I'm finally home. Woke up at 3:30 this morning in Italy and arrived in Berkeley at 7:00 pm. I'm tired and wired at the same time...ahhh, the joys of jet lag. Ali stopped to see family on the way home but I'm sure she'll be adding her stories here soon.In short I'll say that the trip was Incredible!!!! Our last few days of riding were epic.
Saturday we did our 3rd and final UDACE race. I raced hard and had a lot of fun. I tried to limit my efforts to the attacks that looked promising but the well represented teams just kept throwing stuff out there until one finally stuck and then protected the escapees to perfection. Some women showed up to race with Ali, including the Women's UDACE Champion. Ali did great but I'll let her share the details.
Sunday we drove into the Dolomites and ended up climbing the Passo Fedaia, Passo Pordoi and Passo Campolongo. The climb up the Marmalada over Passo Fedaia was brutal (rumor has it one of our group had to get off their bike.) What an epic day of riding!!! (Unfortunately the day ended on a sour note when we found the van had been burgled while we were riding.)Monday was our last day on the bike in Italy and what was supposed to be a mellow day turned into another assault of Monte Grappa. Zipping down to Bassano for some nice sipping grappa dulled the pain a little but after this day we were cooked.
Stats for the trip:
Ride Days: 13 (of 14)
Ride Time: 39 Hours
Ride Distance: ~620 Miles!
Thanks again to Pat and the other riders at Velo Veneto, good people and good fun!
Happy July 4!!
More photos soon!
PS Links fixed
5 comments:
I read your posts about this trip. It sounded fantastic.
This trip sounds amazing - and the scary part.....you guys are going to be riding like monsters now!!! 620 miles in 13 days....with racing....and epic Euro terrain?? Oh yeah - there's upgrades coming in your futures.
Welcome Home!
What an incredible trip! Can't wait to hear about Ali's race.
Becky :)
Wow, one of my favorite areas, the Dolomites. I told Ali while we talked at Hamilton that I was extremely jealous ... still am.
I did not think Fedaia was so bad; 13% or so max from that direction. Payoff is being along Marmolada. Then coming over Campalongo into the Val di Badia is priceless.
Thanks for jogging the memories. Sounds like a fabulous trip!!
Nice Training!
We'll have to get out soon.
J
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