Biking around Verona in the rain (with pictures)

We (by which I mean I) biked today in the rain.  Everyone else on the trip decided on another activity (reading in their room, visiting Verona, or visiting a winery where Amarone wine is made).  All were excellent choices, but I didn't want to miss a day of biking (the fact that we were having a special last night dinner, with a lot of rich food might also have had something to do with it).  So, one of our leaders, Guido, and I set out for Verona.  I started out wearing my poncho and rain booties, but early on decided that they impeded movement more than they helped, and I did most of the trip just with my yellow jacket (you know, the kind every cyclist you see on the road has).  It drizzled the first 12km or so, then rained somewhat seriously for about 8 km; just as it stopped, we stopped for coffee (you always stop for coffee in Italy) and then rode in dry weather the rest of the way to lunch.  Most folks shuttled to lunch with the intention of riding back.  It did remain dry for that part of the ride.  Jay attempted to ride, but something he ate or drank at the winery disagreed with him; he got sick and had to be taken in the van (he had to skip the final dinner and the last day's ride, but was fine after that).

Just a couple of views of the scenery we saw -- when riding in the rain, one isn't particularly motivated to stop to take pictures.

Cloud covered mountains just after it stopped raining.

View of Lake Garda.  This was after lunch and was the first time I could see across the lake, as it had cleared a bit.  The lake is on the order of the size of Lake Tahoe, but long and thinner.

We had a lovely farewell dinner, with way too much wine, and did a short ride the next morning (which I posted about earlier).  It was a great trip, rain and all.

Oh, most of our Backroads trips have a "theme" to them (there was the "venture capitalist" tour and the "meeting old pals we had never met before" tour).  We decided that the theme of this trip was "Jewish" -- over half of the people on the trip were Jewish.  From places like Minneapolis and Oregon -- where you don't exactly expect there to be a huge Jewish community.   There is also a fair amount of Jewish history in these towns (remember, the original Jewish ghetto was in Venice, just down the road).