"Keep Pedaling"

Today started off slow and ended with a bang.  I woke up around 11 a.m. and went over to the Boboli Gardens to try and find a spot to lay down and sunbathe.

The view was quite nice from the Gardens.

This place is really pretty and well-kept, but I didn't stay for long because I decided it didn't have the vibe I was looking for.

I sat in Piazza di Santo Spirito while I chugged 1.5L of water and watched the locals interact.

On to the cycling...

"Keep Pedaling" is the phrase I had to keep telling myself this afternoon when we went for a ride.

Ged took me on his usual "lunchtime ride."  Sounds kind of pleasant and harmless, right?  What a misnomer.

A non-stop climb for about two miles.  Ouch.

I was riding so slow that Ged had time to stop and pee/take pictures.

This is me struggling up the mountain.  I think it's before I looked up and saw Ged taking pictures and started yelling profanities at him and giving him the finger.

Here's what the road looked like.  A very curvy uphill ride.  I don't think the photo even gives the steepness of the road justice, to be honest.

The name of the road:

Here's a smile, finally!

I'm really glad that I didn't stop on the way up.

I was pissed off for the first 30 minutes of the ride, though.  I was swearing under my breath and breathing so heavily I swear it sounded like I was suffocating to death.  I'm just not used to this type of terrain.  Florida is such a flat state, and I've been spoiled by its smoothness.

Ged coaxed me into adding another 6 km onto the ride, so we headed toward Olmo, a nearby town.  At this point in the ride, if I saw a hill in the distance I would start repeating monosyllabic or disyllabic motivational words, like "ATTACK" or "JUST GO."

Something else I found myself doing was conjugating verbs in all the languages I know in order to keep my intention from the struggle.  I'd start with Spanish then switch to Portuguese then French.  Strange, but it worked.

The best part of the ride, of course, was the downhill part.  I felt like I had wings as I zoomed down the road.  And Ged says that I get more aerodynamic than he does because I'm more flexible.  Ha.  I guess the occasional yoga class pays off somehow.

RIDE STATS:
35 km = 21.7 mi
About 1.5 hours

After the ride I started feeling faint and realized that the only food I'd had today was that muesli and fruit combo for breakfast.

I decided to try the Italian tofu Ged and I picked up from the store.  And it turned out really great!  I pan fried the tofu with tomato, chick peas and some yellow pepper, which made for a great salad mix.

I even managed to get Ged to eat some tofu...  :)

Then I had an apple for dessert.

I'm meeting up with some friends from my Berlin trip tomorrow.  They're traveling around Italy for a few days and are leaving after tomorrow.

Good times.