Test ride complete

Good morning dear reader.   I took Steve's Bike for a spin this morning to some of my favorite places in our old "zona".   My route was down the hill from Manuel's place then climbing Monte Celio past the old park where I took the girls a few times.  From there to the Colleseo and got a nice pic in front of the Arco di Constantine.  I then absolutely had to take a lap around Circo Massimo where I ran so many laps when we lived here.   Back up the Aventino hill to the Parco degli Aranci (recognize the fountain girls?), and then back by FAO and to the apartment just beating the rain drops

The bike is just fine, other than needing a bit of chain lube which I forgot to put on yesterday.    

Riding in Roman traffic is, hmmm, what's the word, stimulating?  Exhilirating? 

   You definately have to pay attention and it helps to be able to accelerate quickly and be confident handling yourself and your bike.   The Romani ride city bikes, and go slowly on the side.     Those bikes would do a lot better on the cobblestones, I found myself rattling along and I'm sure it would shake loose parts of my bike eventually.   The saving grace with traffic in Rome is that the motorists are so used to the motos.  I found that if I pooled myself with motos and put some muscle into keeping up, it went quite well, but if you can't ride 25 - 30 on the flats, I don't think I'd do it that way.

Regardless of the fun ride this morning, I don't plan to do much more riding in Roman traffic.  I think I'm now set and will wait until the quiet hours of Sunday morning to commence my tour.

Total mileage: 5