Meet the Bicis!

After an amazing, food-filled weekend with friends, it was time to start cycling.  First step:  find our bikes.  We rented some hybrid touring bikes through a company based somewhere in southern Tuscany, and they had shipped our bikes up to a bike shop in Torino where we would meet them.  We figured this was perfect, because our friends lived in Torino.  A little mapquest to find the bike shop and… uh oh.  It seems that Torino is both a city and a province.  We were still a train ride and a bus ride away from our bikes, which were in a little town (in Torino province) called Vigone. 

Spending the weekend with our friends had given us a bit of a false sense of security and ease about making our way in Italy.  They picked us up from the train station, whisked us off to the Italian countryside, ordered delicious food, conversed with locals in Italian, knew where they were going… Now, we were on our own, and for the first time on the full-moon, really at a loss with language.  In Patagonia, Amy got to dust off her Spanish (and even Dave’s was passable enough to get by).  And in New Zealand, they might have talked with some lovely accents and the occasional odd turn-of-phrase… but it was still English.  But neither one of us has a clue when it comes to Italian. 

We didn’t get very far before we realized we were in for some crazy hijinks.  No, literally… we didn’t get very far.  We couldn’t even figure out how to open the door to leave Peter and Ritsu’s apartment building, until Peter came to our rescue!   Once we were successfully outside, it was a bus to the train station, a short train ride to the small city of Pinerole (soon to be hosting a stage of this year’s Tour de France, and former host to the curling competition during the 2006 winter Olympics), and then eventually a bus to the small town of Vigone – about as charming as it gets when you picture quaint Italian villages, with your little fruit shop, your little meat and cheese shop, beautiful old, church in the center, and surrounded by open farm land.  It seemed a strange place to be meeting our bikes… but sure enough, just outside of town, there was a really impressive bike shop, where our bicis were waiting for us. 

It seemed an unlikely place for a bike shop...

But sure enough... there it was!

  We could barely contain our excitement when we woke up the next morning and walked over to the bike store.  Our bicis are sleek silver KTM hybrid touring bikes… yes, they’re a bit heavier and slower than our road bikes back home… but they do have a granny-gear for serious mountain-climbing, and they come outfitted with two rear pannier bags for our luggage, and one has a top bag as well.  We were immediately relieved by the size of the pannier bags… we had no idea if what we’d brought would fit (and still didn’t), but at least we were hopeful.  We’d packed very light, but even still, with all the camping gear, running shoes, camera, laptop, and even just the minimal clothing… it added up quickly.



It may not seem like much for 3 weeks...
but it is when you have to fit it all onto a bike!



We took them for a quick spin in the parking lot, and they handled pretty well.  Pretty comfortable, too.  Of course, after we loaded them up with everything we owned, they handled a bit differently, with a whole lot of weight in the back.  As it was when we first learned to ride our road bikes, stopping (and staying upright) was initially the hardest part.  Our bicis tend to have a mind of their own when it comes to parking, as all that weight settles precariously on the little kick-stand. 

Packing up the Bicis!

Of course, our bicis needed names.  Initially, we were going to go with “Mario” and “Luigi” (and then, when Quang arrives, we’ll name his “Princess Peach”, for you Super-Mario Brothers fans out there).  But we decided they needed more extensive names, so we spiced them up with a few of our favorite Italian phrases. 

So, meet the bicis!:  “Mario Non Posso Manjare Glutine Kovick”, and “Luigi Panacotta Gelato Arrivederci Mama Mia Prego  Kovick”.

Lots of adventures to come over the next three weeks on our bicis Mario and Luigi… Until then, Ciao, bicis!

And here's what Mario and Luigi look like, ready for action!