Cycling, Writing, Both, and More, Cycling stories, stories about life cycles., 23 Italy, Steven MalikowskiCycling, Writing, Both, and More

My first day of cycling started great, leaving Catania. About 20 miles later, the trails kept my bike from rolling for many hours. The day ended with some amazing generosity from strangers.

I’ll start with the great part at the start of my cycling, by showing some pictures.

As the last picture shows, thunderstorms showed up in the afternoon. The rain changed the dirt road I cycled on to a road with amazing mud. It stuck and piled on so much that both tires would not roll. I cleaned off the mud a few times, but more mud came back.

There is a tire in that picture, just hard to see.

Look under the yellow bag. Mud stacked up so much it jammed my tire.

I hadn’t seen a person or car for hours, so I was a bit concerned. For the first time ever, I abandoned my bike and started walking to the nearest town, about 3 miles away.

After less than a mile, a pickup truck showed up. None of the guys in the truck spoke English, and my phone’s translator app stopped working for unknown reasons. But somehow, we communicated. I also explained that their truck would likely get stuck too.
They “told” me to stay there and drove away. About a 15 minutes later, the grandpa in the group showed up with a tractor to get my bike.

Then, they drove me to a town with a nice BnB. Some teenagers volunteered to clean off all the mud on my bike. They took my bike for a short ride when they were finished. I offered to pay everyone, but they wouldn’t take it. I told them I would pass on the generosity.