Well we've had our fair share of eventful cycling days over the years but this one was up with the best / worst depending on how you view them !
The morning had started well enough with 60 mms of torrential overnight rain clearing to a beautiful sunny morning !
It was a slow start to the day with Kev reluctant to leave his bed but soon changed and breakfasted we left our b&b to have a quick look a the nearby basilica famed for is role in the spread of Christianity in the early Roman Empire period.
The Basilica housed some marvelous mosaic floors and ruins associated with the Roman settlement but was not within Kev's interest as it still somehow constituted a church " !
Our first disaster of the day occurred shortly after with our cultural attache leading the way exiting Aquileia with 1 basic instruction to leave town the same way we entered it !
Hanging back a bit to film on our way out Kev took wrong turn no. 1 after 200 metres and compounded it by also taking wrong turn no.2 immediately through a set of changing traffic lights preventing me from following !
His first wrong turn was probably my fault as he may have confused turn left straight away with turn left back on the main road (7kms away). I guess also his next immediate wrong turn through the traffic lights may also have been my fault as I did say we were riding on the Venice road and the road that Kev took was to Udine ... 1e, 2es who's counting !
Also the fact that Kev cycled onwards for another 3 kms without noticing my presence could also be attributed to me as at 6 foot 3 I can easily merge with trees in the back ground if Kev had chosen to look back.
As was we had another of those famous Mexican stand offs until after 30 minutes and a couple of phone messages Kev finally returned to accept my humble apologies !
Take 2 and this time with self in the lead we took on the S14 the main secondary route to Venice with the road traffic light and views picturesque as we passed through lands dotted with vineyards and cafes !
The late start had put us under the pump a little with 100 kms to cover in the day but as it was easy to maintain 20-25kms/hr on the flat roads we weren't too perturbed - until ..
Problem no2 occurred shortly after getting off the Venice road to join the Treviso road when I had my first puncture on tour. This was not so well timed either being on a bridge cross over. Because of the speeding traffic Kev helped lift my bike over the guard rails to a pedestrian walk area with the real danger now being that any dropped bike bits were likely to fall 30+ feet to the ground requiring a long delay to go and get !
With the bike repaired and another 20 kms of riding we took a break set back from the busy Treviso road when disaster no. 3 occurred !
Cycling ahead thinking that Kev was just behind me I was pretty surprised when a car pulled over in front of me telling me to stay put until my cycling mate got to me.
The mystery was solved when Kev finally arrived. Apparently in riding off from our last stop Kev had dropped his waist wallet containing his money, cards and his passport on to the road !
Kev was also informed of such by the same driver that stopped me ! Now frantic he did a quick u turn and rode like a man possessed getting a km or so when a passing policeman handed Kev his fallen wallet - apparently you could have heard the sigh of relief in Diamond Creek !
The cycle though had come at a cost with Kev now complaining of restricted breathing maybe because of something he'd done in his panic to ride back or possibly relating to his accident 2 days back.
Anyway you night have gathered that by now Kev was starting to feel the pinch struggling over the last 30 kms when concentration was most needed as we hit peak hour traffic complete with a few Aussie style truck drivers happy to blast us on their horns simply because we were slowing them down !
With a few rests to accommodate Kev's breathing ailment we finally arrived at out hotel in Navare 13kms shy of Treviso where Kev crashed on to the bed while i got into the first of my 4 Coke Zeros !
With Kev finally appearing (rested) we had our best dinner on tour so far with tappas, bruschetta, pizza for me and Tripe for H (no comment !)
Tomorrow sees us getting into the climbing zone after we first work our way around Treviso !
Tonight I think young H might just sleep well !
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