Urbina to Perugia - Day 81

Date: November 7th, 2009
Distance: 108km
Country: Italy
Song of the Day: Airplane - Ellen Says No

Got up early and had a large breakfast. If I am going to pay for it, I am sure going to eat. Plus as you must all know by now, I sure eat a lot on the road.

So off I rode, still heading south. More hills today. I spent most of the morning climbing. Oh, and there was also a nasty headwind coming through this gap in the hills that the road went through. So it was tough going the whole time.

The terrain was interesting though. There were lots of bridges and tunnels. One time I went through one tunnel to go over a bridge, then back through another tunnel. Plus there were a bunch of neat little towns up in the hills. Plus great big rock formations. Jonn-E would have loved it. Still the steeps climbs and the headwind was just taking all my energy.

Going slow just means you have more time to observe it. It really gave me a sense of why Italy was a bunch of city states for a long time. Nobody wanted to cross the hills. "Lets get those guys! Oh, wait? Over that rage of hills? Nevermind. I would rather drink wine. Lets hire the Swiss to kill them. They are used to hills."

I finally went through the last tunnel (1200m), then it was all down hill. What a change. I ended up screaming down hills. After spending the morning climbing that felt good. I ended up in the little valley for a town called Gubbino. But on the other side of the valley I was in for another climb. I ended up drinking the full camelbak of water and then some.

Just outside of Perugia the terrain started going down again. I could see a storm front hitting the next hill over. I wanted to avoid the rain, and if I was fast enough it would just miss me. Well, I did get hit with a bit of the rain, but I was able to skirt the worst of it. I was a bit worried that I would slide out on one of the sharp corners, though. So I wasn't going quite full bore. Still, I was keeping up with traffic for the most part. It was weird to have cars pass you only to be stopped by the next car 50m ahead. What was the point of that? I didn't mind that much though. I didn't really want a car on my tail if I did skid out.

I finally got into the valley just before sunset. All I had to do was find the hostel I was going to stay at. Well, I have learned that there are two kinds of towns in Italy. Those built on hills, and those built in valleys. Turns out, Perugia was one of those built on a hill. So I was in for one more climb. Once I got to the top it still took me a little while to find the place. It wasn't that obvious, but with the help of lots of strangers I was able to get there.

Remember, if you are touring, don't be afraid to ask lots of people for directions. Sometimes it is a bit like playing golf. You don't need the first person to get you there. You just need them to get you on the right path. Then the next person will get you a little closer. If you repeat this enough you should get to the location eventually. I have gotten pretty good at understanding directions in Italian by this point.

I checked into the hostel and then went out to get some food. I had been having a hankering for some soup. So I got some supplies. A carton of Bolognese sauce and a can of mixed vegetables. Plus some milk. I think all told it was about 2 euro. I cooked it up back at the hostel. Not to bad.

-Dravis