Most travelers have some one thing they want from a journey. A particular something they want to do or see.
Ten years ago Jack and I took what brother-in-law Jack called "Ride West 2K." In the summer of the year 2000 we rented motorcycles in Seattle and rode them from Seattle to Big Sur and back to Seattle, hugging the Pacific coastline as much as we could. But there was a centerpiece to our journey - the World Superbike and AMA Superbike races at Laguna Seca near Monterey.
This journey to Italy was to have a focus, too. At least for me, Jack and Wendi. It was the Moto GP races near Rimini over where we are now on the Adriatic coast. It was a world class set of races. Past tense - was - because we got the week wrong. It was last week. We knew that months ago, but it was too late to change all our reservations.
No big deal. We all wanted to see Italy, but for Jack his particular something would be missing.
However, almost as soon as we hit Rome, Jack generated a new focus for himself. In addition to being a skilled motorcycle rider, he's also a serious bicycle rider. In Rome he started asking about bicycle apparel shops. But he didn't push to visit one there. He just asked about them often enough for us all to notice what was on his mind. I'm sure that as three of us gazed at the front of St. John Lateran Basilica, he was scanning the nearby shops for bicycle apparel.
Our next stop after Rome was Florence. That's when he came out of the closet bicycle-wise. He stated clearly that a visit to a bicycle shop was, for him, a must in Florence. He researched the possibilities. Marked the locations on a map. And then he and Wendi carved out time one afternoon to visit one. Two hours later they arrived back at our place, Jack carrying a bag with a beautiful S. Bianchi jersey in it. So that ends his quest and this boring story? Actually not.
Here's the problem with buying gear for any sport. Once you buy the gear, some trigger in your brain (I'll do a seminar on brain triggers another day) forces you to have to do the sport.
So now we are in Cattolica. It's a beautiful coastline with roads loaded with riders. Jack wants to rent a bike. Not some one-gear resort bike for tooling along the boardwalk. He wants a serious road bike that will let him attack the nearby hills. Jack again researched the area bike shops, and there are many in this otherwise small city. We all went with him yesterday to one of the largest of them. The sign on the window said they rented bikes, but not the kind he wants.
Today he tried some more rental places. He struck out. At three different places. There is nothing sadder than seeing a grown man in his brand new Italian jersey and the rest of his cobbled-together bikewear, with no bike to ride.
I've also had a quest, a focus, for this journey, but I've kept mine secret until today. It was a lightweight, colorful scarf. "Was" because I now have one.
My brother Jim would be called a "dresser" by most retailers. He always looks great. About a year ago he showed me an extremely lightweight scarf that he said was just then coming into the U.S. from Europe. He said they are for year 'round wear by men as well as women. He was right. They're for sale here everywhere. And they're being worn everywhere. I see women in beachwear wearing these scarves around their necks in 70+ degree heat. Men wear them instead of ties. After all, what is a tie except a scarf with a better PR department?
In case you care, mine has purple in it. It sold for eight Euros. I bought it for five, and not because I'm a sharp negotiator. It's the end of the resort season and that shopkeeper knows the scarf I now own will be hopelessly out of style by the time his 2011 season rolls around.
PHOTO NOTE: A Wendi-taken photo of Jack. No bicycle to ride.
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