it. We came to a house and the trail continued but there was a Private Property gate. We went around it into a pretty bad berry bush bramble, wish I had full fingered gloves! The long vines grabbed us, spilled a little blood and added some holes to my jersey. But they eased up so we could ride down (rocky ~20% grade). After a while we checked the map and realized our error. There was no way out but to climb back up and brave the thorny vines again. A lady was at the gate looking maybe a little mad but she at least answered my buongiorno.

Back on the road, up we went. We stopped for photos at various places and it was just awesome. This is why we do it, go to such effort and expense. By 12:30 we had ridden almost 30 km and thought we were half way done. A sign said there was a restaurant up a very steep looking side road. The team left it to me to decide. I was getting hungry so said we should try it. As we started up the 20% slope, there were various threats of what would happen to me if it was closed, non-existent or crappy.

Finally we found it and it looked great but deserted. A nice lady who turned out to be the chef said it was open. We picked the best table out back with an expansive view and settled in. First a liter of water and a liter of their slightly sparkling white wine. Tasty breads, then a large round of appetizers, fried pumpkin flowers, fried cheese, bruschetta to die for… We finally got around to ordering lunch. Four different pasta dishes, all delicious including one spicy one. We shared them all with another round of wine and water. A long time later came dessert: limone gelati served in frozen lemons for Andrew and me, other yummy items for Daniel and Wytze. It could end up being the highlight of the trip, of course I hope not!

Sitting in the sun digesting, I could’ve easily fallen asleep. But back on the bikes, steep down to the road, and along our way we went. After one km of relaxing descent we had a big climb, nine km, with some of it on slippery gravel. Full attention required! After that was over we had another big climb and more super steep gravel. It seemed like our idea of a 50 km “rest day” was sort of not working. We had gone 50 km but had a ways to go still. The last 20 km was mostly paved but our gravel route found ways to add climbing and spice it up with semi-gratuitous paved road avoidance.

We headed to the address of our AirBnb apartment but it was lacking a street number. A laborious phone call later: we needed a refund and had no place to stay. We retired to a bar to regroup. Nothing was available anywhere nearby but the deadbeat host did have a friend who bailed us out. He met us downtown and rented us a brand new apartment he had. We had to go have more snacks and drinks at another bar while the place was cleaned up. Possibly we are the first ever guests? It looked that way. We carried the bikes up two flights and soon were showering ourselves and washing our clothes in the machine.

Daniel was full from all the food of the day but the rest of us went out and walked around downtown Rieti which is nicer than I expected. Not touristy but vibrant on a Saturday night. I can see why Bike Dreams did a rest day here. We visited the monument at the center of Italy then found a restaurant and shared a simple small dinner with red wine. Very friendly people and great food as always.

What a day! I hope some of the upcoming ones are half as good!