Here's another update from the trip, I apologize for being so lax with these. It either builds up suspense or it just makes everyone apathetic, hopefully the former instead of the latter :).

Sunday, May 16th

We got up at about 4:30 in the morning, freezing our bloody asses off. We packed our things, and left the apparently unhaunted boat and started up the remainder of the mountain. As we neared the pass the sun peeked over the peaks behind us and I was able to get a number of wonderful pictures that I'll be posting.

We made it up to Passe so di Cento Croci shortly past sunrise, and found a comfy bench sitting on the edge of a cliff looking out over the lands we'd traversed. After a short break, we rode the pass and found ourselves faced with a spectacular view on the other side. Not only was it spectacular because of the mountain view, but because we could discern the route of our road going down, down, and down. In fact, according to our map, our elevation was about to drop over 700m in a span of 12km. I wandered over to a high spot and emptied my bladder as a way of proclaiming "I have defeated you!" to the mountains. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to empty, which in turn left me to conclude: "Well, I guess I can't expect much from the third piss of the morning". I doubt anyone really wanted to know that, but James and I had a good laugh over it.

Helmets strapped on, baggage secure, and away we went. The ride down to Varese Liguere was absolutely amazing. Without a doubt one of the most wonderful experiences of my life. We thundered down the road at speeds near 60km/h, careened through dozens of switchbacks, and didn't stop until we realized that we had almost gone the entire 12km in a span of 15 minutes. I took a quick picture at an overlook of the town, then we completed the journey down.

The town was still closed at that time, so we continued on through it. About an hour and a half later we arrived in Torvo and had a late breakfast. While drinking water outside a shop an old man came and began speaking to us in Italian. We tried to tell him that we didn't understand what he was saying, but he continued on before laughing and walking away. After which he walked over and told an old lady about us, then she proceeded to come to us and chatter on - again with us clueless in our comprehension - until she finished off her conversation with laughter and a wave.

We traversed a 2km tunnel outside of Torvo, and then began a ride that was easily as incredible as the initial ride down from the pass. The best part about it was that it was totally unexpected. There was no expectations really for this particular stage of the journey - the transfer from mid-mountains to Mediterranean coast, but it was absolutely beautiful. The final 25km was a steady decline that made riding an absolute joy. We rode through countless little towns that seemed to be literally hanging off the sides of the mountains, one moment our winding road was between some houses, then we'd have rock on one side and a sheer drop on the other, then do a 140 degree turn and back into houses before exiting again into the open.

After what seemed like only a short while, we realized we were in Sestri Levante, and that we'd reached the coast. Our first stop? The beach, of course. We dragged our bikes onto the sand and fully intended to take them right up to the water before one of the Nazi-like guards (I call them Nazi-like because they actually made a father and son stop playing with a beach ball - on the beach!) made us put the bikes somewhere else. After doing so, we dragged ourselves to the surf, ignoring the strange looks of pretty much everyone, and said Hello! to the Mediterranean( Italian Riviera!!!).

We gloried in our accomplishment for a few minutes, picked up a couple postcards, then continued with the journey.

The mountains didn't want to let us go though, and for the rest of the day we were going up and down, up and down...it was very tiring, but even more rewarding. All of the towns along the Riviera are worth a hundred pictures (Though I only have a couple - sorry). The trees are thick and green, the terra cotta roofed houses are spread all over the mountains, giving it a true Euro feel, and the sea sat wide and blue to the side. It made us completely forget everything difficult we'd gone through to get to that point.

It really was brilliant, every stop along the way up until Ventimilia (oddly this one town was the only place that was smoggy and dirty out of everywhere we went, like a self-contained piece of industrial crap in the middle of the most beautiful area, how strange, and passingly annoying). Ventimilia, it happens, is where we 'rested' for the night, in a train station actually, since its open all night and its free to just hang out at.

So, we had Gelati in Rappalah, biked through Genoa the European City of Culture for 2004 (The train station had automatic guns on the sides and AA large turrets on the roof, as well as dozens of police vehicles and over a hundred officers in full riot gear running around). We biked in the middle of the road with biker-dudes while passing hundreds of cars that were backed up by traffic, and were probably really annoyed to see us passing them in the middle of the road. Overall, it was a pretty damned incredible day.

Monday, May 17th: Coming Soon!