Our third day on the bike was going to take us to Monticello, famous for the wonderful Brunello wines that we enjoyed last night. At the route rap, as yesterday, there was a significant climb into Monticello ( about 5k). My hand was sore from yesterday, and I needed to get comfortable again due to my two spills from yesterday. Once I got on, I kept up with Ken for most of the 12k to the van check point. I had already decided to grab the van up, and found L...

Well, after surviving the first day of biking we slept quite well, although we did wake to pouring rain in the middle of the night. But the sun was shining when we went downstairs for breakfast and to hear our "route rap" for the day. Based on the info sheet that showed the elevations for each day, we knew that today's climbs were going to be similar to yesterdays, which didn't bode well for me. But, there is always the van! The normal route is 55k...

Our sleep last night was not great due to the street sounds below our room. People yelling, cars roaring past (even on the small one-lane street) and scooters all contributed to a less than sound sleeping environment. But, Tuscany was awaiting and we hauled ourselves out of bed and fixed bowls of cereal and yogurt, all provided for in our kitchen.   We had to meet our Backroads tour group at the rail station at 10am, where Eduardo ("call me Ed') was wait...

This morning was an early wake up call, as our train to Florence left Murren at 7:06am. The entire trip would take about 6.5 hours and consist of 5 trains and 1 gondola. On the first three legs Muren-Lauterbrannen-Interlaken, we were the only passengers so we could relax and not feel crowded. However, once we got to Interlaken, our quiet revere was over. From that point, the trains were packed!    We got our Interlaken-Spiez train with no issue and had...