After my short day yesterday, I went to bed early after a lovely dinner at the campground restaurant!
And so, I woke up at 6:30 AM and hit the road by around 8 AM. It was still cool. The forecast was for 92° that day and I planned to ride about 35 or 40 miles to a campground about 20 miles south of Bologna.
But, I climbed the 2700 feet to Futa Pass at 3150 ft elevation by about 11:15 AM and decided that I probably had enough oomph in me to go all the way into Bologna.
I took the provincial roads, which were pretty quiet in general and offering lovely scenery. Skies were hazy overcast most of the day and so that brought some comfort from the rising temperatures. 
About 20 miles from Bologna, I intersected the EV7 route that I had found before I left Boulder. Following that, the roads got smaller, and I got routed on some small trails going through forest and along rivers, which was delightful, especially so close to a major city. Within Bologna, there are tons of bike paths, and so it was pretty pleasant to navigate my way to the hostel I had booked earlier that day. I definitely planned by the seat of my pants today, changing my route multiple times.
After washing off the sweat from the day, I took a short tour of Bologna and had some dinner and a couple beers. I was sort of surprised that I could climb around 3500 feet and ride 53 miles only a couple days into my tour. In the beginning, I feel like I have to regain some of the fitness I’ve had previously. Tomorrow I plan to do somewhere between 60 and 75 miles since the route is flat. I have not decided exactly where I am going to land tomorrow night, but I probably need to book a hotel since there are not many campgrounds on the flat plains between Bologna and the foothills of the Alps.
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