Rio Claro - Napoli

Up at 6:00 and rolling, it's not even cold. It feels like I didn't get a lick of sleep so I am thinking I will probably meet a nap midday. Sperlonga is a ancient hamlet on a rock overlooking two bays, discovered it has been cleaned up and is probably fairly touristy. It's well organized and clean.

In Gaeta, the next town, I pass an Italian on his mountain bike, but he catches back up and we start a really nice conversation in broken English since I haven't learned Italian yet. He shows me around Gaeta's buildings on the rock. It's a fairly large city but it's nice.

As I continue riding further south and start approaching Napoli things change. The landscape becomes flat, the buildings monotonous and then they become third world like bombed out structures. I'm astonished at how Italy, a major European country can let this much real estate go to waste.

A great lunch on the beach makes up for my slightly depressed mood. As I get closer to Napoli I get into traffic and there are lots of Vespas passing cars, against the traffic, splitting the lanes. I know this trick from learning to ride my motorcycle in the south of France. It doesn't take me but a second to hop on the Vespas tail and cruise along with them. A 100km of mellow riding has my body ready for sprints. There is a concert at the football stadium and I imagine that most of these young kids are going there. The whole thing is exhilarating. On a short steep hill I have to pull off a quick shift while engaging my pedals and I hear a crunch by the derailleur. At first I had thought that I stretched the cable, but after adjusting it turned out that I might have bent the derailleur. I limp into town, The inner city is much nicer than the outlying areas.

At the hostel there is no parking so actually have to park my bike into a car parking garage and pay 10 euros. That's a first!Read more