Rest Day – Siena
0 miles ridden - 0 feet climbed although walking around Siena it doen't feel like it. Woke up and lay there - no need to move - no early breakfast - no lycra - just lie and enjoy. It's the simple luxuries in life that make the difference. After a leisurely breakfast...
Day 6 – Florence to Siena
54 miles ridden - 4600 feet climbed Today was another hot day with lots of small climbs rather than the long drags we had yesterday. The day began with a coach transfer from our hotel in Pistoia to the centre of Florence in order to avoid the extensive navigation...
Day 5 – Guiglia to Pistoia
67 miles ridden - 5500 feet climbed. Another glorious day - at least that's what I think - through picturesque countryside and attractive little villages and towns. The temperature was better - around 28C - and the breeze wasn't to bad especially when it was behind us...
Day 4 – Mantova to Guiglia
82 miles ridden - 1800 feet climbed Today was Sue's longest ride ever and she was on great form: It's a bit blurred because I took it over my shoulder while moving but you can see it's a fist-pump! Again it was hot but for the first 75 miles very, very flat. With flat...
Day 3 – Garda to Mantova
53 miles ridden - 1200 feet climbed Another beautiful yet very hot day began with a ferry ride on Lake Garda from Riva Del Garda to Garda itself as the roads round the lake are extremely busy with lots of curving 'blind corner' tunnels which are to be avoided on a...
Day 2 – Bolzano to Riva Del Garda
76 miles ridden - 4100 feet climbed Today was hot. According to my Garmin the highest temperature was 42C, I saw a town display showing 34C, either way it was hot. Our climbing was covered in 4 sections, 2 of which were after a delicious yet physically limited bowl of...
Day 1 – Brenner to Bolzano
62 miles cycled - 491m climbed The day turned out to be hotter and harder than expected. Essentially we cycled downhill dropping from about 5000 feet to about 2000 feet but still managed to climb around 1500 feet in the process. Interesting dynamic that! After...
The Italian Job starts Saturday
On Saturday morning we fly out to Munich to meet up with the other members of our Group. You can view a detailed summary of our trip via the link below. Italy Tour Summary May 2017 We have all the detailed daily sheets so now know that we will be cycling 725 miles. We...
Training again…..
Sue and I are at Club La Santa in Lanzarote for our annual exercise punishment and to do a bit of cycle training for our Italian trip. Some of you may remember from last year that we come here every May to punish ourselves - run, cycle, swim, Fitball class, core...
Epilogue Part 2 – I think….
It is 275 days since I posted part 1 and at least once per day ever since I have spent time wondering exactly what to say. I lived a 25 year old dream. It was every euphoric and every dull moment crammed into an 8 week journey although as many of you will recall the...