The Joy of GPS

They say that rain on a wedding day is good luck for the couple. So I will take it to mean the same when, as I embark on my inaugural bike ride in Italy, it starts to rain. Mind you it has been cloudy since I got here and it has only spat a handful of raindrops prior to about 15 seconds into my bike ride--when it starts to really, truly pour. I make it to a nearby coffee shop. I can't help but sit there and be amused at the timing--and be extremely thankful that I am actually here in Italy, being given this chance to see this rain fall on this remarkable land. Fortunately, I brought my iPhone along so I sat there for what could have been close to an hour playing games on it. Never is there time in my life to simply play games. It's fun. Aaaah, Italy, I like being here so much already.

I got a very late start to the ride since I was trying to dig up ride routes on the internet. There's one site that has a lot of rides that look promising, but since I'm so new to this area, it's hard for me to get oriented to ride instructions, in general. After the rain cleared, I set off. It wasn't long before I realized something about this region: there are pretty much all farm roads and very few big, scary roads...so any which way I would go would SIMPLY BE OKAY. Not used to this at all!

And it became obvious that if I tried to follow the ride instructions that I scribbled down that I would spend more time being confused than riding the bike. So off I went, absolutely thrilled that I bought this GPS unit (Forerunner 305 if you're curious) just before coming to Europe. It allowed me a freedom and stress-free ride like I haven't ever had in a new place. I can go anywhere I want to go! And to get home, all I have to do is follow the dotted line (retracing my path on the way out). Easy, I can do this and (for once) not take a wrong turn.

What a fabulous ride it was, too. Felt great to be on the bike and be reminded of the riding that I had fallen in love with last summer when I rode here with Ciclismo Classico. I took very few pics out there since the riding was so much fun.

And for my Bike Across Italy friends, you'll appreciate this sign:

Yeah, how cool is it that Todi and Orvieto are on the same sign? Upon seeing this (remember, I didn't know where I was), it would have been nice to make Orvieto the ride turn around point (with turnaround nutrition being some gelato), but at close to 2 hours on the bike, I finally saw this sign:

Another 42 km would be too much for today, but it's totally POSSIBLE!!!! WEEEE Happy, happy, happy. The rain stayed away, it was warm enough to be too hot in a light-weight shell; spring is sooo here. Interesting, too, the trees are totally bare--with the green grasses and things growing in the fields, I didn't even realize this while gawking at the landscape until later on in the ride.

Post-ride nutrition was a whole lot of mozzarella, basil, bread and olive oil (a feast I couldn't stop thinking about while out there). Post-ride fun included reading for fun (again, something else there's never time for at home) and checking out the ride route on a map. Now the area is beginning to make sense. As one of the guys who's staying here (he's traveling for a year) said tonight in so many words:

When you travel to foreign lands, everything is new. It's like being a kid with having all new experiences--it really slows down time and re-introduces the joy of discovery.