The First Trail Ride in Sicily
Today was the first Sicilian trail ride and it started from Siracusa and ended near the town of Noto (view the map). This town was leveled on January 11, 1693 by a massive earthquake. One week later a Sicilian - Spanish aristocrat named Giuseppe Lanza surveyed the devastation and decided to rebuild the city on a new site 16 kilometers to the south.
Mimo and I met up with the Ciclope club at a small bar just outside of Catania and the club members got their first look at a modified classic Bronco. You can just see the ash from Mt. Etna above the hood of the Bronco. The mountain started activity again today.
As we gathered and registered at the Siracusa raceway (home of a 1962 F-1 race) we were given a map book to show all the roads and turns that the course was to cover. The trail ride was more like a poker-run without the poker. We then took off in a convoy of over 180 Sicilian trucks and one Ford Bronco in the middle. The dirt road quickly became very dusty and by the time I rolled on by, my K&N air filter was having to work overtime.
Half way through the "trail" we stopped for a typical Sicilian lunch. Bread, salami, cheese, juice and of course coffee.
Some of the roads we drove on looked a little old as the road surface was well below the surrounding land. Also to protect against scratches by the un-trimmed bushes that lined the trail, some people applied self sticking plastic sheets to their trucks. Good idea if your truck is new, stolen or has expensive paint etc.
One quick stop at an old building to do a little poking around and then off to see the rest of the trail.
Later I asked when the off road part was to take place and they looked at the book and said the "Super Trail" was at the end of the run. Well, I could hardly wait! 150 kilometers later we hit the super trail. Super. The trail part was very short, about 200 yards long but it did have a little waterfall to climb (without water of course). Most of us made it up without trouble but a few didn't use the slow and steady approach but rather leg-pressed the go pedal and cringed at the sound of broken parts. At the top of the hill we were rewarded with a nice view and I snapped a photo of the sun going down with the ash plume from Mt. Etna giving lots of color.
As we rolled into Noto and clogged the streets with our trucks, the local polizia came out to direct traffic and tell us not to park on the sidewalks etc.
Noto was the end of the line and where the awards were handed out. The trophy cups went to the farthest and closest traveled (to attend), most broken parts, etc.
The next trail ride is to said to be more of a real trail with "fango" (mud) on a mountain side. Sounds fun, I like fango!