Italy

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 nightEn savoir plus