Day 16 - Into Milan

I don't know what to say today. Last ride of the tour. Today was the 16th day of the tour and 15th riding day. It's been a fabulous trip. Great sights, great roads and great traveling companions.

As you can see on the chart below, today we had some headwinds. The temperature was pleasantly warm and fairly flat over the 70 miles / 112 km.

Most of the ride was in rural areas where the road conditions were a mixture of good roads or broken asphalt and on occasion crushed gravel. All very rideable. Over the course of the tour, we have fallen into a predictable routine; breakfast at 8 AM, on the road by 9ish, coffee at about 1/4 through the ride, Lunch at 1/2 way point and at 3/4 Ice cream. Most days the ice cream stop couldn't be located however. Finally into the hotel by late afternoon. 

Ride length varied. From as short as 46 miles to a bit over 70. When I get home, I will do a better calculation of the ride total, but the pre-ride calculation showed 878 miles. A pretty respectable ride distance.

We saw quite a bit of different agriculture. Lots of corn from France all the way through Austria as well as grapes. Italy had an astonishing amount of apples of all kinds, harvested corn and grapes.

We found the very best roads in Switzerland (roads like butter as smooth as velvet). Italy had many interconnected roads but like roads in the US, not well maintained.

Weatherwise, we all felt that we picked a good time of year for the ride. Comfortable temperatures in France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland with only a couple of rainy days. The most challenging weather was the two days of crossing the Alp. Crossing into the Italy the weather was wonderfully warm and the probability of rain normally low.

Already, plans being considered for a reciprocal ride in the US. Many thanks to Yan and Eduard that planned and lead the ride. The Americans are heading to the the four winds at this point whereas Eduard and Jan will drive the rentals to Paris to return the bikes to the Paris Bike Company, before heading to Belgium to return the van and finally Jan heads back to Holland. 

Today's Photos

Brian

brian@coxintl.com

Day 15 Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover

Beautiful day to ride. Moderately cool in the morning, no thought of jackets, and warming up to upper 25 degrees C (77 F) by noon. and a bit warmer later in the day as the winds picked up. All in all a wonderful weather to be on the bike.

Our ride today took us west back toward Lake Garda where yesterday we traveled down the east side of the lake and today we traveled along the bottom south of the lake before following the eastern shore North.

When we reached to resort town of Peschiera del Garda we found ourselves again in the middle of traffic and vacationers trying to get there last dose of summer fun in the sun.

Doug had driven the van this morning and found a restaurant in the small town of Crociale where he found a roadside restaurant for lunch.  I volunteered to drive the van from lunch to the hotel. The rest of the riders continued north along the lake where I understand a very steep hill with some 15% grades were waiting for them.

I headed to the hotel and when it got there I checked in and immediately unloaded my bike. It was such a beautiful riding day I decided to backtrack the route to meet the riders from lunch. Since there was a chance that our paths didn't meet, my plan was to bike a certain distance and if I didn't meet up with them, I would turn around and return to the hotel by about 5PM.

So off I went. Using the Garmin in the reverse mode, I followed the route backwards. Left the hotel at 3:30 PM. There was a possibility that we could have been on different routes So I had decided to ride 45 minutes and if I didn't meet up with them, then return to the hotel.

The afternoon winds had picked up and blowing pretty strongly. Mostly crosswind and as the road curved, sometimes a head wind or a tail wind. Either way it was wonderful to be on the road. At 3:15 I turned around having previously decided to be back at the hotel by 5PM.

The town of Montichiari is not much to look at. Narrow streets with a large church dominating its central square. Many of the buildings are shuttered against the afternoon sun.

The street facing walls hold many surprises if our hotel is an indication. Below is the hotel street entrance. I had to double check the address twice to make sure I was at the correct location.

Upon entering the hotel, you find a grand entrance, ceilings painted beautifully and wonderfully quirky rooms. I give the hotel two big thumbs up.

This is a great example of that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.

Even the nearby restaurant held surprises. I rode by the restaurant earlier in the day and saw a courtyard with some tables and chairs, but in the evening it turned into a gorgeous outdoor experience. All the food was wonderful and quickly filled up as well as a lot of take out dinners.

Tomorrow will be the final ride into Milan. A huge fashion and manufacturing city and home to the Last Supper. The ride will be over 100 km and fairly flat but should be a nice end to a great tour. Many, Many thanks to Jan and Eduard for planning and guiding us on this wonderful adventure. We are planning to reciprocate on a tour in the US next year.

  

Today's Photos

Brian

brian@coxintl.com

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