Today I was tasked with scouting out some routes for Thursday and Friday’s rides along the coast and up to Mt Vesuvio where the Giro will be in a couple days. Cervelo is putting me up in a cool old family owned hotel high ontop the hill in Cava de’ Tirreni – home base until Friday. The roads up to the place are crazy and narrow. Driving is crazy here. Luckily I have a good vehicle to drive – a BMW diesel wagon. I could use a small vehicle but I’m not complaining!
I put on some serious kilometers today driving the coast, through Sorrento (and through Sorrento) multiple times until I figured out every possible route. And then through all the towns between Sorrento and Ercolano (the base of Vesuvio) near Pompei. And get this, I did it all without a GPS. We were short one and I had to give mine back to someone who needed it more. Umm. Well, I did have this crumby map of Golfo di Napoli – probably the worst map I’ve ever seen – without any details beyond the major freeways and roads it was totally useless. I ended up pulling up roadside near a bunch of buildings and rogue surfed off someone’s unsecure WiFi with my laptop. I pulled up Google Maps and MapMyRide in like 10 different windows as well as did a few quick screen captures. After about 10 hours of driving around, I finally made it back to Hotel Scapolatiello to finish the job off on my computer. I think we’re all good now. Buona Notte!
Road to the hotel. Luckily the beamer fit.
