Europe Day 3: 47 Miles

Radicofani, Italy to Siena, Italy

Today was another beautiful day of riding. I started at 2,500 feet in Radicofani and enjoyed some quick downhill sections for most of the morning. As I was taking pictures of the castle at the highest point of town and the scenic view below, I noticed the road I was about to head down was lined with people cheering and taking pictures. It would be like that the whole day.

It turns out I had unknowingly planned my day on a route being used for the “Mille Miglia” open road car race. Literally all 47 miles of my route was a racecourse. The race has some significant history as it took place from 1927 to 1957 before being shut down. My understanding is they reopened the event in 1977 as more of a car parade for pre-1957 cars. All the cars I saw today would have be racing in the original Mille Miglia. The cars caused me no problems as they gave lots of room when passing and it was nice to have people along the road cheering, even if they weren’t cheering for me.

I had a quick breakfast of dried fruit and a pastry before leaving Radicofani and knew I’d be able to ride the 10 downhill miles to Gallina without having to expend much energy. In Gallina I stopped for a panino and bottle of coke which provided enough calories for the rest of the ride. I ate outside with a large group who had set up at the restaurant to view the cars driving by.

The ride continued another 6 miles before hitting my only climb of the day to the town of San Quirico d’Orcia. It wasn’t a very hard climb and set me up for another 13 miles of downhill on the other side. The scenery was beautiful, and I continued to cruise at decent speeds towards my end point in Siena. It was a pretty uneventful day, which is sometimes a great thing when bike touring. I had a perfect seat to see hundreds of classic cars drive by all the way into the town of Siena where I stopped for the day.

Tonight I am staying at a hostel just outside of Siena. I had planned to camp tonight but it is likely going to rain starting around midnight and into the morning. The hostel only cost $24.30 and includes free breakfast in the morning, so not a bad deal. Once I was settled in at the hostel around 4:00 PM I went in search of a place to do laundry and binge on some calories. I found a McDonald’s across the street from the hostel and was so hungry I decided to stop in for a pre dinner snack. This consisted of a large Big Mac meal along with a strawberry shake. While the panino had gotten me through the ride, I was starving. After the food, I found a laundromat close by where I finally did my first load of laundry this trip. Once that was done I headed into Siena to explore and grab some more food. Tomorrow I’ll hopefully be heading to Florence if the weather cooperates.

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