Europe Day 8: 51 Miles

Pontremoli, Italy to Parma, Italy

The climbing started immediately and continued constantly for the first 2 hours of the day. It was a challenging ride that tested me with over 3,000 feet of elevation gain, but the reward of a huge downhill to end the day and views of the Apennines made it all worth it.

I left the hotel around 9:30 AM and did not have to waste any energy packing up camp like yesterday. I knew I would need all my energy to get over the mountains. Pontremoli was the point where the climbing started and I’m happy I didn’t try to go any further yesterday. It was much nicer to start the climb on fresh legs. Pontremoli is at 700 feet elevation and I would have to climb to almost 3,500 feet within the first 11 miles of the day. It wasn’t a struggle, but certainly wasn’t fast. I averaged about 6.2 mph which meant it was 11:30 AM by the time I reached the top.

There were 2 more climbs between miles 12 and 25. I got a nice 5 mile downhill from mile 12 to 17 followed by 2 miles of uphill. From there it was another 4 easy miles before the last climb of the day. I hadn’t eaten much for breakfast and by the time I made it to the top of the last climb I was starving. Luckily there was a pizzeria waiting for me there. It was just what I needed. I sat down for a quick meal and let my legs recuperate from the hours of exertion.

Once back on my bike I had an amazing 12 miles of downhill where I reached speeds over 30 mph. I didn’t have to pedal much which gave my legs a nice break. 30 mph is right on the edge of where I feel pure excitement and start to get nervous, but I handled the hairpin turns nicely. My bike probably weighs 70 pounds so stopping it at those speeds isn’t always easy.

At the bottom of the big descent the road flattened out but still trended downhill for the final 12 miles to Parma. From the top at 3,400 feet, I had dropped all the way back to 180 feet in Parma. Once I arrived, I checked into the hostel that I’m staying at tonight. I don’t have plans for Parma other than doing some laundry and having dinner. Tomorrow I’ll head in the direction of Milan, where I should arrive on Friday.

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