Exactly two years ago...
...I (well, we!) cycled to San Marino. Was an adventure, I must admit since only two days ago we paid €250 fine at Slovenia/Croatia border for forgetting Julia's passport at home (which pretty much ruined our plans for the vacation, so we re-planned everything sitting in the car and roamed to Rimini, which was never the plan).
But, first of all, it was great fun. Seeing the receptionist's face in the hotel, when I asked if there is any document check on the border between Italy and San Marino, – oh, well, priceless. Replying back to him that we are cycling there, not driving and receiving another reply "Oh, no, nobody cares about cyclists there" – good!
Seeing police at the border itself, observing cycling traffic without any interest more than paying attention to bike colours, – well, this one was thrilling! One of us travelling without documents, ha-ha!
We had also a few learnings from that ride.
First of all, trusting OSM as good as I do in Germany won't work that well in Italy, since it will lead you, occasionally, to hit massive loose stones with your road beauty and skinny 25 mm tyres. Side note for gravel fans: no, only enduro bike will do there, get lost. And the tarmac... well, I'd prefer tubeless and 28 mm wide tyres there.
Second: the spirit of adventure is priceless. Yes, trusting my Garmin to do a route I will occasionally hit gradients over 15%, other time it will be 60 km instead of 40 (Switzerland). Just another type of fun, although knowing the road ahead you know where to push and where to relax.
Third, but the main in fact, will come to me later. It's always very meditative to cycle alone, but having someone with you will be just marvellous.
And... well, espresso was amazing!
But, first of all, it was great fun. Seeing the receptionist's face in the hotel, when I asked if there is any document check on the border between Italy and San Marino, – oh, well, priceless. Replying back to him that we are cycling there, not driving and receiving another reply "Oh, no, nobody cares about cyclists there" – good!
Seeing police at the border itself, observing cycling traffic without any interest more than paying attention to bike colours, – well, this one was thrilling! One of us travelling without documents, ha-ha!
We had also a few learnings from that ride.
First of all, trusting OSM as good as I do in Germany won't work that well in Italy, since it will lead you, occasionally, to hit massive loose stones with your road beauty and skinny 25 mm tyres. Side note for gravel fans: no, only enduro bike will do there, get lost. And the tarmac... well, I'd prefer tubeless and 28 mm wide tyres there.
Second: the spirit of adventure is priceless. Yes, trusting my Garmin to do a route I will occasionally hit gradients over 15%, other time it will be 60 km instead of 40 (Switzerland). Just another type of fun, although knowing the road ahead you know where to push and where to relax.
Third, but the main in fact, will come to me later. It's always very meditative to cycle alone, but having someone with you will be just marvellous.
And... well, espresso was amazing!
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