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  • Severin Gießibl
  • Severin Gießibl

Italy

I‘m doin a solo unsupported roadtrip by bike thru italy Read more
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  • Trip start
    July 23, 2022
  • Severin GießiblItalyTraveler
    1

    II.

    July 24, 2022 in Italy 🌙 25 °C

    the most grueling bike ride of my life ended with only one puncture and a lovely coffeedate in Innsbruck

    It all started well with only 20mins of delay, Valentin did a great leadout til km 48. In Austria the pace settled and i found a good rhythm layering the first brick if what was yet to come. I found two german Gravelers who were bikepacking as well and we had some nice chats until I followed them on a gravel part of the „great“ Inn-valley bikepath..
    it was with 240kms to go that fate decided I should have my first puncture of the trip. The guys helped me because I had pump and adapter problems, actually without them I wouldn’t have suffered AND repaired the puncture 😅
    After leaving them behind gratefully, I sat down in lovely Innsbruck for having a Pizza in a nice place. It was that moment that a internet-friend of mine decided to finally answer my text I sent a werk before.. Well, we met up and it was absolutely lovely! I told her I had to leave at half past 2 to make it to Trento in daylight but when we met (for the first time), it wouldn’t matter.
    Living in Caldaro and roadbiking as well she had awesome tips for my upcoming trip, which made me forget how wonderful that moment was. After she left to not further interfere with my ETA, I just went fully en route to Trento. Considering I woke up at 7 to leave at 8 (which was 8:23) after just 4hrs of sleep because of that real good wedding party, leaving Innsbruck at km 140 of 320 at 15:23 was quite self-injuring but worth it!
    Adorably easy it felt to climb up Brennero because of the change of rhythm and the beautiful girl in mind.
    Descending from the top was pure joy, the flat residual 120km were getting more and more of a grind..
    After just 20mins of mainly water-stops and a total of 394 active mins and 322.46 kms I arrived at an old friend of mine who studies in Trento.
    I was so done there was no hunger in mind and nothing but sleep.

    https://strava.app.link/KPAmVyLWXrb    Read more

  • Severin GießiblItalyTraveler

    restday

    July 25, 2022 in Italy ☀️ 30 °C

    had a chill day out with friends, visited lago di tenno and riva del garda

    total recovery today. I was hot all night long but not because of fever but because of the non-stop heating of my body. 5 times of cold leg packing helped getting some sleep..
    then we had a chill morning with a „dolce far niente“-mindset , visited lago di tenno and riva dg and had a very lovely dinner at the lakeshore.
    Then I gained some sleep again    Read more

  • Severin GießiblItalyTraveler

    chillin out in Trento

    July 26, 2022 in Italy ⛅ 29 °C

    more of dolce far niente

    we decided to have carbonara in the evening - made by me of course
    So we went for a liscio (espresso), guanciale shopping and tryin the best gelateria in town - worth it! violet and mediterranea was my take, both amazing!

    then we had antipasti (con olive taggiasche (soo good)), aperitivo e il carbonara
    Everything took its time - which was good - and we went back to bed after a cocktail in dasq trento, which was a nice standard    Read more

  • Severin GießiblItalyTraveler

    more rest

    July 27, 2022 in Italy ☁️ 28 °C

    underestimated the power of fatigue

    took another day off doin literally nothing; folce far niente baby!
    gettin up at 2pm, visiting lago di garda at 6 to miss the last ferry, havin sprizz, caffé and later a pinot grigio to pair with male deeptalks about sad topics

    (at noon I made some sourdough ciabatta from dehydrated starter I brought with me, they were delish)    Read more

  • Severin GießiblItalyTraveler

    headstart

    July 28, 2022 in Italy ⛅ 28 °C

    I went on my own and by that started my trip

    first things first I tried an ophthalmologist just two blocks away, but he wasn’t there. what for?! An insect has flown in my right eye and left a small piece which wouldn’t move and sat right there beneath my cornea on the outer eyeball. It caused minor vision problems and discomfort when blinking as well as a accumulation of dried up tear fluid every night.
    Things like that just come and somehow don’t go, at first glance it’s not that dangerous but the moment I really wasn’t able to remove it by myself told me a lot of arising problems. I didn’t take it that seriously but then realized that a real specialist would have to remove it to not mess with my sight. In Italy there‘s only 1 such doctor per 8.000 inhabitants but which of them would remove my problem instantly when showing up? That question was to accompany a lil bit longer.

    So I said goodbye to my friends and rode to the next hospital with a emergency unit in place
    I left after a few minutes because there was many people and nothin was movin

    avanti a destinazione lago di garda

    Not as I thought but bein there with the car before didn‘t take away that adventurous character I tried and try to achieve every time I arrive with a bike at a destination

    after some bike and garda bike station problems I arrived in Brescia, nice town but somehow not seemed worth living there
    Had a nice chat with a local fruit vendor, my italian skills (at least understanding) are improving perfectly.

    After some nice Culurgiones I visited the poly-ambulance
    A nice nurse told me the Ophthalmologist is only present at daytime but I could have a bed and let the bike in a hallway at the emergency unit
    I kindly denied but felt the indecisiveness in me. After I went back to my bike which was parked right where ambulances would deliver patients (cctv‘ed) I went back inside to tell her I changed my mind because she really tried to look inside of me and offered me shelter shower and a bed which I didn’t have before
    Well-she left and only colleagues of her were present; situation was awkward so I left. I went for that range-extender (1hr extra of riding in the evening to boost total distance) but in the night already. I made it to desenzano where I thought to get shelter underneath some trees. The weather changed and caused some real problems there…
    First I thought I would be ok sleepin just out in the green with only a towel and possibly a jacket. I totally forgot my need of water to shower and wash etc.
    I gathered my now relatively wet things and checked into the next 24/7 hotel (at 0:30) , washed them and went to bed    Read more

  • Severin GießiblItalyTraveler

    ciao garda

    July 29, 2022 in Italy ⛅ 27 °C

    hottest day yet

    after too little sleep I left the more german than italian area at lago di garda for good
    I said arrivederci to garda at peschiera to just meet 20+ nationalities again in Verona which I visted as well. I‘ve been there before but I really have bad memories about being there but in the end it was a great dejà-vu with the old town.
    10km out I stopped at a supermarket for bibite freddo but they didn’t have any; a guy workin at the store said he told management many times to have cooled beverages at temperatures at nearly 40° but they didn’t concurr..
    He suggested to get ice instead and since then I used the „trick“
    I then resumed and visited Vicenza, a very nice and green city. It was there when I discovered the insect has finally left my eye on it’s own (after 5 days). Before arriving at my b&b there were 2 other very special old towns called castelfranco veneto and citadella. Somehow the names on the map called on me to pay em a quick visit; worth it! Great ancient buildings and waterways there.
    The b&b was great, a caring host con lora famiglia tutta in casa. Good to recover and write some fp ;)    Read more

  • Severin GießiblItalyTraveler

    venice baby

    July 30, 2022 in Italy ☀️ 30 °C

    another great day of big cities to visit incoming

    after a few kilometers there was Treviso to visit and hence kinda no hotel or b&b got portafilters in use I ordered un caffé in Treviso.
    No tourist in sight, I felt like an italian guy drinkin italian espresso for italian prices. Treviso is also surrounded by a river and got a nice old town as well, full of character

    next stop: venice baby
    After some 40ks in the arising heat (hitting 31°+ before 10am everyday) I found myself on a loong bridge in the ocean with a small town in sight, gettin bigger. Venice was a blast even I didn’t know that carry, pushing and riding a bike is forbidden for non-residents. The elderly of the residents made that really clear, in italian english and even german. I wasn’t sure what to make of it and went on. I thought riding was forbidden, what I‘m getting. Just prior to piazza san marco, polizia locale stopped my kindly an explained that I was in the wrong and that they have been called. At that moment I didn’t quite understand - when they saw me, I only pushed it. After ‚documenti‘ and paperwork they explained how and when I have to pay the 100€ fine. It sparked some ongoing controversies in my mind because at the moment of visiting I didn’t feel like doin some illegal stuff. But I also hate tourist not paying respect to what they visit. Never before I thought about it just because I didn’t know. Frankly, I don’t even know now what I‘ld have done to avoid that incident but visiting Venice. It came clear that the police enforces (in my mind) righteous rules of the city rightfully.
    Nevertheless I‘m thinking about not paying at all because I didn’t find it disrespectful when considering what I am doing here. I also find that a hundred euros is way too much deterrence for an awfully dumb idea when thinking about the 1000 bridges in place. Whatever - I‘ll never do it again and will try to pay more attention to such things.
    Whilst returning to the bridge I also had the first stranger-smalltalk whit a Canadian waiting for his wife and daughter to return from shopping; after I saw them returning it all made sense😅 he was nice and paid me a birra which we enjoyed talking about travel, the city’s regulations, life and my biketrip

    next city: padova
    I didn’t do a lot of research before the trip because it would have been a massive amount of gathering and then sorting information about hows and whens when I‘ve even let the dice decide my whereabouts.
    consequently I‘ve let myself inspire of apple explore maps and me literally guessing which turn to take to see adorable things. So padova is the biggest and most unexplored city by me yet.

    I then booked a kinda shady b‘nob‘ in Ferrara which was an exciting town to visit. I figured it has to be a student’s city because of the demographics of people I stumbled across. The city is a blast! Never before I‘ve seen such a uniform and lovely looking old town. Everything, I mean everything- was made of red bricks and a huge castello was lit in the night. I had a great dinner and a good drink in a very rushing bar. People were all over the place - inside’n‘out -and the 4 barkeepers tried to catch up with the incoming orders.

    buona notte    Read more

  • Severin GießiblItalyTraveler

    spacchetti bolognese

    July 31, 2022 in Italy ☀️ 23 °C

    bike problems to start the sweat (and day)

    before I left Ferrara I wanted to check on my steerer bearings because they were kinda crooked and not working properly
    It turned out that the outer ring broke multiple times (which happened before) and because of inconsiderate re-installation of myself after putting AirTags inside the frame the inner ring wasn’t flush with the outer ring. What could’ve turned out as a total desaster was actually fine, it was just a lil‘ of a mess to reassemble the broken parts and of course horrible to discover😂
    problems fixed, supermarket stop after 30k for breakfast and after 50k visiting bologna.
    Bologna - hosting the oldest continouusly running University is a beautiful town located in the heart of the also governed by Emilia–Romagna on the southern end of the Po-delta
    architecturally like Ferrara but bigger, more lively and somehow touristically attracted as well 🤓
    Of course I tried Ragú in an old-style tavern-like looking restaurant, which was good.
    For the first time of my trip I saw a group of italian cyclists, before I went direzzione Imola, the former UCI WC-host, which features a smaller but same style old town as well. It was gettin hotter and hotter and 2kgs of ice cooles my neck as I was heading to San Marino. I found a cheap Hostel there where I arrived after some very grueling inclines which featured more than 20% when saying 10%.
    Btw - did I mention I‘m riding on my big ring all day? 5 weeks ago my front derailleur malfunctioned and is now inactive after a few minutes of being in the small ring. I didn’t quite get a solution there because the actual problem seemed very electric and small
    whatever, I arrived at the very shady Hostel greeted by a weird host, who was getting angry at me for not wanting to lock my 14k bike outside. But he eventually talked me over and so I went for that awesome cable car to the top of San Marino. Awesome how that felt! In the dusk to arrive at that special location - that venice on a fortress - was so special. I really enjoyed the most beautiful evening of my trip until then just to get back to the most unpleasant stay ever🤣
    but i slept good and nothin got stolen so 👍🏼    Read more

  • Severin GießiblItalyTraveler

    mimimi

    August 1, 2022 in Italy ☀️ 30 °C

    as mentioned above, sleep was good but the overall impression of the stay didn’t leave to anything else but leaving early

    In the night I chatted with Lena, a friend from Passau, who was in the area for vacation so we decided to meet up at Rimini. Convincing as she ever was, she persuaded me to stay a night and so we drank uno, due, quindici Spritz and dived right into the adriatic sea. As I looked back, it was the first time for me feeling salt water besides sweat since nearly 3 yrs!!
    I booked a nice hotel which was really cheap for what it offered and we (she has a smaller sister as well) went to a bottega and a restaurant they liked and I do so as well! being around with two great ladies made the all-so-good evening even better. After nice talks and food we decided not to party but sleep.
    That was the most chill day out since I left Trento, 20kms total what shall I say😜    Read more

  • Severin GießiblItalyTraveler

    ciao ragazzi

    August 2, 2022 in Italy ☀️ 29 °C

    long day again

    The girls and me went out for a coffee again before they hit the playa and I went on. Ancona was my only drive-by visit with a final destination yet to determine. How come all haven cities are just ugly and dirty? There was a part of it which was lovely, the older town had a very distinctive layout of street inclines because of laying on a hill. It was there that I shot my best deal: 3,50€ for an affogato which turned out to be 4 different really good scoops of gelato and a doppio poured over it. From there I started the last third of the day’s trip to Civitanova Alta, a lovely hill-castle-town in the more rural Marche region. I arrived at the bnb which was great and a lovely host opened the gate for me. I decided to go out for dinner again and found myself in a kind of outdated interior but the food was great! olive fritte, a specialty of the region will stay on my mind🤘🏼Read more

  • Severin GießiblItalyTraveler

    arrivederci mamma

    August 3, 2022 in Italy ☀️ 29 °C

    did I mention my preferred stay is bnb?

    hotels can be cold sometimes, and hostels may be shady. When traveling alone but only traveling a always suggest bnbs.
    It was kinda hard to leave because the hostess was a master of her business and even though she spoke the least english, we had the most extensive chats.
    Same procedure as the day before, head to the only real drive-by-visit which was Pescara this time and deciding where to stay. It was a hard decision to kick Chieti out of the lists of towns I’m visiting but the accompanying elevation gain really wasn’t liked by me..
    So I searched for a further location and ended up near Lanciano, very rural and landscapewise absolutely beautiful in a hotel where I seriously wonder if there ever was another guest.
    Dinner again, great one, pasta fatto a mano in casa de Maria they said, I believed it. San Pellegrini 0,75l at 2€ is ok right;)
    right across the „street“ in the also beautiful hill-castle-like old town of Lanciano I stumbled across a fine cocktail bar and enjoyed myself and texted some fp for you guys!
    btw I am currently 1350km into the trip    Read more

  • Severin GießiblItalyTraveler

    shortest transfer yet

    August 4, 2022 in Italy ☀️ 30 °C

    hot like usual

    I passed right through molise? felt like german Saarland, no stranger knows it nor that it belongs to germany. nevertheless I had the best caffé yet in the worst and shadiest places I‘ve had coffee😂
    But it’s made a good start in the day, where I was calm and relaxed about the upcoming kms.

    two cities to dbv (drive-by-visit): Vasto e Termoli

    Both located at the adriatic coast, Vasto is laying on the hillside of a 130m high hill and looks beautiful. Termoli is right down to sea, even kind of inside with beautiful castle-like architecture there. Starting in Molise, the pattern and kind of stones used for streets in old towns changed again. very interesting. Now it’s big cobblestones.

    after that Puglia bored with looong lands of nothing. Agriculture really means something here. All filled up with either dried fields of some cereal, wine and olives of course. A little while from the shore pomodori started to show up. First time in my life to see a real italian tomato field. Lovely! I even saw them harvesting and tried one myself. San Marzano. slightly sundried in the heat. OMG. delish. I‘ve had a lot of different kinds of fruits before that weren’t half as sweet. Globalization here we go
    Really meant sth to me, as I always wanna dig to the bottom of sth I’m interested in.

    btw I forgot to mention the hookers on the all-so trucker frequented highway. Starter kit: bottle of water, perfume, a garden chair and lets go (de luxe = parasols)
    Honestly I wasn’t sure what to make of it. At least my personal exploration was honest, pure and easy to understand.
    supply and demand - shall I say more

    lots of wind powerplants as it’s the flattest region of Italy accompanied me to my destination: San Severo
    B&B, small dinner, little live music and a glass of wine following

    buona notte a voi    Read more

  • Severin GießiblItalyTraveler

    gargano

    August 5, 2022 in Italy ☀️ 31 °C

    today the hardest stage yet was planned

    I really didn’t know how my legs reacted to 204kms ft 2170m of el. gain in the heat and after what I did already
    In the end it turned out quite good but all the shifts in tempo were on on side really appreciated after all that boring and ass-soring riding in the flat and on the other side quite beneficial for cooling despite the uphill ones which weren’t that amusing.

    The Gargano, spur of the italian „boot“ is a beautifully mountainous area and national park in the north of puglia. It features lot of iconic cliffs diving right into the azzurro adriatica and a astonishing variety of plants.

    Nature was beautiful, Vieste and Peschici worth visiting, Trabucca da Mimi worth paying a visit.
    Unfortunately I didn’t spend time at the beach which sure would’ve been great as well.

    After 50k I realized I forgot/lost my only bottle.. After arriving in Foggia where I stayed for the night I luckily found a bikeshop.

    for dinner I chose the wrong restaurant, but it looked good from the outside an online.. a drink in a bar right beneath the bnb and good night. (their music was enjoyable in my room as well..)    Read more

  • Severin GießiblItalyTraveler

    halleluja

    August 6, 2022 in Italy ☀️ 31 °C

    lately before leaving home, my dad was calling my trip a journey of a hero (a journey where the core achievement lays above and beyond)
    well today seemed to be the day with the most quests. I don’t even know where to start so let’s say in the morning
    caffé va bene, forgot to remove the sheets in the bnb I put there as a silencer but I slept good btw
    the first inconvenience was the bnb manager who I never spoke to or saw but texted on whatsapp telling me quite directly at 9:45 via text: „Check out must to done within hours 9.30“ I then blocked him and don’t even know if I paid or not😂 but yeah.
    starting the day on the bike with discussing with my mom what my great-aunt got wrong again and rolling the first kms
    I didn’t even realize I was riding uphill but I indeed was. when invading Troia (yes my course went straight through a town called like that) I sat down for a quick coffee and told the waiter when steppin by „un caffé affogato per favore“ 30mins of nothing. „arrivo“ another waitress hsouted to me. another 5mins later he came and asked what I wanted. So we discussed what they’re able to provide and then I ordered. Shakerato it should‘ve been. 10mins of nothing. 2mins after that I decided to leave but didn’t know what I left for. Imagine yourself on the most remote and rural place in the very heat of pugliese summer with bushfires here and there. I had a very very strange feeling about the atmosphere because on the one hand it was utterly peaceful and somehow beautiful but to an extent that felt frightening when considering the scorching heat up to 47°C.
    I said to myself I‘ld kill myself if I‘ld punctured. The route felt like a thing to master and I was respectful to it from the beginning. climbing went surprisingly well and I wasn’t even that slow going up nearly 1000m in kinda one go.
    after taking out my phone the hundredths time I missed a pothole and was like hey do you lose air or don’t you please!
    well.
    fixing a tire in that heat was like repairing a car in Sahara at zenith..
    I can’t even describe what I had to fix and bodge to get a solution and what seemed-minor problems brought me there.
    In the end I came up with a emergency solution: tying a knot in the tube. Did work a few rotations before it lost pressure but not til 0 but 2bar or so. way too low for 108kgs and that kind of streets and terrain

    I then looked for help (in the middle of nowhere and thought some peasant should have a pump) and found a house which looked promiscuous. I then tried to explained that I actually had a problem which didn’t look like it because of the 2bar
    After I managed that with hands, feet and google translate a friend of the guy I met first came out. He unpacked a new car tyre pump for 12V use and then I was only left explaining that I have an adapter with me.
    The other guy was watching and shortly after asked if I wanted a bicchiere di vino and I said si.
    I thanked them multiple times before I went on for the more than 100kms and 2000m of el gain left.
    As I was getting deeper and deeper into rural areas the quality of the streets heavily declined. At some streets with -20% and non distinguible surfaces called street I feared a lot.
    I even invented a new classification scale for street quality in Italy naming quite good a street where you potentially could avoid all potholes🤣

    the upcoming inclines were brutal. I once did more than 600W for 7kph at 45C
    I thought I was gonna burst
    I felt lost and wouldn’t know if it ever got better. water supply was also a topic and my mobile also couldn’t drain because I didn’t even book a stay for the night.
    Somehow I managed to pull me through that phase despite being quite focused, calm and goal-oriented. But the lil boy in me was screeeaming!
    Maybe that was the force working from that moment?
    My legs felt sore really quickly because doin that power outputs at no cooling and less than 50rpm really hurt

    somewhere after I decided to change the route because I was really doubting the total el gain would match the one komoot indicated. (In the end I had 1000m more despite changing the route)
    I then chose a strada statale and didn’t care about extra kms but diminishing el gain as well. The other qualities were street quality and navigability. good choice right there. I couldn’t even take the drastically changing nature around me - so tired I was.
    From dried up fields ft bushfires to beautifully green nature around the more mountainous area of campania where I went to. A shift in cultivation also fell in place. Didn’t see much wine, but a lil olives and arisingly more mandorle and nocciole.

    another thing I realized, the greenness had to mean something to the climate as well… at some point all my clothes were just a lil wet and I started to get that temperature slowly trickled but humidity more than doubled. I’m really not adapted to 40° AND 90% lets see what tomorrow brings.
    Rolling down later to Salerno was good, biking felt fun again.
    passing Mercato San Severino before approaching the bnb and shopping some beverages for lowering total costs.

    After the check-in his credit card device didn’t work first and then all my cards got declined and I wasn’t even able to make a bank transaction because my PhotoTan app somehow wasn’t activated (not good btw)
    suddenly when paying wirelessly with my iPhone it worked:)
    After having snacked twice since riding, I wasn’t even down for dinner anymore so I did some citystrolling around Salerno which is nice and went to a bar.
    good night    Read more

  • Severin GießiblItalyTraveler

    cazzo

    August 7, 2022 in Italy ☀️ 32 °C

    beautiful start in the day, I knew it was a day to enjoy.

    Costiera Amalfitana is just amazing. Views were stunning, cars weren’t that fast, everything was just nice and I captured the moment so I had no interest in rushing. I couldn’t even take enough photos of the coast.. too beautiful

    after a quick stop to adjust my breakpads for even wear, I went into a lovely descent. Soon I realized there‘s changed something. So I stopped and evaluated the problem. I was losing air at front and my already broken lower headset bearing (yes I mean broken; outer ring) somehow got worse. I recompressed it and went on. after a tunnel the following cities were just awfully ugly and dirty and I wasn’t so happy anymore. In Torre del Greco, just some 10k from my destination Naples away, I punctured. Some piece of wire managed to punch through. I was angry but focused like before. Deep down I felt some miscomfort and was really lacking confidence. After hours of trying to fix it with the help of lots of other people there was no solution. An old man, knowing no thing about bikes, even brought me a bowl and some water to distinguish the holes; not even that was successful. He then brought me to the nearest stazione and gave me a ticket. I was happy and thanked him multiple times before the train took off to Napoli.
    Being sure now I would make it to my upfollowing reservation I wasn’t feeling great at all. Those multiple times of severe bad luck were held up in my stomach and let me think a loong time. I wasn’t really sure if I’m gonna make it to Rome where I already booked sth for the upcoming day. Keeping in mind that It‘ld be the longest transfer in italy for me (230k) I was very unsure of everything. There is no thing like „Stadler“ in italy and somehow they don’t care about bikes in bigger cities which is ironic because I actually had a feeling of safety about it because it’s a big city and they have to have everything right? This feeling of safety decreased after trying to look for help. Strava, Facebook, Instagram, Google maps.. hours of searching but in the end I asked a fellow bike rider in the night while I was trying to visit the city and not thinking about the problems for too long. He suggested a place which should have everything I need! I was thankful, patched my remaining tires and was gonna look for a pump (mine doesn’t work for that valve length and my adapter doesn’t work anymore)
    But I also had an adapter to car valves which came in more than handy for the second time in two days(!)

    good night and wish me luck..    Read more

  • Severin GießiblItalyTraveler

    dolce vita roma

    August 8, 2022 in Italy ☀️ 32 °C

    what a day again…

    like mentioned before, first thing in the morning was to pump the patched tubes (their valves were too short for my pump, additionally the O-ring responsible for holding built up pressure wore down that much that it only works up to 3bar)
    So I went to the next small gas station where Google streetview let me recognize they’re having an water/air station as well. All good, breakfast and andiamo by bike to the small bikestore I figured out. It didn’t look like he‘ld have what I‘ld need because it was that small. But he got it, even a good price and so I went plunging myself into napoletian traffic-nervewracking, confidence-building and concentration-training it was.
    after hitting a small truck with my knuckles when passing and high-fiving a child whose car I passed at the right with like no space at all to just make us two smile there was only 200km left to rome. I then discovered some movement in my rearhub and wasn’t sure how it‘ld hold up so after talkin to a sram worker I was confident again about it holding up.
    Some 40ks later after re-pumping twice at local „gommistas“ (tire vendors) there was no way for my front tire to survive so I changed it at the next gommista.
    From that moment I was looking at things like that as a small quest, challenge or whatever you may call it. This „above and beyond“ call for action really changed my perspective about how to look at and then handle problems. I also had to think about Helmut Stadler who once replied to me: ‚we don’t have problems; we‘re offering solutions !‘ that really made me think

    Then I realized my original booking in Rome which also made me rush to rome in the first place got cancelled because they weren’t available for further hosting. So I searched for another one and I found one which closed reception at 8pm..

    All good, mood was up and focused; 140 to go.
    Gaeta looked like the most beautiful city on the „open“ coast I saw yet.
    some kilometers further up the road I reached the loong straight of Via Appia. I somehow felt like I‘ve heard of that before and from then on my 5th grade latin teacher wouldn’t stop talkin in my head😅
    Actually it’s been the longest straight I‘ve ever ridden or seen, very beautifully covered by pine trees, but somehow boring to ride😂

    At growing concerns about my steerer bearings and decreasing steerability I‘ve decided to stop and try to fix it at a fruit vending farm on the side of the road. I asked for a peach and got it for free, later also some watermelon which was foraged just some meters away.
    I then discovered a crack in my headtube right before I found out the outer ring of my lower steerer bearing now broke into 3 pieces…

    Being focused as before, I put the broken pieces back together and because there’s no space to expand, it kept its position and even worked better than before - man that was a feeling! Also the clamp-the-crack-through-lowering-the-stem hack worked fine.

    With all those problems fixed I felt wonderful and the last 15k‘s pushing harder again into Rome really revived me and filled me with joy.

    I was super happy having made it to Rome which felt like a real pre-destination.

    Check in went easy after I told the lady why I was late and then I enjoyed at least an hour of rental-e-bike touring through rome with stops for Pinsa, Carbonara and a drink.    Read more

  • Severin GießiblItalyTraveler

    restare senza fine

    August 9, 2022 in Italy ☀️ 31 °C

    not really,

    It was a short night but I slept as long as I could. Then I went searching for the parts I wanted to buy before anything worsens too much. I went to a bearing store, communicating before was hard and so they only had one typ of which I asked for, the ones fitting my rear wheel. The lower steerer bearing only was available at a Trek bikestore, located at another end of the autostrada circumfering rome. In total I rode 51kms what I didn‘t wanna do and until now spent 60€ on my bike. Having bought/been gifted 3 80mm roadbike tires, 2 rw bearings (SKF), 1 st bearing, valve extensions, 2 patching kits, a barely used spare tire and a new (but not fitting) O-ring for my pump it sounds veery little.

    I was also not amused about how much time all of that took away from my only full day in Rome ever and only restday in a long time.

    A thing I learned is to ask for help regarding small things as well as you would ask for bigger things. It also felt great getting support from strangers, seemed like they received a „above and beyond“ call for action as well.

    The rest of the day I enjoyed Vatican City, Rome, a Piadina, bruschetta , All‘amatriciana, gelato again and a drink with colosseum views.    Read more

  • Severin GießiblItalyTraveler

    bellissima

    August 10, 2022 in Italy ☀️ 28 °C

    what a day again!!

    leaving Roma with a smiling and a crying eye because I really felt the density of things happening/known to having happened here and was overwhelmed enough to stay another day but I‘ve decided against it. It really is a remarkable city with soo much still-existent buildings not to forget the holy see and the powerful institution governed by it. Think of their net worth for once..

    As I left, I never really got running but that didn’t matter because there was 200km with 2500m of el gain to go.
    Halfway through I stopped for affogato and mint-granita, my new favorite ho cycling-stop combination ft caffeine, sugars and freshness through lemon or sometimes mint.
    The area got lonelier and lonelier so it was also getting harder to keep going just as temperatures increased as well. I came across a beautiful lake where again mostly Italians went on vacation for and somehow I liked that places more.

    It kept getting harder as last minute navigating increased as - being in tuscany - strade bianche really happen more often than you think..

    So I went for a even shorter and flatter route to stumble across a destroyed bridge. luckily I was able to walk across the river-bed as it was dried out.
    Some 500m of climbing in the end to finish a hard and long day were kind a hard but absolutely rewarding because when I made it to the top I found myself in the most beautiful hill-town I’ve ever been where eventually at that exact day a wine fest was going on!
    I checked into my castle-like hotel which was decorated lovely and went out.
    to say the rest: 🥂🍝🍷🥘    Read more

  • Severin GießiblItalyTraveler

    fill in title here

    August 11, 2022 in Italy 🌙 20 °C

    after a good night’s sleep I‘ve rolled down the hill I climbed up the day before which actually is something very rewarding.
    The route I planned was rather flat and a dbv of Arrezzo, which hosts a beautiful castle-style city centre where I also ate some gnocchi and ossobucco.
    Then I contacted a guy via Warmshowers, an app a friend recommended to me which is a cyclist-to-cyclist hosting platform. Even though it‘s been very short notice, he offered me a bed and dinner for the upcoming night at Firenze. I was happy and rolled to town where I spent the afternoon rolling my bike through the city to visit, sightsee and try local dishes before arriving at Leonardo‘s appartment.
    At first I‘ve felt a bit unsure because that guy looked like just having crawled out if a cave.. Upstairs I met the other 4 guys he hosted, 2 couples of total cultural mixing. one afghan-born who met his girl in Montreal and now riding to Venice starting in Nice, a peruvian who met his St. Petersburg-girl on the internet wanting to gain italian citizenship because he’s got ancestors (italy is the only country that approves that way for gaining citizenship) and is now just hanging around while she is working remotely. While having dinner and getting to know each other it turned out Leonardo also hosted a third couple from Spain and he also speaks spanish and quite good but extremely bad pronunciated english.
    Falling to bed because I really needed more rest after the long ride the day before..    Read more

  • Severin GießiblItalyTraveler

    again no incidents?!

    August 12, 2022 in Italy ⛅ 23 °C

    todays breakfast by kind host Leonardo was an italian one. He explained: an italian breakfast consists of either 1 coffee and a cookie, a tea and a cookie, no coffee 1 cookie, no tea 1 cookie, 1 coffee no cookie, 1 tea no cookie or nothing at all.
    so I ordered the obligatory „coffee“ but yea, he’s a great guy but it’s really been no hotel. hygiene and tidyness was a thing as well. I liked to think if the people who know me threw their worst prophecies about my future together, thats what I‘ld be like.
    So him crossing my path resembles what I should not become!

    Nevertheless, my real good italian breakfast took place at my first dbv of the day, Prato. 3,70€ for good espresso and 2 filled sweet treats 🤌🏻🤌🏻
    Pistoia was also not that special, but Lucca was. great old town inside medieval castle walls, nice churches all over the place.
    Pisa offered the same experience but with a leaning tower as we all know. great. been there.

    Now onto the next loong stretch of beach, at Viareggio. complete homecountry-tourism area as well as south of Rimini at the adriatic.

    finally the seashore featured cliffs again to act as a glance of what I‘ll be seeing tomorrow and I arrived in THE italian Navy town of the west coast, La Spezia. shortly after the city border naval ships looking like at least destroyers greeting me, so great. I‘ve been a military fan since a long time but just recently discovered a series which I love (the last ship) so finally seeing a biig naval ship felt like a topping on the cake.

    La Spezia is beautiful and just the beginning of la cinque terre, which I‘ll enjoy tomorrow.
    After looking for a place to eat and everywhere getting told they‘re full despite they weren’t, I hit up gmaps again and fund a superb looking, modern, chic and well-lit restaurant offering awesome-looking food as well. I called, asked for a table (in italiano) and é voila, I was in.
    Great food, real good atmosphere, awesome interior, delightful ambiente and professional and kind staff.

    Good enough for closing what feels like my last dinner because I don’t expect much of Genova (yes I like haven cities🤥) and reaally wanna go home again, but by bike, respectfully.

    buona notte    Read more

  • Severin GießiblItalyTraveler

    thought-to-be best part of the journey

    August 13, 2022 in Italy ⛅ 22 °C

    the lack of hospitality made me leave the rental room in La Spezia very quick. same procedure as everyday, this time climbing from the start but whilst seeing naval ships so that was ok. I kind of didn’t wanna do it anymore but more than that I wanna go home so there’s that. I didn’t enjoy Cinqueterre that much because the flora seemed to be the usual italian within-autostrada-roundabout and no real foresty one. that changed when the streets went higher after the first part - which felt more like a rainforest but with mediterranean flora - and a lovely scatterly-arranged pine forest became the main player.
    Climbing still wasn’t enjoyable, riding downhill was neither because of the degrading rear tire and front brake pads. flat parts were unexpectedly few this time.. just before the longest straight a young local passed me by bike and I sat in his slipstream before we had a chat and were continuing together.
    We parted ways as he nearly arrived and I continued to Portofino. Most beautiful small marina town I ever saw and potentially there is.
    Went for Trofie al Pesto, for a quick swim and a coffee before going on to Genova. ups and downs in the route at least made me push a little more. When approaching from the east, Genova looks quite good actually with all the big appartment houses located on the hillside facing different directions and featuring diverse colors.
    Then I found my Hostel for the night which was rather expensive (91€) but it turned out really good. On my room I met two german girls who are currently Inter-railing around. We had a nice chat about traveling and the city before she told me she once did MUC-VEN by feet😱. That was crazy to hear, big goals that family must’ve set for themselves. I told her that I was just passing by Venetia on my 4th stage whilst it took them 4 weeks.
    Then I searched for a good local dinner, found it and made it back home absolutely food-drunk. My belly was about to burst as I had a pre-dinner sandwich with supermarket ingredients.
    So I fell into bed and was to tired to even get this one out and ready.    Read more

  • Severin GießiblItalyTraveler

    big day

    August 14, 2022 in Italy ⛅ 18 °C

    allora, today I‘m going to the holiday domicile of my great-aunt

    sleep was good, the other guys in my shared room were complete lie-abeds.. so I tried stayin as calm as possible when leaving for breakfast which was nice and featured a portafilter coffee option (included but otherwise 0,90€😍😍😍!) and the best bread I‘ve had in this country and packing up for leaving again. In total 91€ was worth it; very central, good atmosphere, modern and clean environment, breakfast and welcome drink inc.
    But I as late as ever, 9:51 instead of 9am. But I never rushed things because that’s just not the vibe and could result in forgetting sth or other troubles so here we go. Riding by a ceremony which also hosted a 4-star admiral who was just 1.5m from me felt special in the morning. First quest: 430m above sea level. Easy going, little sweat and looots of bikers (un- &motorized) going the other direction promised a beautiful scenery and roads to ride on. It turned out that way and after the top roads were declining juust a little bit. Awesome. That part felt so great. Little bit of tailwind, nice. Good progress was made there. My parents contacted me the night before telling me they would stop by Milano when travelling from france to switzerland, and knew I was somehow around as well. So we decided to meet up which made me do the first 160k to milano in one go, which was working quite well considering I‘ve had some hard and especially long days in the saddle.
    I made it to the beautiful city and we met up, my mum gave me some extra clothing for the colder days being an extra tshirt and long pants.
    We had a coffee before they left and I furtherly discovered the must-sees of the city.
    Then I started the second part of the day - 100kms with a 500m mountain finish to the house where I‘ld stay a few nights to relax, reconsider life thoughts and just take a breath of fresh mountainous lake air.
    That was easy as well, whilst rolling along Lago Maggiore when a car pulled up next to my, sayin in german: „You’re Severin right? You’re doin italy by bike huh?“ I didn’t even get his name and didn’t recognize him. It felt like a strangers push of motivation in a bike race but out in the open, so good.
    climbed up the last hill in the night with no street lights and even without paving for the last few hundred meters. But hell yea, I made it:)

    cooked some diy pasta and fell to bed

    Time to relax and think, getting back to you all on friday. (urgencies=📞)

    bye    Read more

  • Severin GießiblItalyTraveler

    think week

    August 18, 2022 in Italy 🌧 20 °C

    Beginning with the arrival on 14.8. I spent my days in Miazzina, a beautiful small mountainous village where I had the chance to stay at my grand-aunts house which was located at the top end of the village resulting in a wonderful view across the Lago Maggiore where I stayed until 18.8.

    I was just cooking, thinking and avoiding social media for the time being and enjoyed it very much.

    It was great for having a look back and creating my resumèe.

    Some thoughts are still unfinished, but the resolved ones will create some change and deliver some new energy and points of attack in my life.

    I also went for a sunrise-hike which was planned but spontaneously executed but turned out astonishing.

    On the next day, 19.8. I continued riding home.    Read more

  • Severin GießiblItalyTraveler

    Traversing the alps

    August 19, 2022 in Italy ☁️ 24 °C

    After not spending a single second pedalling for the last 4 days, I didn’t really know what to expect coming out of my legs. Starting quite late because I’ve only found a warm showers host at Chur who worked til half past 9, the first thing paving my way to beautiful Switzerland was a burst tire. was focused again, started looking for a gas station/gommista whatever had a compressor because I’ve had no trust in my kinda broken pump. After some unfriendly car vendors tried to tell me their repair shops were closed (unfortunately it’s already been noon) whilst only asking for using the compressor once, I found a gas station whose chain already let me pump my tire. So I asked kindly but yea, same thing, chiuso...
    I asked twice because the tube just began to pop out. She rejected and told me where I could find another gas station which features a compressor for self-use. Next to McDonalds, she said. I asked, `certo?!´, she replied sure, they got like 2-3 apparati. Well, I trusted her because she looked like having been there often, so I began changing to running shoes, and ran to that gas station.
    When I arrived, Chiusa. Just self-gas and pumping only when open, 1 compressor and it would’ve even cost 1€ for pumping your tires by yourself….. Gas prices huh?
    So I began asking locals and they wouldn’t know a station around either. I was angry about the bad intel I got and like before started to increase only self-trust and reliability. But the friendly local I met there suggested, that at that station there should be people coming by carrying a pump. Great idea!
    So I even got to ask Germans with Roadbike’s on the back of their car but they hadn’t even got co2 with them and no pump…
    The next ones, a family in a caravan from Munich then saved me, great. German reliability even helps you out in Italy!
    Afterwards I finally started riding and decided to go with one stop to San Bernardino, the alpine pass to cross. I did that in Tessin, the Italian part of Switzerland. No change of languages but of infrastructural investments meaning street quality and so on.
    Ordering caffè was the same but different in price… what’ld cost me 2,40€ in Italy now changed to 5,70CHF……..

    The weather kinda stayed calm, I’ve really had concerns about that when traversing 200k via the alps especially when having to go A to B with no safe place known somewhere along the way.

    Climbing started out real good, 1800m in height difference were to be surmounted to the day´s highest point. As the street inclined, temperatures declined. It was really stressful for my knees which by then did 1.5hrs of continuous effort at 300W and 55rpm at 9°C.

    The downhill was even more challenging because of rain and coldness and all that windchill. So I decided to go the quicker and less stressful way down there - the Autobahn. Yep, in Switzerland.
    That was a tough decision but I did it in great faith because of already knowing I won’t even make it to Chur before sunset. So I did and it‘s been a good decision because I was way quicker and also needed way less concentration and the warmer tunnels were a great bonus against the cold and wet zigg-zaggy roads.    Read more