Italian century recap.

left my house at noon-ish.
it was chilly, so i dressed accordingly; knee warmers, long sleeved (UNH, represent!)and, wind vest and wool socks.
i rode to Piazza Arringo to fill up my water bottles and saw a lady ride past me. i filled up me bottles and then caught up to her in order to ask her where she was going. she was just going for a short ride b-c she had to get home for... what ever it is Italians do on sunday; oh yeah, that means nothing, they do nothing all day sunday.
as a side note, she had teddy bear ears affixed to her helmet. it was very cute.
anyways... so i rode to Roccafluvione, which is a esay 20 minute ride. but at one of the intersections, i saw a sign that was hand-written and it read, "Moto pIT bikes".
i didnt think much of it until i arrived in Roccafluvione centro. a parking lot was blocked off and had a hay-bail race track and there were mini-motorbikes racing around.
the second heat was the coolest (as you can see in my photos) b-c there were kids, the youngest being probably 6yo, with helmets bigger than their bikes, racing around this track.

so then i proceeded on to Comunanza on SP237, which was alot like the old, undivided 101. thank god it was on a sunday and there was no traffic b-c an Audi blew past me doing what seemed like 90 mph. but the raod quality was excellent and the shoulders were very wide; oh any who would have guessed it, it was all up hill, tutti in salita.
then there were the tunnels. yes tunnels. about 4 km's of them split up in to 2 separate tunnels; one of about 1 km and the other of about 3 km. these bad-boys were like the tunnels that go under Boston, the kind with giant fans to blow exhaust out of them and call-boxes ever 500 meters. thank god i brought my blimkee light with me. every time i went in to a tunnel i turned it on, even though they are well lit.
let me tell you something about tunnels; even if a car is traveling at a normal rate of speed, approaching you from behind, it will sound like a jet plane. everytime a car was approaching me, i turned around to see if it was a giant freight truck carrying a space shuttle. in fact, each time it was only passenger car.
then came Comunanza, which was nothing particularly special. it seemed rather new (or at least the section i rode through) and rather uninspired. i took a couple of pictures. and was the object of attention b-c two ladies, probably mother and daughter, were eyeballing me as i was taking snapshots of a terraced waterfall thing. the daughter had the thickest glasses allowable on a human being.
i took Contrada San Lorenzo out of Comunanza, headed for Montefalcone Apennino and took the long, round-about way (unintentional) up to the hilltop town. this was the highest point of the ride at 758 meters or 1984 feet!
i cruised around the town alittle bit and took a few pictures of an ancient tower that was in ruins as well as the church at the center of the town. this comes into play later, so remember that.
then the descent. what i am about to say is rather graphic but in no way is it an exaggeration; i think one of my testicles ascended while i was descending out of Montefalcone.
honestly.
no bullshit.
i was that high and that cold. the only thing i can compare it to, although i have never done it, is the polar bear club swims in the winter. i was sweaty and wet from the 30 minutes of climbing with my heart pumping at about 185 bpm, then flew through switchback at 25mph (i ahve gained enough confidence to look at my computer while in a turn now) and hitting 38 mph on the straigh aways, WITHOUT pedaling!
the strange thing here is that with so much elevation change in so little linear distance that the temperature changes in ways that i have never had to deal with before.
then i took Contrada Santa Croce into San Vittoria in Matenano. i dont know that i took pictures of that town specifically, but it was beautiful, like all the other hilltop fortress towns.
from there, i went to Montelparo.
which was interesting b-c as i was leaving San Vittoria, i could see a giant rock face with a town on top. i thought, 'wow. that's really stunning. i wonder what town that is.' then, strangely enough, almost like i planned it, the road took me there.
the first intersection you come to in Montelparo is a seven way, ridiculous mess. since i was in no particular rush, i went up (always up) into the Centro. i found a little piazza in front of a giant church. from there i could see the two towers of Montefalcone and the hilltoptown of San Vittoria. it was so neat to be able to see where i had been! i took a picutre and drew on it in MSPaint.
after that, i went to Sant'Elpidio Morico, which had another gigantic church. go figure....
not to down play these tremendous churches, but they all kind of look the same after you see twenty in one day.
at this point i took a wrong turn. i headed downhill which is a huge mistake around here; b-c as we all know what goes up must come down and at this point i wasnt really interested in slogging back uphill to get back on track. the original ride plan ws to get on top a ridge line and ride that to the ocean. i wanted to go toward Montottone and Monte Vidon Combatte.
but as i said, plans had changed.
i dropped into a valley and rode along roads that had vegatation that looked almost tropical, lush and vibrantly green.
i headed down through Monsampietro Moirco on Via Ete, eventually hitting Grottazzolina.
Grottazzolina is ugly. i rode an industrial road (maybe SP239) in a timetrial position and didnt miss anything. i only looked up to check the road quality. at this point my legs were getting a little rubbery and starting to fatigue. i would big-ring it for awhile, push 23-ish mph. then dump it into the little ring and spin so that my legs wouldnt fall off of my body.
Fermo was next. and guess where Fermo is in relation to Grottazzolina? right! UP!
i road past a sign that advertised "SexyShop". and past a dead kitten on the side of the road.
if that doesnt give you an accurate description of Fermo you might need to see it with your own eyes.
then down, down, down to Porto San Giorgio and the Adriatic!
in typical phil-style, i took a divided highway, when i could have ducked onto a side/commercial street. oops. once again, thank goodness it was sunday and the streets were empty.
before i hit the ocean and SS16, (route 1A equivalent), i went in to a Bar (bar = cafe) and got a pastry and a cappucino. i told the barrista that i was very hungry but only had three euros. she laughed alittle. She probably figured that i was diseased and crazy by the way i was hobbling and the way i smelled, and only charged me 2 euros. i dont know if that was actually what it cost or if she realized how much of a pitycase i was.
so then, after nearly a month here, i saw the Adriatic Ocean!
it is very green. the Adriatic is as green as the Tirreno is blue.
along SS16, at one point i could see 6 off-shore oil platforms.
i went through a couple of towns and alot of closed-for-the-season resorts, as well as a couple of 4 star camping resorts. maybe i just misread the signs or maybe camping resorts are rated out of 40 stars. who knows?
then it was on to Grottamare, San Benedetto del Tronto and Porto d'Ascoli. which all look the same; beachside resort-y type towns that are more or less closed for the season. and b-c it was sunday, if i forgot to mention that already.
i found Via Salaria in Porto d'Ascoli and beagn the long, miserable slog home.
the Salaria is SS4, which means that is was the fourth road the Roman empire built and was used to haul salt from the Adriatic to Roma.
it is all up hill, 153 meters up hill to be exact. at this point i was pushing about 16 mph and completely tapped out.
10 km from Ascoli my quads started to cramp up, which has never happened to me before. when i tried to stretch them, by unclipping from my pedals and putting the laces of my shoe on my seat, my hamstring started to cramp and charlie-horse. so i stretched those however i could and pushed on.
5 km from Ascoli, it started to drizzle. then i got home and had .7 miles to go until 100.
i rode up the street and back and got my 100.