Bike Lights

 There SHALL be light!

Decreed the Italian infrastructure minister in his new national vehicle code. Front and rear, on all the time. So we bought some of these to try. We already have some of those tiny, rubbery things that use the watch batteries but something a bit larger and rechargeable seemed a better idea.

Zio's never believed lights made any difference in the daytime, despite the "saved my life" proclamations from users, but now we have no choice. Not that the law is going to be strictly enforced but if someone runs us over at least they can't claim they didn't see us because we weren't following the law!

NOBODY ever says they SAW the cyclist they've just hit/killed, do they? That would make them a homicidal maniac rather than just some jerk too busy looking as his/her cell phone instead of where the hell they're going. Despite the fact cyclist/pedestrians are rarely at-fault, it seems the decisions are always very lenient for the motorists. It's illegal to talk on a cell phone (you have to use a hands-free setup) but nobody we know has ever seen the law enforced. Our experience is that most of the time there are issues, it's because the driver was paying more attention to the phone than the road.

So now we'll enjoy all the motorists who don't run us over, don't challenge our right-of-way and generally behave much better as the light users would have us believe. Heck, they might stop honking the horn (bells are now required on bikes too) or yelling at us to get outta the way?

Cycling in Italy still seems far safer than in the USA, both of us were involved in collisions with automobiles during our cycling lives there. So far, much better luck here though with this bike-hater in-charge of things for how much longer? Most pro cycling teams do their winter training in Spain these days where they find the roads much safer. Why can't Italy do whatever they're doing?

Does anyone think there will be a bike lane on the bridge the Italian infrastructure guy wants to build to connect Sicily to the mainland? He doesn't even like cities to set low speed limits (though they work) to reduce cycling and pedestrian injuries caused by motorists.

But we'll comply with the law and cross our fingers.

Lights arrived. We got these tiny ones with rubber band type mounts, but Zio didn't like the space the headlight used-up on the handlebar nor threading the rubber band through the loop sewn onto the seat pack so...

Some changes were needed. A section of an old handlebar was attached under the stem so the rubber band light can easily be hidden out of the way. Other than an ugly zip-tie around the stem, it's all good.

Out back another section of old handlebar was cut-up, leaving a long tab to insert into the loop sewn onto the seat pack. Both of these schemes allow the lights to be easily removed for charging or to use on other bikes.

ETNA 2025

 Volcanic Fun!

Yep, exactly what we were thinking. Time for a break.

So we rented a car from a place right on the island, making driving here not subject to the daily restrictions and blasted-off towards ETNA, figuring a hotel at 6000 feet would let us sleep with the windows open and enjoy riding around, even if the choice is UP (really up!) or DOWN (really down!) The Giro d'Italia finished here and we'd been here another time or two, but never with bicycles and since we brought e-bikes, the "really up!" should be OK. We were already prepared for the "really down!"

We reserved a room at Corsaro Hotel, just a bit away from the tourist chaos (we weren't the only ones trying to get out of the heat) a place VERY bike-friendly as you can see where they let you park your bike! They say this was Michele Scarponi's choice of lodging when he came up here to train, the desk man claiming Scarponi had called to reserve a room just one day before he was tragically killed. Close enough to the craters we could hear the rumbling and one night see the glow of hot lava shooting in the sky. And they have the BEST breakfast ever!

Gravel bikes were OK on the road of course (with slicks) and OK for unpaved roads and even some covered in volcanic ash/sand, as long as it wasn't too deep. Zio Lorenzo had new respect for those 'cross riders racing across sandy beaches, somehow with just 33 mm tires vs the 38's we were sporting!

Trail maps are everywhere but the trails weren't crowded and everyone we encountered was friendly. No anti-bike sentiment here! The roads going up and down are marked with warning signs that cyclists are using these roads for training, though we were just having fun.

The lava behind Zio is new, just 6 months ago this trail was open.

We DID play around some the paved roads a bit, riding up (and down) to Rifugio Sapienza from down below at another hotel before it was time to pack up and call Zio Lorenzo's 70th birthday week complete. But not before a stop at our favorite wine maker - PUGLISI to restock for the rest of the summer. We HAD a car after all!

Catching up with April

Blog Update

Zio's MV e-gravel bike

April? Who is April? Is she related to Art?, Nah, but how long has it been since this blog's been updated? That's too long!

March was hell. Heather went to Greece to do some academic projects after our 35th wedding anniversary celebration in Rome while Zio Lorenzo went back home and enjoyed riding his bike...until he didn't.

Why? Turns out he was having some sort of A-FIB issues. By the time Heather came back he could barely make it up the stairs! WTF? We turned on Zio's fitness tracker's warning feature and sure enough, it showed A-FIB. Yikes! Kind of explains a few things, like back when he first bought the MV bike he couldn't get out of his own way a time or two, but a few days of rest seemed to fix it. Same problem?

Not this time! An appointment was made with a private cardio doc and some tests run. Doc wanted more tests so we had those done too. All this privately at amazingly low cost compared to the USA's so-called healthcare system. A short-term monitoring gizmo was installed as well. Results made doc want more tests so we did those too.

Some meds were prescribed along with follow-up visit, but Zio again was so tired he could barely make it up the stairs OR even do a short bike ride down to fill the drinking water bottles. WTF? A call to the doc who says come to ER now, so we called a taxi rather than a noisy ambulance.

ER docs take a look and say "CODE RED!" Yikes! Needles and tubes follow along with EKG, etc. before he's admitted to the hospital's cardio ward. Next day they decide to shock him, sort of a "CTRL-ALT-DEL" thing where they sort-of turn you off, then back on again, hoping the restart will put things back in order. Not fun and afterwards they weren't satisfied it had worked.

So it's ablation time! If you've read The Haywire Heart you know the drill: They shove a sort-of medical soldering iron up into your heart through a vein in your leg and burn the short-circuits there that cause the A-FIB, all while you lay there semi-awake on the table. Not fun.

After two hours of torture they said they'd found and fixed things. Zio's outta the hospital the next day, noting the cost of having this done in the USA system is $25-$100K. Yikes!

Now that it's April finally he's been back on the shopping bike and yesterday on the sporty bike (the one in the photo) for a hour of low-effort fun. Woo and hoo!

This weekend's Paris-Roubaix so a bit of his own riding and watching others in the Hell of the North do their own. Updates as time goes by, so watch this space.

Home Improvement

 Art in the House

"Who is Art, and why is he in your house?" We mean this kind of art.

Art like this

And this

On the walls of our kitchen

Made by this guy.

We'd seen his work all over the island and said over and over, "Someday we'll get him to make something for our house."

A few weeks back we walked past his studio and saw the door open, so in we went to find him painting a wine barrel. Heather explained what we wanted, which were strips like in the photos to put on our kitchen walls. We'd seen other examples but he had nothing on-hand.

We asked about painting boards we brought and he said no problem and even told us where to buy some and how much to pay!

After a recent storm we'd seen some driftwood washed-up just below his studio, so we dragged him outside to look down there, asking if some driftwood like that would be OK?

"Sure, but I'M not going down there to get it!" was his reply. We waited for the sea to calm down a few days later and went down there ourselves, dragging 3 pieces back to his studio only find it closed. Someone told him foreigners had come by with pieces of wood and since he had our phone # from our first visit, we soon got a call to bring them over.

A week later he was calling to say they were ready. And now they're on the walls.

Grazie, FIORE!

Thanksgiving 2024

 Happy Thanksgiving!

We're thankful for a lot of stuff, too much to list here, so maybe just the fact we can ride bikes around in shorts and short sleeves to work-up an appetite?

Heather whipped-up a traditional meal, turkey with all the trimmings despite nobody in Italy knowing or caring much about this holiday.

Hope yours was great too!!!

Spring is here...almost

 Sunny Sunday in Sicily

Milano-Sanremo was yesterday. La Primavera is the start of spring and for us, the start of the real cycling season. So Sunday was time to get out on our own bikes! A ride down the coast on quiet roads, then inland and uphill, climbing what locals call Il Carciofo, the artichoke. Turns out we were on the route of the Mediofondo, Giro di Carciofi held earlier today.

No racing for us today! Our goal was to arrive at Case Damma in time for lunch! As you can see above we made it...40 kms into our ride. And what a lunch it was!! Eight or nine antipasti: fresh ricotta, salami, zucchine, olives, cheese and more followed by two first plates - a lasagne with pistachio and a pasta with tomato, sausage and wild fennel. If that wasn't enough, a second plate was served, a pork roll in a spicy sauce.

Desert was up next, a sort of tiramisu with a shot of Zibibbo wine to wash it down. We could barely get out of our chairs and back on the bikes!!!

The proprietor had this nicely restored Matchless on display so the two-wheeled connection was there too!

Meanwhile, we noticed this painted on a wall near one of our favorite market vendors the other day. The famous author of the Montalbano books, Andrea Camilleri.

Hope you had a great Sunday as well!

Buon Natale 2023

 Buon Natale 2023

This should be good with a holiday meal, no? Some roasted red peppers to start, followed by a zucchini zuppa with fresh croutons and extra-virgin olive oil drizzled on top? Then a grilled pork chop since the sun's out and the grill is ready on the terrace.

Buon Appetito!

"Winter" in Sicily

 Another day in paradise

Fat guy poses in front of Etna

Apologies (as usual) if you're freezing your a__ off somewhere cold and snowy. We're not.

Zio loves this time of year when it cools off (but we're still in shorts and short sleeves, though he's switched the closet over so warm-weather stuff isn't the main thing) the vino novello arrives, along with the new olive oil and new oranges.

The photo is from our local bike trail where the view of Etna is rarely this clear. The smog of Catania usually covers the lower slopes while clouds (or smoke from the volcano) covers the higher parts.

Giro di Sicilia 2023

 The Race Across Beauty

Winner Alexey Lutsenko

The Giro di Sicilia 2023 ended on Friday with the "queen stage" finishing in Giarre, not too far from us in Siracusa so why not go see it?

Bikes on train work very nicely!

And try-out the "bring your bike on the train" scheme? We hopped on "Buzz" and the "Super Gravel Monster" and in 5 minutes were at the local train station, bikes on hooks and on our way. Two hours later we hopped off in Giarre and headed onto the course in the reverse direction.

There was a place on the course where the riders would pass-by twice so that was our goal, though we figured we'd see them one way or another even if we didn't make it that far up the side of Mt. Etna.

As you see above, we made it! Two hours slogging up the side of the volcano with a stop to buy some panini, etc. since locals advised us there was nothing much at the GPM. The climb took more effort than we'd bargained for but we made it just in time for a few bites of lunch before the riders passed-by the first time.

The race zoomed past, but not before we unfurled our "W MAGRO" banner, the same one we bring to most races. But this time the TV cameras showed it to the delight (as we would find out later) of Eurosport commentator Riccardo Magrini.

We finished our pranzo and tuned-in the Eurosport live-stream on a phone as we waited for the race to return, this time up a steep climb before the descent we'd ridden up. The race was really broken up by this tough route, over 4000 meters of climbing - truly the "Queen Stage".

This racer held onto the car most of the way it seemed, though no officials were around to see it, so...

We were getting cold up here and with the race so broken up we decided to ride down against the route before the race caravan went by completely. We rode down a long way (realizing in the process just how far up we'd slogged!) down before the gruppetto (who seemed OK with it as the photo above shows) came past so felt a bit less guilty about going down before the race went by.

We got all the way back down to Giarre in time to see the end of the presentations. After an aperitivo we were back on the train and home to shower and watch the Eurosport replay (and learn how excited "Magro" was to see our banner) by 8 PM!

Next race - the Giro d'Italia in Napoli!!!

Giro di Sicilia

 Giro di Sicilia 2023

2022's program

Finally! Barely three weeks before the start, RCS has published the Tour of Sicily route for 2023. We were starting to wonder if they'd even run it but on the local TV news came the announcement yesterday.

Sadly, just like last year the race won't come anywhere near us. We still wonder why they never used the route that had a start finish here in Siracusa - the race that never happened due to the Covid-19 pandemic?

But we'll try to get out there, perhaps taking bikes on a train up to Giarre where the 4-stage race ends? We have a few weeks to figure things out.

Carnevale 2023

 CARNEVALE Acireale 2023

Some photos from Carnevale 2023 in Acireale, an easy train ride north from Siracusa. They call this the most beautiful version in Sicily and after a few years of missing 'em due to the pandemic this was a "perche no?" moment after we saw a promo on the local news. We hopped on a train around midday here and were there well before things got going.

These things, I guess in the USA we'd call 'em floats are carri here. It's all paper mache they say, airbrushed in vivid colors with all kinds of animated features - things pop up, swing out while the characters both human and otherwise wink, smile or wave combined with fog/smoke and blasting sound.

The stop in a place on the route where they can rise up without getting tangled in overhead wires, then do their thing for about 20 minutes before it all closes back up and the thing is wheeled down the street a ways for a another display.

Crazy costumes, street food and masks are part of the fun as well.