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Tuesday, March 19, 2024
March 19, 2024

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Battle Ground woman goes cycling, Italian-style

Retired teacher and her friend spent a month this summer touring country on the bicycles

By , Columbian Education Reporter
Published:
4 Photos
Courtesy of Cindi Rauch
Patty Holt, left, and Cindi Rauch cycled through Italy over the summer.
Courtesy of Cindi Rauch Patty Holt, left, and Cindi Rauch cycled through Italy over the summer. Photo Gallery

Read Cindi Rauch’s blog about cycling through Italy at http://savoringitaly.blogspot.com.

Before leaving for Italy, Rauch wrote in her blog: “This year, Patty and I are heading to Italy for a month … to revel in the art and architecture, to pedal through landscapes of vineyards and sunflowers and to make the locals laugh with glee at our poor Italian pronunciations. We will start in Rome … then north to Bologna, where we will cycle down the Po River. We will hike in the Dolomites, take the same ferry down Lake Garda that (Ernest) Hemingway loved all those years ago, and get lost in the art of Florence. Finally, we will wind our way through Tuscany, sampling the wine, enjoying the sunshine and gelato, ever so content to be on two wheels in this wonderful place.”

Warm Showers is a free worldwide hospitality exchange for touring cyclists. Learn more at www.warmshowers.org.

Learn about renting vacation rentals from local hosts in 190 countries at www.airbnb.com.

Cindi Rauch, a retired Battle Ground teacher, knows how to pack her summer with fun and adventure.

Read Cindi Rauch's blog about cycling through Italy at http://savoringitaly.blogspot.com.

Before leaving for Italy, Rauch wrote in her blog: "This year, Patty and I are heading to Italy for a month ... to revel in the art and architecture, to pedal through landscapes of vineyards and sunflowers and to make the locals laugh with glee at our poor Italian pronunciations. We will start in Rome ... then north to Bologna, where we will cycle down the Po River. We will hike in the Dolomites, take the same ferry down Lake Garda that (Ernest) Hemingway loved all those years ago, and get lost in the art of Florence. Finally, we will wind our way through Tuscany, sampling the wine, enjoying the sunshine and gelato, ever so content to be on two wheels in this wonderful place."

Warm Showers is a free worldwide hospitality exchange for touring cyclists. Learn more at www.warmshowers.org.

Learn about renting vacation rentals from local hosts in 190 countries at www.airbnb.com.

Two years ago, she biked 5,000 miles — 100 miles in each state — to celebrate her 60th birthday.

This summer, Rauch, 62, and her friend Patty Holt, both seasoned cyclists, spent a month touring Italy on bikes.

To transport their bikes on the plane, they packed them in large plastic bags. Each woman left one pannier, or cargo carrier, on her bike and packed the other as carry-on luggage.

“Let the savoring begin,” Rauch wrote on her blog, Savoring Italy.

Although Holt had visited Italy before, it was Rauch’s first trip. Neither spoke or understood much Italian.

“This trip to Italy squelched that fear of not speaking the language,” Rauch said. “We got ourselves in situations more than I can count where we were talking to someone who spoke no English, and we spoke very little Italian. But it always worked out. We were able to do the charades, hand signals to communicate.”

Sometimes, they got lost. But getting lost led to interesting experiences.

In San Mineato, their host directed them to a restaurant at an agri turismo, a working farm that provides lodging and meals, literally combining agriculture and tourism. But they got lost and went to the wrong one, where they found one table was set for a large group.

Clark County cyclists share allure of two-wheeled trips

“We shyly asked the kitchen staff if we could join them for dinner,” Rauch said.

The owner of the agroturismo was there, along with a group of Italians and Germans. That accident turned out to be their favorite meal.

“We were trying to converse with these people, and it was magical,” Rauch said. “The food, the wine, the setting: all were wonderful. It was a serendipitous moment that happened by accident.”

Rauch and Holt didn’t cycle every day. When they did, they cycled about 40 miles a day. Their longest day was about 50 miles between Florence and San Gimignano.

People in Italy are used to seeing people on bikes, Rauch said. In Ferrara, there were as many people on bikes as in cars.

“We found the Italian drivers to be very polite,” Rauch said. “In the U.S., sometimes you get honked at, and people want you to move over. You don’t get that in Italy.”

The friends used a variety of other transportation. In Rome, they parked the bikes and used the Rome Metro. They hiked with Holt’s friend in the Dolomites and took a ferry from the north end of Lake Garda to the south end.

Planning for Italy

Last fall, the friends started talking about cycling through Italy. Rauch planned their route. Holt planned their accommodations.

They stayed at lodging arranged though the Airbnb website and agriturismo farms.

The monthlong bike ride in Italy cost between $3,000 and $3,500 per person including airfare, Rauch said. Both women used airline miles but had to pay a hefty fuel surcharge.

“We really got to interact with Italian people,” Rauch said. “We stayed in their homes and their farms, where farmers make wine, harvest their own grapes and olives. We also had a chance to use our poor Italian. We saw a variety of landscapes of Italy. Ate such great food and drank great wine.”

Rauch already is planning next summer’s cycling tour. She plans to take the train to Whitefish, Mont., and bike to Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada, then go west through Canada’s Glacier-Waterton National Park and through the Selkirk Loop. She’s planning for 50-mile days.

“There’s a lot of elevation gain,” Rauch said. “It’s always fun to plan for the next trip.”

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Columbian Education Reporter