The big bike tour day 27: Headwind, Hüschl and the Pellegrina question

I'm happy to be able to leave this terrible campsite in Florence, I'm willing to take a detour of 400 meters in altitude with more than a 10% slope - it's like mountaineering and I'm used to it - something like "ferrá dura" is called out to me by a local. Pushing a bike with luggage up steep dirt paths is moderately fun, going down them without a mountain bike is not any better. My Komoot app has suggested several unpaved paths that are useless to me today. Which brings us to the Pellegrina question.

Why am I doing this, why am I subjecting myself to this? I am not doing it for religious reasons, even though I am surely atoning for a lot of sins on the steep uphill roads here.

Today I've thought about it for a long time: no, I am not a pilgrim, this is my expedition, it's not about taking a vacation. As a teenager, Reinhold Messner was my pop star, my idol - and the mountain guide Karl Schrag, the uncle of my school friend Brigitte, who introduced me and her family to ski touring, later the Huaba Buam and Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner. It's clear that with my mobility impairment caused by a serious sports accident, I won't be able to reach an 8000-meter peak or do anything on foot. But biking is still possible. I didn't plan it like this, but today it has become clear to me, I have always wanted to go on an expedition - and biking to Rome is what I can still do with my disability. This is my expedition. And wishing me a nice vacation is just as inappropriate as when a teacher goes on a school trip with an eighth-grade class. If someone thinks this is a vacation, they are welcome to switch.

It's not always fun or a vacation, but I'm sure Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner didn't feel like she was on vacation at over 8000 meters without oxygen.

I'm happy that the jasmine is blooming and smells extremely good, I'm happy that many people wave to me and greet me kindly, I'm happy that I just ride into a roundabout and in case of doubt, wave friendly to the truck driver and he doesn't run me over, even if I may have taken his right of way.

In general, Italian car and truck drivers are much more flexible than Germans, they don't stubbornly insist on their rights, act spontaneously and flexibly, and they don't mow down their own road cyclists in rows either.

https://www.komoot.de/tour/773851500?ref=itd

Camping La ChioccioIa, 18€, hot shower, WIFI in the tent, you could stay here and go hiking, great place