The Sundays I've ridden this year I have been focusing on the meters climbed. I've been seeking 1000m per 50km routes as that is the TINAT 300 climb rate. All very well but my rides have tended to be short. I felt I needed longer in the saddle too. I've also headed inland or south exclusively. Time for something longer and to the north.
North from Marina di Massa mean flat & uninteresting and predictably into a headwind. 17Km in I reached the derelict retail parks of Sarzana and after that I came upon Torrione Testaforte and then through the old town:
Then it was past derelict industrial zones, railway yards, container ports, an M5 Portishead style beside-the-motorway bridge, more industrial zones and paralleling Autostradas to 41Km. This is the best route to a World Heritage site? Hmmmm.
Then things changed. I turned off the SP10 before Padivarma and had the roads to myself. Yes small roads occasionally lumpsome but there were equal stretches of pristine tarmac too. I crossed this pictureskew bridge complete with many missing planks
and continued to Pignone (52Km) where a spot of navigation issues caused by a road I was due to take being no entry resulted in an unscheduled visit to the town square. Shame eh?
In those 11 Km I saw 4 cars and 3 of those were in the 100mtr link on a bigger road just after the bridge. Smiles very much returning.
From there the only road would be hellish in the summer but was OK today. The snow got thicker and the temperature colder until at about 500mtr altitude both trends reversed. At 630mtr I crested the route to the coast. Part way down the other side I stopped to take in this:
A grinworthy hurtle down to Monterosso (69km), the most northern of the
Cinque Terre townsI'd planned two return options, due in equal measures to legs & time I took the easier. Either involved getting on a train. A colleague had gone on about the fantastic achievement of building the railway line here. I'm sure it's a wonder but from inside it's just tunnels. The trains are great though, at the front I found a huge cycle compartment with 10 danglespaces and room for stacks more than that.
The easy option took me to La Spezia. Interesting Art Deco town with oodles of opportunity to be squished. Escaping that past more ports, military ports, container yards and over a smaller (but quite nice) lump to rejoin the flatlands half way home (16Km). Once on the flat I opened the taps and fair destroyed my legs. My speed is flattered by the tailwind but I left nothing in reserve.
Out to MonterossoBack from La Spezia101Km and 890mtr
More picturesOnce again I have been lucky with the weather, Thursday it snowed, Friday it rained, Saturday it binned it down all day and today it was dry until 2 km from my Hotel