Campagnolo Roma (not so) Gran Fondo... and a bunch more

Well, where do I begin? Just as I feel about the city of Roma, I feel about this post... overwhelmed. Yesterday, I came back to the hotel with so much to share with you, and then the internet was down. So, this post is going to be the Moby Dick of blog posts, just warning you now.
Chapter 1- Yesterday.... all my troubles seemed so far away.... wait a minute, that's not where I was going with this.
Ok so yesterday, I had an entire day in Roma to do whatever I pleased with only one objective, sign-in for the Granfondo, get my jersey, check out the convention, get my timing chip, etc. I decided I might as well take the scenic route (which is pretty much any route in Roma) to get to Circus Maximus, where the sign-in and convention where. Now, a quick observation about Roma: like I said the juxtaposition of very, very, very old and new here make it very unique. If you were to come across any of these monuments, buildings, etc in any other city, especially in the US, your mind would be blown. But in Roma, it's just part of everyday life.
After circumnavigating the ancient ruins, I turned up some little back street, completely void of tourists. About half way down the street started the biggest traffic jam I've seen in Roma yet. I wondered what was going on? As I got closer, I realized it was the farmer's market. YES!! I entered, thinking, I'm not going to buy anything, just going to look around. But then there was cheese. Piles of scamorza, vats of mozzarella in every shape imaginable. Then there was bread, big crusty loaves, rolls filled with spinach. And a man selling dried figs. There was a lot more, but that's what I left with. Paired with my arugula and tomatoes, this was going to be a nice cheap lunch.

I've said it multiple times (to myself, that's who you say things to when you're traveling alone). If you eat every meal in a restaurant while in Italy, you're missing out. When I arrived here four weeks ago, I went straight to the dollar store (Euro store actually) and bought a bread knife, a cutting board, a vegetable peeler, a big plastic bowl and a colander. With that and my AG Russell Folding Chef's Knife, and a fork and spoon, I had a small kitchen for salads and sandwiches. In my "pantry" was a bottle of good Tuscan olive oil, a bottle of balsamic vinegar, a couple of bulbs of garlic. and some salt. The markets of Italy filled in the rest. I can honestly say that stumbling upon this market was exponentially more exciting to me that my visit to the Parthenon or the Trevi Fountain later that day.

I digress, as usual. From there, I walked around the corner and came upon my first intended destination, the Gran Fondo "extravaganza". It wasn't all that grand, I guess I was expecting a trade show to fill up the entire Roman park. Just a little expo, but anytime I see giant Campagnolo banners, displays of Sidi shoes and racks of saddles, I get pretty excited. I had designs of sneaking back to the Granfondo start area with a pair of scissors and cutting myself a section of Campagnolo barrier banner, but it didn't happen. After getting some stickers and brochures, buying a Gran Fondo t-shirt, I decided it was time to actually get on with the sign-in. After my experience with the Gran Fondo Toscana, I was prepared for a boatload of confusion and hassle. It was not to be, I went up to each of the booths, each labeled clearly, got my one-day race license, my packet and race numbers, my jersey and goodie bag, and my time chip. Now, this is where they get you. They give you this beautiful Sportful jersey and back in the convention area, they sell the matching bibs and socks. A lof of riders wear their team bibs as much for representation as teammate identification on a road filled with 5000+ riders all wearing identical jerseys. But I had to match, so I gave in to the bibs and socks. I figure, where am I going to get a set of good quality kit for that price anyhow, and how many of my friends at home are going to have that kit (none)?

With registration complete, I took the direct route back, past the Arch of Constintine, Palentine Hill, the Colosseum, and so on. I figured when in Roma you gotta walk by this stuff. But wow was it crowded. I was told by someone today that they spoke with a woman who has lived in Roma for 40 years and she has never seen it this crowded (specifically the Trevi Fountain).
Speaking of which, after my glorious homemade lunch I went for a wander, accidentally passing the Trevi Fountain, stepping into the Parthenon, walking all the way up to Piazza del Popolo, back to the Spanish Steps, running into a massive Communist Party rally, and then back to the hotel. I figured walking ten miles through hilly Roma would be a good "warm-up" for the Gran Fondo today.
Chapter 2- Today... the Gran Fondo
Kitted up in my fancy new digs, I left the hotel, not yet even bright and early, at 7:15am to line up for the Gran Fondo. Roll out was at 8am but with that many cyclists, I figured it was important to get there with enough time to avoid the rush. I don't think I've ever seen that many cyclists in my life!
The ride started by passing the Colosseum and out some insanely bumpy cobbled roads to the outskirts of the city, where we picked up a nice wide highway, closed all for us. There was a big sigh of relief amongst the group when we finally hit smooth pavement. Finally no more dodging lost bottles.
After about 10mi the first climb started. I had taped a cue sheet with the vital info for the climbs to my stem (just like the pros) so I knew that this climb was an easy 4.7% for 4.7mi with the last 400 meters being 15%. The hardest part of the first climb on any Gran Fondo is dodging the slow people and when you're a good climber, that's pretty much everyone else. The 15% section was really easy, especially after doing the Muro di Sormano last week. After a stretch of descent and flat road, we were onto the second climb. A bit longer, a bit steeper average, but not as steep max. As we came off that climb, we almost immediately started the next climb. It was at this point that I became very confused. I knew there would be three climbs, and we were only about 45mi into the ride. I figured that I must have missed something and there were more climbs.
A bit later, on the descent I noticed a sign, Arrivo 30km. WTF? Did I miss a turn? Now instead of being on the Gran Fondo course, I was on the 100km Classico course. I didn't see any turn off, no one else turned off. By the time I got to the finish at 104 km, I was pissed off. I rode straight through, and right back to the hotel. How could they do such a poor job marking the course? Granted I didn't feel tremendous today, not like I felt at the Worlds Gran Fondo, I still was expecting to ride 160km. It wasn't until further inspection of the website, that I noticed, contrary to the race packet, that the route had be changed so that the Gran Fondo was now only 104km. So I had done the whole thing. But what a bunch of crap! A 65mi Gran Fondo? What's so Gran about that?! With the expectation of spending 5 1/2 hours in the saddle, the little over three hours that it took to blaze through 65mi seemed like it was done and over in the blink of an eye. The climbs weren't hard, there was little nice scenery, the road condition was generally terrible. I didn't stick around for the pasta party. Have you ever tried to cook pasta for 5000? I'm sure it sucked.
The whole thing was a real disappointment , especially after how great the Toscana Gran Fondo was. Moral of the story, if you want to cycle in Italy, you'd best stay in Tuscany and further north. Now I know.
Chapter 3- Later Today/ Tonight

After another splendid homemade lunch, I decided since the Gran Fondo was quite easy, and I had plenty of energy to walk around, it was another wander through Roma. I think the best sights are the small streets , the people and as I said earlier, the markets. I walked all the way back to Circus Maximus to return my timing chip, then made my way up the Tiber for miles, until finally ending up at the Spanish Steps, where I sat for quite a while amongst the massive crowds. After this while, I had to go back to the hotel. Having to use the bathroom in a town filled with running fountains is some unusual form of torture, I'll tell you!

At dinner this evening, I had the pleasure of running into this lovely British couple for the third night in a row. They have been here on the tail end of a cruise that they had taken in celebration of their 50th Wedding Anniversary. They are absolutely lovely people and a great pleasure to talk to. Though originally from London, they have since moved out to the countryside of Britain's Lake District, a place that I always hear my dad talk about from his bicycle touring days. We talked about everything ranging from their travels, cycling, food, etc. Amazing people!