To Crema

October 6, 2021

There’s not much to report today, which is as it should be. How much news do you want to have on a day that you’re just traveling by train from Point A to Point B?

The day begins with clearing out of our apartment of the last three days and then biking the short distance to the Trento train station. It rained all night and will continue to do so for much of the day, so we feel lucky that we have a brief dry window for the ride to the station.

Leaving our apartment in Trento. Not raining, briefly.

We’ve been in the Trento train station before: on January 25th, 2010. We were in Italy then for a midwinter cross country skiing holiday in the Dolomites. After five days in Ortisei and another five in Dobbiaco we were on our way home from the best skiing adventure of our lives. Trento was the transfer point for our train from Dobbiaco to Verona for our flight home. I was running down the stairs to the sottopassagio on my way to the ticket counter to buy tickets for the second half of the journey when I heard a pop and my left leg completely collapsed beneath me. If I hadn’t had my hand on the railing I’m sure I would have careened down the stairwell. My ruptured quadriceps tendon still ranks as the most serious and painful injury of my life.

It’s sobering looking down that same stairwell again after all this time. I can’t say it revives any lost memories because this day and the interesting next two days getting back home are still quite vividly held in my mind. Oddly enough though neither of us can remember for certain how I got back up the stairwell again - did someone go to Rachael so she could help me, our did I crawl or haul my way back up? We remember many details of what ensued though - using my suitcase as a crutch to board the next train, visiting the hospital in Verona where I received a diagnosis, crutches, and enough painkillers to help me survive until we made it home; staying overnight at a Paris airport hotel; being wheeled through the airport on a wheelchair; and flying home in the back row of a completely full flight, seated sideways with my outstretched leg on Rachael’s lap.

It’s all very clear in my mind. I can almost picture the specific step was on when my leg collapsed.

But that’s old news. Today’s ride is generally without incident. We’re in plenty of time for our departure in Trento, for the first of three legs - we have transfers at Verona and Treviglio. We have a bit of anxiety in Verona when it isn’t clear if our bikes will be allowed on the second leg - there’s no bicycle icon on the posted departures listing for the train we were planning on, and the next one what apparently does allow them is four hours later. While waiting 90 minutes for our intended train to arrive I read the bicycle policy on the Trenord website and am comforted to see that folders are allegedly always permitted; but then when it arrives there’s a bicycle storage car at the end, so apparently the departures board is just inaccurate.

We have another hour layover in Treviglio for the final leg. It’s only thirteen miles from there to Crema, and we’ve had in mind the idea that we would just bike it if the weather was favorable here. And at first, it looks like it might be - the sky is split, pale blue to the east and dark grey to the west with a sharp demarcation above. We’re standing in the platform in a cold breeze considering our odds when it starts sprinkling and clarifies the situation. Better to find out now than a mile down the road!

East of Milan. It’s quite cool down on the valley floor, so it’s no surprise that there’s snow in the mountains. It excites us to see this, imagining what the Alps will look like when we get to Cuneo and they rise right above us.

It’s lightly raining in Crema when we arrive, but not enough to cause us any grief as we bike the two kilometers to our new apartment. We have an interesting place, an attic unit on the third floor tucked under the eaves. Low ceilings and eaves everywhere, so we’ll probably both be stooped by the time we leave here. The place is huge though, and full of character. Looks like it should work fine for us.

We’ll be in Crema for three nights, staying here for a pair of day rides before heading west.

The living room in our Crema apartment. The place is huge - the kitchen and bedroom are both spaces as large as this.

Another photo of the same room, from the opposite side. Note the window on the opposite wall.

The view from that living room window. There’s this impressive church directly across the street from us. The sound of its bells comes through quite clearly when you’re this close.

The bedroom. The rooms are huge with a lot of floor space, but not that much of it is useable. What are the chances we’ll bash our heads on those low rafters?

The kitchen, more or less - there’s a table, a teapot, and a fridge, but nothing else - not even a sink. We’ll eat our breakfasts here, which will be brought to our room each morning.

Another view from our kitchen. Late in the day, the sky is starting to open up and the sun is breaking through. Let’s go outside and look around.

The view from the rooftop deck opposite our front door. This is a better view of the church we can see only a bit of through our small living room window.

Another view from our deck, one I don’t imagine we’ll be seeing again here because it’s supposed to be dry for the next two weeks straight. It’s actually a complete double rainbow, touching the horizon at both ends, but this is as much as I can fit into one frame.

I dashed down our three flights of stairs for a quick look down the street before the lights went out.

It’s raining again when we go out for dinner, but we don’t mind because we’re eating tonight at Pizzeria Ristorante Speranza, directly across the alley. It’s a ten yard dash from door to door, and easily managed. Speranza is an excellent restaurant. Rachael has salmon with olives and sun dried tomatoes, and I have branzino baked in salt. We make a reservation for tomorrow when we leave, and could find ourselves eating here all three nights.

In Pizzeria Ristorante Speranza, a place with a unique and humorous decor.

It’s chilly in our room tonight, because the heat isn’t on yet for the winter. Warmer in bed, and safer too - lying on your back there’s less chance of crashing against the beams overhead.

Ride stats today: 2 miles, 0’; for the tour: 1,746 miles, 62,100

Today's ride: 2 miles (3 km)
Total: 1,746 miles (2,810 km)

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Jen RahnSo .. what's the recovery like for a ruptured quad tendon?

Surgery? PT? How much time to recover?

Can't imagine traveling with that injury.
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2 years ago

Susan CarpenterI was also at the Verona train station yesterday (Wed) - catching the 12:06 to Bolzano. How surreal would it have been surreal if we had bumped into each other there!!
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2 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Jen RahnIt’s a pretty serious injury, requiring invasive surgery, lengthy recovery, and extensive PT. The injury is still treated the same way it has been forever: by making roughly a six inch incision down the front of the knee so they can reach in, pull the tendon back down from the upper thigh where it’s been contracted up to and bolt it to the kneecap.

I was basically on my back for the first few weeks after surgery with my leg immobilized in a brace; and then it was incrementally given a greater range of motion. I think it was about a month until I could start going out on crutches, 6-8 weeks until I could begin PT, and about 2 months of that before I was fully on my own.

9 months after the injury we took about a 2 week tour in northern New Mexico. I’d say it was about three years before I was fully recovered though and my knee quit swelling after strenuous exercise.
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2 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Susan CarpenterOh, that’s funny. I was impressed that you’d made it all the way to Bolzano already. Making it up to Trento is impressive enough.
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2 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Susan CarpenterOh, the Verona train station! For some reason I misread this at first and thought you were at the Trento station.

That really is surreal then. We were in the Verona station at the same time. We were there from 11 until about 12:30. If we’d just looked around! What track did your train depart from? Ours was on Binario 8.
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2 years ago

Susan CarpenterTo Scott AndersonThat's unreal! I got there about the same time, around 11, and hung out at my platform - Binario 1. Should have hung out downstairs!
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2 years ago

Jen RahnTo Scott AndersonJeez Louise!!

What a process. And amazing that were able to fully return to cycle touring! I can imagine those first few months of limited/no mobility were excruciating in every possible way.
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2 years ago