Spending a day with Monte Amiata ⛰️ -
On a recent trip to Italy, I decided to tackle the "highest peak of southern Tuscany": Monte Amiata.
I planned the route in advance because internet wasn't something to take for granted where we stayed. When I planned it I wasn't even sure if I would go through with it, if riding 106km and 2660m of altitude on my own was something I wanted to do, when I could also lie under an olive tree, reading and dozing.
But the Monte is such an imposing sight in that region, it's almost impossible to resist the urge to say: "That's were I want to be!"
So one morning, I got up early to beat the midday heat (I failed), chomped down some muesli and headed out. The roads in Tuscany are something I really learned to love, not many cars and always breathtaking scenery. The morning sun bathed everything in a beautiful light, the temperature was not too high yet and I felt in cycling paradise.
After about 20km, the climbing started, with some descents sprinkled in. One of them on a road with perfect asphalt that led over a long kind of rigde, sloping on both sides. While I was speeding down the road, looking left and right trying to take in the amazing views I realized that I had to hold my handlebars real tight because of changing winds from left and right. Unfortunately, no picture was taken as I was so caught up in the experience (a recurring theme).
After 40km, the largest continuous climb began, with a length of 12km and around 800m of altitude. While the previous climbs did have some steeper sections now and then, this long one was almost exclusively below 12%, mostly below 10%. It's mostly wooded, so not that many amazing views, but in the rising heat I was more than happy for that tradeoff.
What I love about this kind of climb, and generally about climbing on a roadbike is the groove you get into, this single objective that guides all your actions. Sure, the mind wanders and you have to pay attention to cars and bumps in the street. But the entire time you are working towards that goal, your body is pushing you up the road. And you are surrounded by nature, seeing, breathing and hearing it continuously.
At some point, I even heard a grunt and a snort in the underbrush, looked to the right and saw a boar standing there and looking at me go.
When I got to the top I had suppressed the urge to eat a granola bar for a while in the hopes of finding a place selling pasta. But I made it and I found such a place. I got a small Peroni and Pici Aglione (Tuscan hand rolled pasta with tomato and garlic sauce), followed by a 'caffè'. Tasted amazing.
Unfortunately, the "top" you can reach by roadbike is not really the top of Monte Amiata. In order to get to the top, a cyclist with clipless pedals would have to push his bike (that he would not want to leave unattended) very very awkwardly up a rather rocky and rather steep path.
After having enjoyed the meal and the top, I rolled downhill for half an hour and lost 1300 meters of altitude. That was fun! But it went by so fast!
The lower I got the smaller the streets were - until at some point I found myself on the worst kind of path that one can imagine on a road bike. Somehow Komoot was under the impression that this was a normal road.
I had to get off the bike and push it through the coarse gravel for about half an hour. This included crossing a little stream that just flowed right over the path.
And then, having finally found asphalt again there was another surprise: the street I needed to take was closed. An italian gentleman told me that the Giro d'Italia Femminile was going to pass here soon and nobody was allowed on the road.
For a second I was annoyed, as that meant that I was getting home much later than anticipated. But then I realized that this was a pretty great coincidence and an opportunity for me to see such an event in real life.
And while I had to wait 45 minutes until the first cyclists arrived and another 45 minutes until the last cyclists had passed and the route was unblocked it was a pretty cool experience.
After this involuntary pause, there were 30 more kilometres left. At the beginning I was elated, driving on the same route as the pros. But then it got later and later, the route dragged on and my knee started hurting. The last climb was pretty tough, even though the slopes were very gentle.
When I arrived at our place I was exhausted and a bit worried about my knee - but most of all felt like having lived through a great adventure. I remembered the boar, the endless climb, the river crossing and the race I got to watch. Some views of the day passed by my inner eye.
In the end, days like this are the ones that I remember longest, the ones that I think of on cold and rainy days and the ones that I hope for when I put my bike on the street and clip in.
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