Hi Bob!
Got home last Thursday night after getting done with our bike trip last Sunday the 24th, then spent several days in Florence, Italy. 429 miles, 51,300 feet of climbing. I knew the trip would be hard - more climbing than miles everyday.
We arrived in Milan the 15th and did a little sightseeing.
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| Inside the Duomo |
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| Share bikes in Milan |
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| The canal district of Milan |
On Sunday, the
Thomson Tour vans took us to
Ponte di Legno, about 2 hours away from Milan. Built our bikes up and then did the warm up ride up Passo Tonale. Fairly easy, only abut 15 miles with 2150 feet of gain.
Day two; Passo Gavia and
Mortirolo. 10,101 feet of climbing in a little over 70 miles. We met Eric from Hong Kong, and later found out he is in the
Java Rapha video that was put out out a couple of months ago. We were at dinner, discussing the day's climb, how steep the climbs were plus how hot it was. We mentioned the Java video and those steep climbs in hot, humid conditions. He said, "I'm in it!" We pulled out the laptop and had a lot of laughs watching it again, seeing our new friend riding those crazy roads. He can be seen in the video wearing a white/yellow band Rapha jersey. There's an especially cute shot of him talking to some local kids.
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| Eric in his black/pink Rapha jersey |
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| Grace, from New York and Craig |
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| starting the Mortirolo |
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| Rest break at the van. It was HOT! |
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| water break along the way |
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| The top!! Getting ready to descend |
Day 3 we rode to Borno via the Passo Vivone. A little easier day, 53 miles, 5750 feet of climb.
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| No caption needed |
Day 4; Borno to Sale Marasino via Passo Croce Domini, Maniva and Tre Termini. I
did have a ride plan and this day blew it apart. Day 4 was supposed to be my rest day and there was a "wee bump" at the end that Peter forgot about. I had to remember, this is an 'inagural VIP ride' - there may be some surprises. We ended the day with over 80 miles and 9600 feet of climb.
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| I was able to take some moving shots |
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| The descent down Croce Domini |
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The view out our room at Hotel Villa Kinzica, overlooking Lake Iseo.
Jumped off the docks across the street into the lake after the ride.
The drink? Aperol Spritz, the drink of Italy! Had a lot of those. |
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| Getting ready to leave for the day. Too comfortable to move! |
Day 5, we are getting there....we rode to San Pellegrino via Colle di San Fermo, Colle del Gallo, Passo di Ganda and Dossena. Another day of 4 climbs, 65 miles, 8400 feet of climb. San Pellegrino Terme used to be a 'spa' town and the
Grand Hotel is huge and dark, sitting abandoned across the river Brembo. Our hotel, the Centrale, across from the Grand, was a version of a Spanish disco which kept going until 2 am.
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| Me and Grace |
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Museum Madonna dei Ciclisti. This old Bianchi had leather toe clips and huge gearing.
Hard to imagine these guys riding the Giro on those bikes. The church has stained glass windows of bikes. |
I need to mention that at the tops of the climbs we had to put on wind jackets before the descents only to have to stop 1/2 way down to take them off. Italy was having record temps and the valleys were sometimes registering 95-100 degees F. Day 6 was no exception. We rode to Varenna via Passo San Marco and Premana to catch a ferry to Como. 77 miles (we cut off the last climb due to time) and about 9000 feet of climb.
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| My favorite climb and descent! |
We found out that the direct ferry to Como would not take bikes even though there looked to be ample room. We ended up taking a ferry to Bellagio, then rode the rest of the way to Como in the very hot vans!
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| The very nice hotel Villa Flori on Lake Como |
Finally, we are at Day 7, riding a classic part of the
Giro di Lombardia, which happens in the fall. We rode up Civiglio to Passo Ghisallo and the Madonna del Ghisallo Chruch and museum where we met a bunch of Italian riders from 'Brember Valley Cycling Club'. That day we saw more riders than cars! We even saw a team drafting behind a motorcycle.
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| Getting ready to leave for the last ride. Craig has his Portland Velo jersey on. |
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| Madonna del Ghisallo church |
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| Cyclists from Brember Valley. We got in trouble for talking too loud during the Mass being held. |
On to the wall of
Muri di Sormano. I have to post the profile again:
This is a crazy
2 kilometer climb and averages about 16%, some stretches 24%. My new friend Phil, a doctor at NIH from DC decided we should do it. Craig started up and then I heard him yell, "I'm not doing it!!" The first part is rideable until you hit a gate. The good riders ahead of us could ride around it; we had to stop and get off our bikes. On that steep a grade it is almost impossible to clip back in. Our ride leader, Dominic helped Phil back on at the gate and gave him a good shove. It took me a couple of attempts to get clipped in again, only to go about 1/2 km and have to get off my bike. I walked a bit, rode a bit, and caught up to Phil who was walking in his bike shoes, having a hard time. We both took our shoes off and walked almost to the top in our socks! There is a small portion at meter 1060 where one can get back on, only because the grade is about 8.7%. The elevation gain in the 2 km climb is 1124 meters. It's a stupid climb, every meter of elevation is marked, along with some interesting stencils on the pavement of local flora, leaves, trees, names, and other Italian stuff I don't get. There's a lot of information and videos on the web for anyone wanting more info. Me, I don't ever need to do it again.
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| the start |
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| Phil at the gate trying to get started again |
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| Looking up, doesn't look that steep in pictures, but this portion was about 18%. |
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| The end where we ate a good meal of pasta pomodoro |
All in all, a very good trip. No accidents except a few minor falls and scrapes (not me this time!). Like childbirth, one forgets the pain and I want to go again next year - different route though!
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| Looking over Lake Como from our room balcony. Overcast and cooler as we depart for Milan by van. |
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