Day 14 - Duo Trifecta

 We left the hotel this morning, went down the road for about 100 yards or so and made a right hand turn on to the bike path through a vineyard then a small park

To where we discovered some public art and of course photos were required. The trail wound through the community under over passes and additional vineyards before popping out on a bikeway following the river south to lake heading to Lake Garda about 14 miles south. Large groups of cyclists were out as well. I then realized that it was Saturday and everyone was out playing today,

I was struck by how well integrated the bike path was to the community and also, unlike the US, there was not a strong demarcation between agriculture and the urban community. Bike paths wound through the city and agriculture were interwoven. It made for a very pleasant morning ride. 

We arrived at Lake Garda fairly quickly and was treated to a gorgeous view as we descended into down to the lake. We were to take a ferry south to avoid several tunnels. Tunnels and cyclists generally do not mix well. We arrived almost an hour before the ferry was scheduled to depart so of course we looked for some Coffee and streusel. We were at the resort town of Torbole, a resort community where shops and cafes abounded.

The paddle wheel ferry arrived and we were off for our one hour nautical cruise to the town of Malcesine where Jan had driven the van and was waiting for us. He had arrived earlier and found a quiet restaurant for lunch.

Malcesine was a very crowded resort town with every seat of the cafes filled shops packed with shoes and the walkways packed with vacationers. It's hard to imagine what this town is like during the high season.

Jan had located a quiet restaurant about a 1 km out of town for lunch where we had a lazy lunch and conversed with a couple from Philadelphia who rents a place here and comes for the windsurfing.

It was soon time to bike the second half of the route to the hotel which followed the lake south for 24 miles and turned inland where in a small town, Jan spotted an ice cream shop where we complete the Duo Trifecta. Our second day of; Coffee, Lunch and Ice Cream. How much better could it get.

From there it was about 10 km to where the hotel was waiting for us.

First half of the ride

Second half of the ride

Today's Photos

Brian

brian@coxintl.com

Day 13 - Trifecta

Today promised to be another wonderful day on the bike. As we navigated to the bike path for a southerly route today, it was cool in the morning warming up in the afternoon, Just warm enough to not need a jacket at the start. A bit cloudy with the clouds burning off fairly quickly.

The total scheduled distance was 54 mi / 87 km. No need to really rush today. Maybe even get an ideal cycling trifecta; coffee stop in the morning, lunch followed by an ice cream stop in the afternoon.

For the past several days we have passed acres and acres of apples, as far as the eye could see. In previous days it's been corn, and now apples of every kind. The tree are trimmed narrow and vertical. Many under canopies.  Today, as we got onto the bike paths the endless rows of apples continued interspersed with vineyards occasionally.

We were heading south in a valley of steep vertical walls on either side. I'm guessing that this area was carved by glaciers in its past.

Lunch was about 27 miles / 43.5 km at a small cafe and we lounged there for as long as we could before heading out again. As we got back on the bike path the afternoon wind had kicked up and headed directly into our faces. The brisk wind cut down our speed a bit, but the wind kept us from getting too warm.

Three elements make up the perfect cycling day; Coffee, Lunch as Ice Cream.  At 41 miles / 67 km we pulled into Trento where almost within the shadow of Cattedrale Di San Vigilio E Duomo Di Trento we completed the trifecta, an ice cream stop. This portion of the trip is so different that earlier days of the trip. Early in the trip, it was sometimes difficult to find places to snack on the road, but now in Italy, it's not so difficult.

Ice cream of all

Back on the bike path, all day was on beautiful bike paths, it was a quick 14 miles to our destination in Ischia Sant'Ilario. Where my room has a gorgeous view.

A room with a view

Tomorrow we head off further south toward Lake Garda where because of road conditions, we have a couple of ferries planned.

Today's Photo's

Brian

brian@coxintl.com

Day 12 - Today We Needed To Share the Bike Paths

 Wow, what a difference a day makes. Woke up to some beautiful blue skies todays today and a low probability of rain and a route that contained a lot of downhill until lunch in Merano at the halfway point.

Before we departed, we needed to take a spin around the ancient fortified town of Glurns. Our hotel was just a short walk from the town's walls. As we stopped to look at the town we noticed many other cyclists. So far on our tour through France, Switzerland, Austria and Germany we haven't seen many cyclists, but in this little town there are many cyclists darting to and fro.

Inside the walled city of Glurns

Turns out that we're in a very popular location for cycling and that many cycling tour companies, such as VBT, takes advantage of the beautiful weather and cycling paths and we would be sharing the paths with them today.

As you can see in the above elevation profile, we dropped elevation all morning. After all the climbing that we've done in the past couple of days, it was nice to enjoy the downhill.

We met up with Chris and the van in the town of Merano where we scooted through busy streets until finding a nice restaurant where we munched on pizza, calzone and pasta. Then we were off to do some climbing.

As you can see in the elevation plot above, Eduard had placed us along a climbing route out of town. In southern California we have the San Gabriel mountains very similar to this climb.

To get to the start of the climb we exited Merano along some busy urban streets until reaching the major portion of the climb. None of the cycling touring companies were going to be joining us on the road. As we climbed the city fell away. The road was shaded with trees acting as a canopy. We settled into a constant 6 to 8% grade sometimes reaching 10% for short periods as it hugged the side of the mountain. Cars were our constant companions on the ride. They were respectful of the bicycles for the most part. Giving us room as they passed us. The winding road never gave us a clear view of the route, so it was difficult to judge how much higher we needed to climb. But finally we could feel the road start to level out a bit and a couple of buildings plus a gas station and we knew the top was near.

It was time to take some photos at the top as well as some photos to capture the view that we worked so hard to capture.

Me at the top

As well as Chris

We zoomed down the other side of the mountain to our destination of Bozen. We haven't had chance to see much of the busy city because is has been a long day and we needed to find the hotel take a quick shower and find a place for dinner.

Fortunately we are in the heart of the city and it was a quick walk along  pedestrian cobblestone streets to find a great dinner.

Today's Photos

Brian

brian@coxintl.com

Day 11 - Some Days Maybe You Shouldn't Ride

 This morning was my turn to drive and I gotta tell you I wasn't excited to be on the road anyway. It was cooler than yesterday and raining more heavily than yesterday. We delayed the start from our typical 9 AM start to noon hoping for the weather to break. but as you can see from the predictions below, the rain was going to be steady all day.

Neverless, at noon, four riders hit the road; Mike, Chris, Chuck and Doug, while myself, Yan and Eduard opted for the van.  We drove ahead to meet them at the lunch stop and they arrived cold and soaked at almost about 2:30 PM.

We had found a cafe just off the bike path, shortly before the climb that you can see in the above graphic.

After a bite to eat Chris and Yan headed out to complete the second half. I opted not to ride as well as the other riders. It turns out the maybe it was a good thing. Later we traveled along the same route as the bikes were going to take and there was a lot of road construction that was difficult for the bikes to navigate.

Shortly after Chris and Yan departed, the sun popped out and it became a beautiful afternoon as the Sun started to dry out the road and unveil an a beautiful countryside as we left Austria an entered Italy.

With all the bikers at the lunch stop, we didn't have room in the van for everyone and our bikes, so we needed to shuttle the non riders in 2 waves. The second shuttle arrived at the hotel just as dinner was being served. It was not to be missed. The most elegant, multi-course meal that we have had on the tour.

Tomorrow promises to the a ride of a different color. Massive downhill, no chance of rain and warm in the low 80's.

Today's Photos

Brian

brian@coxintl.com

Day 10 - Challenge Accepted

 At the end of yesterday's blog entry I had mentioned that the climbing today was going to be a challenge. I just didn't know how much of a challenge it was going to be.

First let's talk about the weather. The Epic Ride Weather was again very accurate at predicting the weather conditions for the ride. looking at the graphic below the temperature was within a degree or so of the prediction. The rain, more like a steady drizzle started shortly before we started, about 9 AM. The wind was almost non-existent.

As you can see in the elevation above we really didn't start climbing until almost half way into the day's ride and in the meantime we were treated to spectacular views of the Alps as we cycled through the valley. 

The day was gloomy as we continued to climb and we were fortunate that the temperatures remained in the upper 50's and low 60's throughout the day and between the warmth of exercising and our gear, we keep fairly comfortable.

Though we passed through small towns occasionally, however we couldn't find an open coffee shop so we pushed on until lunch. This valley is known for it's winter skiing and we often saw signs for Innsbrook, the site of the 1976 Winter Olympics. This must have been their off season. Though there were plenty of restaurants, we had a difficult time finding one that was open.

A bit past the half way point, we did find a small welcoming bakery and restaurant. We piled we all had good hot coffee and a hearty lunch while looking out the large glass windows. We could sense that the rain was just starting to lighten up a bit. 

Back on the road, the rain had let up and almost completely stopped. We continued the climb and soon we could see on our cycle computers the following road shape, switchbacks. We knew that a climb steep climbs was coming and we could see it in the elevation profile from this morning, but when we stood at the foot of the climb staring up, we knew we were going to be in for a real challenge!

As you look at the following 2 photos, you will see a yellow bus making it's way up the serpentine road. First heading left to right, making a tight turn then at the next level, right to left.

Surely this was an optical illusion. We really weren't go up this route were we? There must be an alternate and easier way to the top? Double checking the route, yep that was the way to the top so off we headed.

We slowly climbed the hill. left to right, right to left. Some stretches were steeper than others and occasionally a car or large truck passing us by on the left. But we continued to climb. It was hard climbing but now impossible.

The above photo was shot about halfway up. I had stopped to take it, because after many turns, I thought that I was at the top. Then after the next turn, I discovered that I was only halfway. More climbing ahead!

When reaching the top, the following was the view, From this vantage point it was so steep that you couldn't see the road that we had climbed, only the view back down the valley.

Closer to the top, the road straightened out and continued to climb past a couple of ski resorts and you could see their cable cars and chair lifts reaching up to the edges of the valley on either side.

Above is Chris close to the top of the climb.

And me at the marker at the restaurant at the very top (1802 m / 5912 feet). Were we gathered to celebrate our success with a cup of coffee or two.

We still had a 20 km descent to our hotel that included some fast downhill, a long tunnel and finally some beautiful bike paths. A wonderful way to end a ride!

Tomorrow, we head into Italy. The weather is expected to be similar to today and the climbing will be significant, but maybe not as challenging as today. It's going to be another challenging day I expect.

Today's Photos

Brian

brian@coxintl.com

Day 9 - It's Like Riding On Butter

As a ride progresses, I'm often pondering what to tile the daily ride blog. Today it was pretty simple. Switzerland has the finest infrastructure that I have ever experienced, even better than the Netherlands. Every place you look, everything is designed well, works well and is maintained well.  Today while riding, many of the paved roads, even the paved back roads, were so smooth that it was like riding on butter. Just a pleasure to ride. You might also say that it was like being on velvet as you rolled on.

I'm told that the cost of living is expensive in Switzerland, but I guess you get what you pay for.

Oh let's talk about today's ride. Again the Epic Ride Weather made very accurate predictions of the ride conditions. Overcast and cool in the morning and as we made some climbs out of town, it started to warm up nicely. The high clouds hung around all day keeping the sun at bay. The amazing part of the predictions (check the lower left quadrant below) was the direction of the wind. It correctly predicted the direction of the wind that closely matched our route so that all day long the wind was pretty much to our backs.

As you can see in the elevation profile, the first half of the ride is where the primary climbing occurred. In particular, there were two short sections that peaked out at 13% and 15%. Needless to say, we were huffing and puffing at the end of each of the climbs.

We came across an unexpected wooden covered bride on one of the back roads. Though the route didn't go through the bridge, we just had to take a short diversion and ride back and forth through the bridge. We didn't measure the length of the bridge, but it could have easily been the length of 2 football fields long.

The last 20 miles we had a ball! looking at the above route, we were heading south, the wind to our backs and a flat well paved bike trail in front of us and we were just blasting!! We would spot slower riders in front of us and go sailing by them as if they were standing still. Under these conditions, you just don't want to ride to end.

Our stop tonight is in Feldkirch Austria, our fourth country on this tour. A great walking town that if we didn't have plans for tomorrow, it would be interesting to spend time exploring.

Tomorrow's ride will be the most challenging of the trip. Whereas, the most climbing we've done in a day so far is a bit over 3,000 ft, tomorrow will be over 5,000 ft. and some of that will be on gravel. I'm looking forward to reporting on the results. Until then, keep the shiny side up and the rubber side down.

Today's Photos

Brian

Brian@coxint.com

Day 8 - Mid-Ride Summary

As a mid trip summary, this has been a wonderful trip. Eduard has done a superb job for trip routing. Except for one rainy day, the weather conditions have been great. Cool  mornings with temperatures in the upper 60's to low 70's F. it would be hard to hope for better conditions.

The ride lengths are averaging close to 100 km / 62 mi which allows us to enjoy the day without being stressed for time.

Today was Sunday and a duff day. A day without any scheduled riding when you can get your clothes washed, bikes cleaned and for me, a chance to catch up on my blogging. I've been a bit slow with my daily updates, but that's mainly due to bad internet conditions. So today I've had the entire day to catch up on the blog. 

Some of the other riders went off to see a nearby monastery. While Chuck, Jan, Eduard and myself wandered off to a local cafe where we had a round of cappuccinos and pastries and watched the traffic go by. There must have been a car show in the vicinity, because every couple of minutes a classic American muscle car or European vintage sports car would come rolling through the circle and we would share stories of cars that we had owned, driven or wished that we had owned. 

After sunning ourselves for a while, we decided to have another round of cappuccinos and watch the traffic parade a bit longer as we chatted and solved all the world's problems. A real pleasurable way of spending and afternoon.

At 5 PM we were even able to take in a pipe organ concert at a nearby Catholic church, before taking off for dinner.

Doug washing his bike

I gotta tell you about the hotel that we're staying at, it's California themed with the rooms that have names that feel like home. Room names such as: Newport Beach, Santa Monica, Sierra Madre, Long Beach and Malibu.

You really don't recognize that while you are living in California and the United States the outsized influence on the world's couture, both good and bad. 

Oh well, tomorrow we're back on the road after an 8 AM breakfast and then it's off to what promises to be a great day of riding.

Today's Photos

Brian

 

Day 7 - All Together Now

 The final member of our team arrived last evening. Chris arrival was delayed until last evening. His mother was celebrating her 102nd birthday. So he arrived yesterday morning at CDG airport and after issues with his baggage, he took a train from Paris to Colmar. Jan picked him up and they arrived last night in Rheinfelden just in time for dinner.

This morning we departed in very chilly temperatures under blue skies. It was going to be the longest day of the tour (120 km) and the most climbing so far (3,795 ft / 1157 m).  After an 8 AM breakfast, we were on the road shortly after 9AM. We crossed the Rhine and took a group photo.

A bunch of happy cyclists off on our next adventure!

Left to Right: Eduard, Chuck, Brian, Jan, Doug and Chris

Crossing the Rhine, we left Germany behind and reentered Switzerland. Shortly after crossing the Rhine we encountered a challenging gravel road within view of the Rhine that required us to shift into our lowest gears and we climbed the short steep climbs occasionally kicking up gravel on the way.  We then worked our way through industrial sections and then found the Rhine again and started to follow the river.

We found our coffee stop at about 27 km into the ride when Jan spotted it just as we were zipping by. We were off again in about 30 minutes, crossing the Rhine into a fairy tail town with breathtaking views of the river. Exiting the town, we encountered some very steep climbs that left us breathless.

What another coffee stop? Don't these guys ever ride?

The entire day we pretty much followed our way along the Rhine with the goal of reaching the Rheinfall, a spectacular location of the a waterfall in the Rhine. A very popular tourist attraction. On the way our route required some cross country riding that included carrying our bikes and riding on some very rough ground before finding our way to the Rheinfall.

Not exactly what we had planned

Gotta take a photo after all the effort

Epic Ride Weather correctly predicted the riding conditions today including the headwinds, temperature and cloud cover.

Today's Photos

Brian