Working out in Brescia

June 1, 2023 to June 3, 2023

Before we get too far behind, let’s go back and take credit for the impressive workouts we engaged in during our stay in Brescia. Rachael went on two long hikes up in the hills to the northwest of the city. The first one had some navigation issues and fell short of her goal, so she went out again the next day and made it there - 13 miles with 3,000’ of elevation gain, to the summit of Mount Maddalena, the ridge that angles northeast of town behind the castle. In case I might just think she was exaggerating, she brought back a slideshow and track as evidence:

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Rachael was hardly the only one racking up the miles though, not by a long shot. I went out for my own ride on the first day of our stay, on a loop southwest of town. Actually I was interested in biking up to Maddalena myself, on the panoramic Via della Maddelena. It looks like the natural and best ride from the city, and Rachael saw many bikes up there - but when the time came to depart I didn’t trust my health enough for the steep climb involved and decided to stay in the flats instead.

In retrospect I wish I’d taken a chance with Maddelena, because the loop I planned ended up a complete bust - hands down the worst ride of the tour, or at least the stupidest. It began well enough, as I followed Brescia’s excellent bike paths for the first few miles until I was out of town. Then though the path was unexpectedly solidly barricaded, presumably due to some maintenance project. I had a choice of either riding the busy road I was facing or taking a chance on an unpaved path along a canal that didn’t even register on the Garmin.

I took the canal, which was the wrong decision. I spent the next hour and a half trying to recover from my error and cross over to the other side of the canal to join my mapped route, but nothing worked out. Instead I found myself wandering around stochastically in freeway / canal / industrial park hell, as one path after another led to a dead end or a freeway access forbidden to the likes of me. About the time I was ready to give up and try to just backtrack through this mess the way I had come into it, I finally broke out the other side and connected to the end of my mapped route and followed it back home. I was surprised to see that after over two hours of aimless meandering I was only four miles from where I started.

Not much of a workout; but still, eighteen miles is eighteen miles. Might as well take credit for it.

I think I could probably make it across the canal this way, but it didn’t seem worth risking my life or a hefty fine to find out.

I was excited to finally come across a marked bike route. I didn’t know where it was going to but it seemed promising so I optimistically followed it.

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Hmm. Well, that’s not much of a post. As long as I’ve got the page open I might as well throw in a few more photos from Brescia. I could caption them, but then I’d never get caught up.

Today's ride: 18 miles (29 km)
Total: 1,670 miles (2,688 km)

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