The initial plan was to travel to Italy the day before the big event as we did the year before. However, we reconsidered our options in September and checked with the B&B if we could arrive a day earlier. We wanted to have a less stressful day on Saturday and have the chance to do some sightseeing including a visit of Castello di Brolio. We got the OK from the B&B and decided to head off to Tuscany right after work on Friday evening.
There was a farewell party in our office on Friday afternoon for a colleague who went into well-deserved retirement which meant we couldn’t leave early. When we finally headed off at about 6.00pm our bosses boss asked how far we planned to go that night. Our response: “All the way down to Siena, a seven hour ride by car!” This was met with some disbelief and a well-meant “You’re crazy!” 🙂
We decided to take the San Bernardino/Milano route to Tuscany (the other option being Brenner/Verona) and were quite hopeful that traffic would be ok – especially after 9.00pm. We had some slow-moving traffic in Switzerland between Bellinzona and Lugano but apart from that it was a very smooth ride down to Tuscany. We only had one quick stop right after the Swiss/Italian border for a nice cup of Espresso and arrived in Radda at about 1.00am.
After a beautiful breakfast on the next morning we went to Gaiole to pick up our race number and the goodie bag including a bottle of Barone Ricasoli wine, some local produce, an Eroica bag and other things and strolled around the vintage market. It was definitely a good idea to come a day earlier and enjoy a more relaxed preparation ahead of the big event on Sunday.
Castello di Brolio was definitely worth a visit. It’s only a few kilometres from Gaiole located on top of an isolated hill with impressive views on the Ricasoli vineyards (on clear and sunny days it’s even possible to see Siena). The castle boasts a beautiful Renaissance garden with typical geometric shaped plants accompanied by a modern sculpture of German artist Heinz Mack. We wrapped up our visit to Castello di Brolio with some wine tasting at the Barone Ricasoli Enoteca. Did I say wine? Of course I did! After all, Chianti Classico is the official doping of L’Eroica 😉
Next chapter: Gravel Road to Glory