Caution: These vehicles make frequent stops
The main event is complete, but there’s still plenty of stuff to resolve. It’s Saturday afternoon and I’m at a vacation rental in Rablà (Italy). My flight back to the US leaves from Munich (Germany) on Wednesday morning. So what to do with all of that time? Saturday First things first. And then we made […]
Read More Alps 2024 – The Wind Down and The ReturnLast night I started feeling a bit unwell and found I couldn’t eat very much and my stomach was upset. This isn’t uncommon for me, but it was still frustrating when in an ideal situation I’m eating a lot at the end of the day. On an earlier part of the trip I might have […]
Read More Alps 2024 — Day 11: Vipiteno to Rablà via MeranoLast night we woke up in a small B&B that we’d booked the afternoon prior. This has been our normal process — put together a rough plan for the day and then during a break in the afternoon when we’re more confident in our ultimate mileage (kilometerage?) we book something using our phones. Today it’s […]
Read More Alps 2024 — Day 10: Villabassa to VipitenoSurprise, surprise, today we’re going on a bike ride! There’s a certain routine to our days now. Harald and I can (and do) pack up without a word. Shared items like toothpaste, sunscreen and the good tire pump just show up where they’re needed without discussion. It’s getting hard to imagine a day where we […]
Read More Alps 2024 — Day 9: Sauris to Villabassa via CortinaLast night we had “the talk”: A routing discussion where we took a close look at the remaining “aspirational” route through Italy and Slovenia to see what’s practical based on a lot of different factors. We’re due back in Merano on Saturday, so the days of riding are limited. We’re sort of getting to know […]
Read More Alps 2024 — Day 8: Pieve di Cadore to SaurisA good rebound for us after an exhausting day yesterday. Still a lot at 102km and 2000m of climbing, but most of the climbing was done by 1:30 because the three passes (Sella, Pordoi, and Falzarago) came in relatively quick succession. But first, we’re in another hotel with decent Internet, so here’s some video goodness: […]
Read More Alps 2024 — Day 7: Selva di Val Gardena to Pieve di CadoreI was able to edit a short video of today’s ride, if you’re interested. Today was a brutal day for us. It started out well — our hotelier had a beautiful breakfast laid out and good coffee at the ready. We were on the road by 7:30. First a little meandering and then a brief […]
Read More Alps 2024 — Day 6: Brez to Selva di Val GardenaToday we made a few changes to our route on the fly. Originally we had planned to climb the Mortirolo out of Tirano, but we thought better of that since my knees have been tricky. That climb is a monster, averaging 10+% and we didn’t need to put ourselves through that. Instead we detoured around […]
Read More Alps 2024 — Day 5: Stazzona to BrezToday’s update will be brief (Ed: I guess I lied); as I’m starting to write. it’s 11:15 and we’ve got an early start planned tomorrow. Leaving from Filisur at about 7am, we were already partially up the Albula Pass. so immediately we were into the climbing, real mountain roads, no warmups. About 45 minutes in, […]
Read More Alps 2024 — Day 4: Filisur, Switzerland to Stazzona, ItalyToday the forecast was for wet and cold and my knee was still questionable, so we altered the route to avoid some of the first pass and lots of climbing. Instead we stayed closer to the Rhine for the first few hours. We left early and pretty quickly we explored a bit of the Vaduz, […]
Read More Alps 2024 — Day 3: Buchs to Filisur