6 posts from June 2007

The last day in Italy was low key.  Some wandering about in Valstagna (a nice city along a river and mountains), a great lunch at another friend of Jamie's.  Some shopping and a farewell ride.

We went up from the hotel.  A climb to Conco.  About 1,500 feet of climbing.  8 mph up the 5 miles.  38 minutes to go up, 12 minutes to go down.

All the training paid off. The climbing was tough and a unique experience in riding (hours of uphill is a lot different than the rolling "hills" of Texas).  Thank goodness I brought the bike with the smaller front gear.  It came in handy.

To cap it all off, we had dinner in town at the top of a small mountain within the walls of a castle.  Not a bad way to finish off a very successful trip.  We are very thankful to Jamie and Siv for inviting us into their little secret world across the Atlantic.  Highly recommend the area for touring and biking!

 

 

 

Another touring day on the 24th: Verona.  Can you believe Romeo and Juliett were real?  They may have been.  We visited Juliett's house. You can see her balcony. It's a quaint town with many churches, shopping, an arena dating back to the 1st century (which is now used as the opera house).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

20,000 people can fit in the arena.  Not sure I'd enjoy sitting on the the hard steps.

That night we had dinner with another colleague/friend of Jamie's.  We got to eat on their patio at the base of a few mountains.  Our hosts lived up to the billing:  he makes his own wines and grappa.  All kinds of grappa.  The meals have been an authentic experience: antipasta, pasta, first course, second course, desserts, coffees, grappa.  Did I mention the grappa?  They are all loads of fun and warm people. 

Today was the biggie:  Mount Grappa.  I have never experienced anything like this on a bicycle.  I have no idea how professional riders can do what they do.  It seems humanly impossible.

Today Jamie and I conquered the mountain.  It wasn't easy.  First we had to bike 18 miles to the base of the mountain (no problem--the usual 18 mph or so).  Of course, it's not Texas.  There is lots to look at as you race through.  The trickiest part is the round-abouts.  There are some stop lights, but there are loads of round-abouts (or traffic circles).  You have to time your move to yield to traffic.  It takes some patience and practice.  Of which I have little.

At the base of the mountain, we learned there are 20 switchbacks on this mountain (turns out they stop labeling them at 12--probably a good thing).  The climb was 16 miles of riding with stopping to take pictures or get more water.  The temperature changed about 20 degrees from bottom to top.  Many riders were racing down as we climbed.

We averaged 8 mph, but only because there were a few downhills while climbing the mountain.  There was much of time where I was riding between 6 and 7 mph.  Just working on the turning the pedals quickly while the wheels seemed to drag

along.  For reference, when I ride with Linsday, she averages 7 mph (on the flat road, of course). 

As we climbed, we saw cows with bells on.  One group was practically a little orchestra with all the bells ringing.  Why bells, you ask?  Well, it's easy to lose your cows up on the mountain on a day like today.  As we got closer to the top, we started biking through the CLOUDS.  Towards the very end, we could not see two car-lengths in front of us.  I kid you not.  It took us 2 hours and 10 minutes to climb up the mountain.  Just 16 miles.  From the bottom of the mountain to the top of the mountain was 5310 feet.

At the top, we literally stopped to make sure we were at the top and asked a driver where the restaurant was.  It was right in front of us, but we couldn't see it.  Maybe 20 feet away.  Good thing we didn't give up and start heading down.  I was hungry.  A little lasagna goes a long way after you've burned close to 2,000 calories.

 

Going down was fun.  But too short.  The 16 miles only took 47 minutes going down at an average of 20 miles per hour.  We could have gone down a lot faster, easily over 30 mph, but there were so many turns with uncertainty around each corner, so we had to slow down near each curve and certainly each switchback.  It was cold going down, we had to wear jackets until we got closer to the bottom.  That's where we saw two hang gliders take off (still high enough up the mountain to catch a good draft I guess).  They just lifted right up like a kite and flew in circles above us.

 

 

After reaching the bottom, it was another 15 miles to home where we hauled pretty fast (around 20 mph) and passed a few Italian riders.  Although one caught my tail and drafted us for about 15 minutes then led us for about 5 minutes.  When we were almost home, we ended up at the bottom of the hill that the hotel is on.  So after all that riding, we had to finish with a 1.3 mile climb of over 400 feet.

You can see the Rosina at the top next to the church up at the top on the right (the church is the funny curvy building and the Rosina is directly to the left of it.

The total ride was about 5 hours of total riding time (although we were gone from about 9:30 to 4:30).  It was 65 miles and 7,388 total feet of climbing.  Jamie asked we when we finished, "If your life depended on it, could you ride the same ride again right now?"  I told him, I'd be dead either way.

Tonight we have dinner at Jamie and Siv's friends' house.  Jennifer isn't back yet from Oslo with Siv.  We called them.  Looks as if they pushing the limit on shopping before we need to leave for dinner.

 

Today was an all-day trip to Venezia (Venice).

We actually parked on the mainland and took a boat into the city.  Here's the view coming in.

 

We docked and walked and walked and walked.

For those who aren't familar with Venice, the streets are just for walking.  The famous canals are for faster transportation (gondola, water taxis, and personal motor boats).

Here's a view of a canal going through the backsides of houses.

 

Venice is virtually a floating city full of fancy shops (like Rodeo Drive or Park Ave) tied together with religion and history dating way, way back.  We went into San Marco Piazza (where San Marco Basilica and the Doge's Palace (Palazzo Ducale) are, we saw both.).  Lots and lots of pigeons in the Piazza as you can see in the picture.

 

The crowd of people are feeding pigeons.  Some are brave enough to put seed in their hands with their arms outstretched to the sides (like a scarecrow) and have the pigeons jump up on their arms to eat from their hands.   Some jumped on people's heads, too.  No, not us.

We walked around a lot, had a fancy lunch, and took a gondola ride through the side canals and into the Grand Canal in the middle of the city.  There is a famous bridge over the Grand Canal there called the Rialto bridge (see below).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Long day of sightseeing.

Tomorrow is a big day for riding: Mount Grappa.  Longer ride, more climbing than Foza.  We'll see what route we take.

The ladies are going to check out Oslo and have a nice lunch there.

Off to bed--it's midnight.

Today was a busy day for everyone.

It starts with Jamie and I departing around 7:30 to conquer the mountain to Foza.  Riding through Bassano del Grappa to get the base of the mountain was OK.  You get used to the urban challenges.  Once on the climb, its just you and the 21 switchbacks to the top.  Here's a picture along the way (I'm still breathing hard).  And at the top (I'm smiling--believe me).

 

 

It was a one hour, nine minute climb with heart pumping fast and bike going slow (8 mph average).

At the top, Jamie and I stopped for coffee and water and talked with a few Italians who we passed going up.  They marveled at my Specialized bike.  Imagine that.

After reaching the top, we had rolling hills and passed through towns like Asiago, Lusiana, Concho.  We had a fun decent.  We only had about 13 switchbacks after we had partially decended passing through all the towns up high. 

 

 

Total ride took about 3 hours and 20 minutes to go about 50 miles (only 10 miles was climbing to Foza, believe it or not, but 8 mph is 8 mph).  Jamie's computer says we climbed a total of 4,500 feet during the entire ride.  My legs say otherwise.

Meanwhile, Jennifer and Siv went to town (Marostica) and checked out some shops.  We all had lunch at the hotel.  Here's another view from there.

After lunch, Jamie had business to conduct, so I went back to Asiago with the ladies.  This time in a little, stick-shift Fiat.  Asiago has Austrian history and looks very Bavarian.  Jen took plenty of pictures (with a regular camera).

Dinner tonight was authentic Italian pizza at Cucina Casalinga with Jamie's right-hand man and his family.  We're gong to their house for dinner Saturday night.  I think Jamie and his partner were figuring out the most difficult route for the climb to Mount Grappa.  Dios Mio.

By the way, at an Italian pizzeria, everyone orders their own pizza (not the typical 4-piece CPK deal either.  Even really old ladies (of course, I've seen them riding bikes in dresses, too).  And most folks eat with a knife and fork.  How un-American! ;-)  Unless, you're eating deep-dish in Chicago, of course.

Tomorrow is a day off riding since we need the whole day to explore Venice.  There is still much to see, do, eat, and ride.  Stay tuned.

Well, it's finally time to see if I'm ready.  We flew in to Italy today (via Frankfurt) and have made it to Marostica.

Since we got in late in the day, we didn't have time to ride today.  We visited Bassano del Grappa, a very nice city with plenty of shopping and plazas.  We got the bikes put back together (the gorillas at the Frankfurt airport man-handled mine) and had a terrific dinner at the hotel (see picture).  It sounds like we're starting with a bang tomorrow:  del Grappa, a tall looking climb from the city level.  Meanwhile, Jennifer and Siv will spend the morning scoping out downtown Marostica.

Tourists in Venice on Friday, most likely.

Need to go to bed.  I've been up since June 19th 5:45AM not counting about three hours on the ride over the pond.  Maybe four.  It's 11:30 PM here now.

Ciao.

Jeff