September 11, 2022
Day 8 - Meran to Bolzano
Back on the bike with a repaired hub
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Today was the day we’d figure out whether the bike was repaired or not. Because it was in “shrunk” mode, we couldn’t really test the repaired back hub. So we were a little stressed this morning as we packed up and went down for breakfast.
After a lovely breakfast, we checked out of this lovely hotel. The friendly manager presented our bike to us, and we found a quiet spot in the courtyard on this quiet Sunday morning to reassemble the bike.
Rich has had a lot of practice at this lately, so everything went together without too much drama. After about 30 minutes, we had a bike ready to ride.
We walked the bike out of town since the Sunday pedestrian traffic had suddenly become pretty intense. We walked over a bridge, got on the bike, took a deep breath, and pushed off. It worked! The bike felt incredibly smooth, and we realized that the rear hub bearings had probably been failing for quite a while before the bike became unrideable.
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1 year ago
1 year ago
We were kind of giddy as we navigated the twisty route out of Meran into the countryside. In a few minutes, we were back riding between the river and apple groves on flawless tarmac.
At about 17km into the ride, we came across a bike cafe. So cool! we stopped for a drinks and a shared cookie. We need more of these in France.
Todays ride was about perfect tarmac and apple trees. Despite the lack of exciting features, it was never boring. We loved the ride, and apparently so did the hundreds of other cyclists out on this sunny Sunday. There was always something interesting to look at, whether it was the steep valley hillsides, the faraway peaks, or the apple groves.
The approach to Bolzano was all on bike paths. The cycling infrastructure here is just incredible.
We followed our usual tactic of dismounting and walking once we got into the center of Bolzano. We were 2 hours early for check-in, so we wandered a bit and then split a pretty good pizza at the Aida Restaurant-pizzeria just off the Piazza Walther. Afterwards we waddled over and checked in to the “Stadt Hotel Città” about 45 minutes early.
The happy workers at the hotel stowed our tandem in the basement bike room and we were in our room cleaning up within minutes. Once we were presentable, we headed out to explore Bolzano. Here’s a short picture essay.
After our explorations, we needed some refreshment. So it was back to the Piazza Walther for Campari Spritzes and people watching until dinner time. We liked the Aida so much that we went back for dinner. It didn’t disappoint!
Today's ride: 34 km (21 miles)
Total: 363 km (225 miles)
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