Back home!

June 21, 2025 was a full day of travel, the day after the Milano San Remo tour ended. After breakfast and many good-byes, I walked down to the bus station with Eddy – he was so nice to help me carry my box. It was hard enough for two, I wouldn’t have wanted to do it by myself. Graham and Nick were also there, all of us headed to the Nice airport. The bus came on time and we joined the queue to board. When it came to my turn, the driver said he couldn’t take my bike box. The fine print on their list of restricted things includes anything packed in cardboard. Reason: fire hazard. I can’t really imagine my bike box spontaneously combusting but that is the rule and he was unbendable. He said the police routinely inspect the bus and it would be bad if my box was aboard.

So everyone else got to go and I didn’t. Lex and Jesper had also come down since they were scheduled to go on a later bus. They wanted to see how it works. Lex had done some research on taxis and after seeing Uber doesn’t work, I tried Radio Taxi San Remo at his recommendation. The only way was by phone and it immediately put me on hold. The next company I tried required two hours notice for a booking. So I walked into a fancy five-star hotel called the Europa Palace, right at the bus stop. The super nice guy at the desk immediately wanted to help when I explained the problem. He was on the phone for a minute, then said, “A large van taxi will be at the bus stop in five minutes.” Wow, problem solved. Always ask a local when you need help like that.

Jesper definitely wanted to go along since he had the same type of box. Lex decided to go too, for simplicity. That was great for me since we got to split the fare three ways. We drove to the hotel, got the other bikes and headed off, along the same highway I drove with Wijnand two days earlier. Our taxi was singled out at the French border, and had to pull over, but we only had to show passports. They looked in the back but didn’t make us open the boxes. We heard later the bus also got stopped and searched. At the airport, I said goodbye and headed into the terminal. My flight didn’t open for 15 minutes but the line was so long I joined it at the end. By check-in time (2.5 hours before takeoff), I had progressed all the way to the start of the check-in area, but then had to wait another 20 minutes because earlier flights had priority. I passed the time talking to a German Ironman dude and his dad, they wanted to hear all about our cycling trips. Finally we were allowed into the line which then took an hour or so. At check-in they wanted at unknown amount of money for my bike. I asked how much and it took 15 minutes on the phone for the agent to determine that it was €244.27 exactly. I explained how that was not right and United no longer charges for bikes, but time was getting short so I finally agreed to pay. I passed her my card and she looked embarrassed. I asked what was wrong and she said, “Next time book with Lufthansa direct” or something like that. They had no way to accept a payment which was perfect for me. A super nice lady took the box off my hands at the oversized bag drop and I proceeded to the security check. It was easy, and I got to the gate. Suffice to say their system could improve and it took an hour and we took off 45 minutes late. It was super busy but the whole thing was lame. A lady I met at the San Remo bus station said hi while I was waiting and was happy to see I had made it.

The flight to Frankfurt was quick but again, maintaining a record that goes back a number of times, I landed after boarding of the next flight had already started. I had to run from gate A1 to gate Z19. At passport control in the middle, the guy helpfully told me, “You have to run, it’s the last gate. GO!” I arrived with a bunch of out of breath people, just as my boarding group was having last call so went straight onto the plane, with 15 minutes to spare. At take-off time, my tracker said my bike was on the other side of the airport and the United app showed it arriving from Nice, but not loaded in the plane. But one minute later it popped up, during an announcement from the pilot apologizing for the delay to load some last minute bags.

So we flew together and soon (not really), we landed on time in San Francisco. After Nice and Frankfurt, it’s funny how efficient everything was in San Francisco. Look in the camera, immigration done. The bike came pretty quickly and Frannie drove up right when I got out. She very graciously lent me her car and I dropped her off and drove home to Santa Cruz. Door to door time was about 22 hours.

The cool dry air of Santa Cruz felt so good after being warm and sweaty. The next morning Katie and I went for a bike ride, then later we went to the beach – the water was too cold for me to get all the way in but she did. We walked to a nearby park for dinner. As always, it is really nice to be home although I loved the trip, even though the riding wasn’t as good as it could’ve been if I were healthy. The Italian antibiotics are doing their thing and I’m feeling a lot better.