Cycling Emilia-Romagna

When I started planning this trip, I decided that I would go places in Italy that I had never been before. I figured as much as I love Firenze, I'd try somewhere new. After-all, Italy is a pretty big country... well, it's diverse anyway. I try to do the same when I go to restaurants, or bakeries, etc. I want to try them all. But I never do. Diversity is good, but I think when you find something you like, it's worth sticking with.
Every day in Verbania, I went to the same bakery. Yes, it was down the street, but it was clearly the best bakery in town. By noon they were pretty much sold-out of focaccia, and half the bread was gone. Customers were loyal. And it's the same thing here, even though Parma is a lot larger. I've inspected many bakeries around Parma, but I'm convinced that the little bakery on the next street over is the best, at least for me. In Firenze, I went to the same bakery every day too. It's nice to have that routine. When you find something that works, stick with it.
With that in mind, I think that restaurant on some little back street in "my neighborhood" is going to be my spot. Sure, there may be many great restaurants in Parma, but I had the best risotto I've ever had there and the place was way cheaper than the touristy spots in the center of town. I think Osteria da Beppo is going to be my Osteria Cento Poveri of Parma (Osteria Cento Poveri in Firenze is the best restaurant I've eaten at in all of Italy, I'm considering going there one day next week just to eat there). That said, I think sometimes you just have to go with your gut and if you really like something forget about that diversity crap.
I don't know, Parma is getting a little boring. It's a Friday night and the town is dead. In Firezne, every night of the week, every piazza is filled with people. I miss that. I wanted to go somewhere different, and part of going somewhere different is realizing that maybe the place that you love is not the place that you love because you've seen nowhere else, but it truly is this spectacular place. Firenze is definitely that place for me.
But, it's not like I'm not having a good time here. I'm settling in. I've seen most of the city worth seeing, and I've gotten a good feel for what cycling is like here (Firenze wins in this regard too. Tuscany may be the best place to ride a bike in the world). I think now that I'm settled and I've explored, maybe it's time to go to the grocery store and do my own thing for dinner. You might think that it's crazy to cook your own food in a place like Italy, but with access to great ingredients, a decent size fridge, and a gas range, I think I might be better off eating from "home".
As far as other plans, I am going to spend a day in Milano, I'm going to spend a day in Bologna. After that, I could also go to Cinque Terre. It's a pretty quick train ride out there. And of course, if I really can't resist, maybe Firenze too. I don't know. I really want to go to the Mercato Centrale to buy Porcini, I want to go to Mercanto di San Lorenzo, and I want to go to Osteria Cento Poveri. We'll see. The thing is, I'm on vacation, right? It's not like I have to cycle every day for training. Yes, I came here to ride. Yes, the countryside is best seen by bike. But, if I spend time shopping and being a tourist, I came here to do that too, and I won't feel guilty about it.

So, cycling Emilia-Romagna as the title says. Remember that thing Saliscendi that I talked about? They were talking about Emilia-Romagna when they came up with that. I don't think I rode a flat road all day. It was actually kind of miserable. Up and down, and up and down. 4700ft of climbing in 58 miles. The scenery, of course much different from that in Piemonte, is beautiful. It's all hill after hill. But not rolling like at home. Short and steep, but not really that short. Gone are the long 20km long climbs, instead the strangest combination of roads that go on for 30km at 2-3% then turn off onto a wall at 16%. It's strange.
The landscape once you get 30km our of Parma doesn't make sense. It's like nothing I've seen before. It's different than Tuscany. The roads are super narrow, the pavement isn't always too great, and it's farm land. In Tuscany you ride through acres upon acres of forest, of vineyards, of olive groves. Here, it's hay fields to feed the cows that make the milk that makes the Parmigiano cheese. The whey from the cheese making is fed to the pigs, which become Prosciutto. That cycle is very evident by the landscape.
The highlights of my ride came in positive and negative.
Positive: the scenery. Because everything is farm land and the surrounding area is pancake flat, once you get to the top of even the shortest climb, you can see for miles. That's pretty cool. Also. the last 30km back to Parma was downhill at 1-3%. It was fast!
Negative: Short and steep is not much fun for me. I miss those really long climbs. They were really steep in spots too, but you get in a rhythm. I think only on one climb did I get that today and just barely. That's my favorite thing... long climbs with switchbacks.
The other negative was this one descent. It was so steep I couldn't believe that my back wheel was staying on the ground. I don't even know how it was a road. I felt like I was mountain biking. I think I went almost as slow on that descent as I did going up the other side. I'm usually a very good descender, but this was crazy. Luckily, unlike in the Alps, where if you go off the road, you're surely dead, here you're just going to ride off in big field and get covered in what I presume is probably 60% dirt- 40% pig shit. So, yeah, I guess that's not as bad?

That was my ride. It was hard, it was hot, and I was completely fried when I got back. Luckily there was a lot of focaccia waiting for me. After lunch, I showered and went to check out this record store. It was pretty cool. Certainly no PREX, they had mostly cds, though they did have some good vinyl. I was tempted but I decided what's the sense risking ruining a record in transit back to the US. Instead I picked up a copy of Badmotofinger for 10 Euro. I've been obsessed with that album and I don't own it so I figured what the hell. I walked all the way there, might as well buy something.
Tomorrow, I am planning to take the train to Modena and then ride out to Castelnuovo Rangone to meet up with Roberto Romagnolo. Roberto is this guy that I know from Strava. Michael Crocker told me about him, since he "knows" him from there, as they are both mega-mile maniacs. I'm excited to meet him. I don't know what's in store for me as far as miles. Like I said, I did about 60 miles with 4700ft of climbing. Roberto did 100 miles with 7500ft of climbing today. He should be tired, but considering he's already done over 18,000 miles this year, I doubt it. 18,500 miles so far this year? That's beyond comprehendible to me. If I ever get up to 10,000 miles a year, I'd be beyond happy. You can do the math, he'll do nearly 25,000!!

That said, I'm going to bed. I need all the rest I can get to be recovered from today and ready for Roberto tomorrow! After the ride I hope to cruise around Modena a bit before I get back on the train, maybe find some good Balsamic along the way. Yum!