Giro Della Montagna

Giro Della Montagna or Tour of the Hill is the third leg of this holiday weekend’s series of Gateway Cup bicycle races. It is also the oldest of the four legs. In celebration of these races Trailnet sponsored a Fun Club ride this morning also called Giro Della Montagna. We were late getting out of the house and we biked to the venue, which took longer than driving would have, but wait bonus miles. Once on the Hill, it took us a while to find the starting point and we ended up wandering up and down the Hill, more bonus miles, so registration was almost closed when we got there and it was definitely closed by the time that we left. You can have us bright or you can have us early, but you can’t have us bright and early. Because of our late start, we elected to do the middle route, which was a smart move, because halfway through the ride, it turned hot.

Our route took us back and forth across the Southside of Saint Louis and we passed by the other three race venues. We ended up taking a couple of unscheduled rest breaks for crossing trains. The first one was carrying oil and the second one coal. When we made it back to the Hill the bike racing was in full flower. We were both feeling a little crispy by then so ducked into the cool dark recesses of Mama Campisi’s Ristorante. You could still glimpse the racers as they rode by through the open doorway. We each had salads, shared a plate of bruschetta and drank gallons of ice water. After lunch, we were back out on the street feeling almost human again. Anne found a rather tasty gelato place. I got a souvenir t-shirt and a beer. We stayed to watch the above pictured race conclude. Then it was back on our bikes and home again, home again we rode, just not very lickity split.