Stage 2 - From Paganico to Torrenieri
23 May 2026 - 66.20 km / 1450 m ascent
Desires are illusions, but they help us understand better what is right for us.
The start
After yesterday’s day, clearly I was expecting weariness and aches — but luckily (and also thanks to “dosing” the effort) I had no aches. I found a way to make up for it immediately, though: coming down the gravel road from the agriturismo where we spent the night, I hit a rut in the dirt badly and fell, picking up two nice bruises on the sides of my knees (just to twist the knife where I’m not in great shape to begin with). Oh well. A bit scraped and sore I get back in the saddle and we set off. First waypoint Sasso d’Ombrone, then on to Montalcino.
The climb
We’re in the territory of Eroica Montalcino, one of the most important vintage-cycling races in Italy, and indeed the scenery is spectacular but the climbs are very tough. It’s hot, the gradients are serious, the terrain is gravelly but rough, the effort is tremendous. The effort I’m making isn’t sustainable. I don’t have breathing problems or muscle pains or locked legs: I simply can’t pedal on extreme gradients because of a lack of muscular strength. On lower gradients I pedal slowly, without strain, staying in my “here and now,” and this helps me not get tired in an unrecoverable way, but as soon as it goes over 10% on rough terrain I have to get off and push, like yesterday, but more today.
The scenery. And the humanity
There are two precious things, though, in all this effort: the beauty of this incredible route from Montalcino to the Val d’Orcia, with wonders that are hard to photograph in a way that captures their full splendor, and — even more important — the extraordinary humanity I encounter. The Trail is joined by cyclists from all over the world, of all ages and with the most varied bikes and setups. I linger to chat with many of them while they push their bikes or during rest stops. We encourage each other, we tell each other where we come from. It’s all very beautiful, and it helps to remember why we’re there sweating and cursing. But I’m struggling a lot, and the doubt about turning back grows more and more vivid. In the end, the desire to complete the tour is strong, but you have to be careful not to desire what you can’t have, because perhaps, quite simply, it isn’t right for you. While I struggle along, the Rolling Stones song “You can’t always get what you want” comes to mind. And it’s truly true.
The Val d’Orcia
After lunch in Castiglion d’Orcia, Vincenzo and I decide to cut across to San Quirico, skipping a long and heavy detour through Pienza. It turns out to be an excellent idea — we reach San Quirico and wait, very calmly, for Fabrizio to arrive, since he’s doing the full route. And in the meantime we enjoy San Quirico, which is always a marvel and which I carry in my heart.
End of the day
We arrive in Torrenieri and I’m curiously less tired — I do the last climbs without strain; clearly today’s long break helped me. Tonight we had dinner at the field of the Polisportiva Torrenieri, set up as a base camp for the cyclists with tents, but open to all registered riders for dinner, which was excellent and inexpensive.
Tomorrow we head towards Siena, and we’ll see how it goes.
