I think we have a problem
We were now back on the Eurovelo 5 route which is going to take us through Tuscany, basically the whole track is following the via Francigena pilgrim path. This has some ups and downs as it means a predefined path away from the main roads (most of the time at least) however also since it is made for hikers rather than bikers sometimes a bit clumsy to ride on. Still in any case we made good progress on through and enjoying the beautiful scenery in Tuscany. Meaning of course some uphills as well here and there.
Occassionally we met some pilgrims and also some other bikers on the same route.
All was fine until Anja approached me telling me her front brake is behaving strange. I took a closer a look at it and realised hydraulic oil coming out of the brake lever… not good!!! And brake performance was reduced to a minimum.. So from there on instead of enjoying beautiful scenery we started to look for bike shops. Since we were out in the countryside actually not many around and the ones in reach were closed during noon time. So we reduced speed and kept continued our way of course with more caution from now on.
We reached our destination Gambassi Terme, of course the town somewhere on top of a mountain checked in in our accommodation. The accommodation was in the middle of the medieval town in a historic building. Quite nice actually!
Once settled I called the one bike shop 10kms away that looked promising. The guy did not really speak English but somehow I was able to explain that I had a problem with Shimano 105 brake and he told me no problem come by and he’ll fix it. Happy to find help so quickly I took Anja’s bike rode down the mountain that I just cycled up an hour ago and reached the shop shortly after that. The guy was super friendly and unlike in Germany were you have to sign in for appointment that (if you are lucky to get one at all) is available two weeks later, the guy took care of the bike immediately, he tried to refill the oil. However once the system was refilled and he put more pressure to get the air out I saw oil shooting out of the lever… We both looked at each other and it was clear that this is not going to be an easy fix… Actually no fix at all, the brake lever needed to be replaced…
Ouch!
To make things worse the mechanic did not have one on stock (current order time approx 18 month) still he was so nice and called the other bike shops around town, unfortunately no luck there either.
Sooo once I realised there was nothing to be done here anymore. The only thing left for me to go up the mountain one more time (hey at least this time without trailer) where I rejoined Anja and Anouk. In the meantime they had found a grocery store and got us food for dinner. Since there was nothing else to do than to make the best out of it we ordered aperitif at nice bar where we enjoyed the last sun rays and the beautiful view from the town center and then went to our apartment and had dinner there.
