rec.bicycles.rides · Public discussion

Re: lost in Veneto, Italy

Ken Roberts · 2005-09-21T02:20:14+00:00

Rick wrote More Brits than Americans [ in Tuscany ]. Sharon and I usually enjoy encountering Brits -- again because it's different for us. But one evening in Chianti after coming in late from a long ride we could find only one food-providing establishment open in the town of Radda, so we went in and then discovered that 80% of the customers at other tables were Americans -- and including one man at the table next to us who was in the same industry and was loudly telling a story which demonstrated his professional mastery, then followed by another story which showed the sophistication of his knowledge of the wine business. This came after a previous afternoon of walking around the city of Florence where it seemed like half the conversations included the voices of American students talking about the turns of their romantic relationships. Which seemed amusing at the time. But when followed by our American restaurant experience it was all just too much, so the next day we got out of there and headed for Umbria. If I had to choose one place to go and ride, it would be in the Dolomites. Many of the famous spectacular "bicycling" passes in Dolomites are in Veneto (e.g. Giau, Falzarego, Valparola, Tre Croci) or on the border between Veneto and Sudtirol / Trentino - Alto Adige (e.g. Fedaia, Pordoi) if you want to travel light is to carry light bags and use the train for distance transport. Makes sense. Actually I prefer to travel heavy. I like to bring along my inline-skates, and a good set of bicycle tools and replacement parts, and lots of maps. So I like having a car, because: * it makes it easy to carry lots of stuff. * makes it easy to carry our tandem bicycle (though since it's a Bike Friday, it might be possible to partly disassemble it to become permissible to bring on a train). * makes it easy to "cheat" in various ways on setting up rides -- e.g. start the Sella Ronda loop at the junction of the Passo Sella and Passo Pordoi roads, instead of down in Canazei. Sometimes Sharon and I riding on our tandem need all the help we can get. * I often save money and time by sleeping in my rental car (for which I bring a light sleeping bag) * I just enjoy car-driving on the European roads. It's another thing that makes Europe interestingly different from America. Ken

Started by Ken Roberts · 21 September 2005 · Last activity 22 September 2005 · 3 posts · 671 views

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Original section: rec.bicycles.rides
Published: 21 September 2005
Last activity: 22 September 2005
Original author: Ken Roberts
Posts: 3
Discussion status: Public discussion
Total views: 671
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Original post
Ken Roberts
Archived post

21 September 2005, 02:20 UTC #1

Rick wrote
Quoted message said:
More Brits than Americans [ in Tuscany ].
Sharon and I usually enjoy encountering Brits -- again because it's
different for us. But one evening in Chianti after coming in late from a
long ride we could find only one food-providing establishment open in the
town of Radda, so we went in and then discovered that 80% of the customers
at other tables were Americans -- and including one man at the table next to
us who was in the same industry and was loudly telling a story which
demonstrated his professional mastery, then followed by another story which
showed the sophistication of his knowledge of the wine business.
This came after a previous afternoon of walking around the city of Florence
where it seemed like half the conversations included the voices of American
students talking about the turns of their romantic relationships. Which
seemed amusing at the time. But when followed by our American restaurant
experience it was all just too much, so the next day we got out of there and
headed for Umbria.
Quoted message said:
If I had to choose one place to go and ride, it would be in the Dolomites.
Many of the famous spectacular "bicycling" passes in Dolomites are in Veneto
(e.g. Giau, Falzarego, Valparola, Tre Croci) or on the border between Veneto
and Sudtirol / Trentino - Alto Adige (e.g. Fedaia, Pordoi)
Quoted message said:
if you want to travel light is to carry light bags and
use the train for distance transport.
Makes sense. Actually I prefer to travel heavy. I like to bring along my
inline-skates, and a good set of bicycle tools and replacement parts, and
lots of maps. So I like having a car, because:
* it makes it easy to carry lots of stuff.
* makes it easy to carry our tandem bicycle (though since it's a Bike
Friday, it might be possible to partly disassemble it to become permissible
to bring on a train).
* makes it easy to "cheat" in various ways on setting up rides -- e.g. start
the Sella Ronda loop at the junction of the Passo Sella and Passo Pordoi
roads, instead of down in Canazei. Sometimes Sharon and I riding on our
tandem need all the help we can get.
* I often save money and time by sleeping in my rental car (for which I
bring a light sleeping bag)
* I just enjoy car-driving on the European roads. It's another thing that
makes Europe interestingly different from America.
Ken

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Rick
Archived post

21 September 2005, 22:33 UTC #2

Ken Roberts said:
Rick wrote
Quoted message said:
* makes it easy to "cheat" in various ways on setting up rides -- e.g. start
the Sella Ronda loop at the junction of the Passo Sella and Passo Pordoi
roads, instead of down in Canazei. Sometimes Sharon and I riding on our
tandem need all the help we can get.
If I were going to do a one-day loop of the ring I would probably
overnight in Arabba; then I would have the choice of heading north out
of town over Campolongo for a counter-clockwise loop, or west over
Pordoi for a clockwise loop.
- rick

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Ken Roberts
Archived post

22 September 2005, 13:10 UTC #3

Rick wrote
Quoted message said:
If I were going to do a one-day loop of the ring
I would probably overnight in Arabba
Yes, starting from Arabba is another way to avoid the extra climbing. But
Sharon and I already had a hotel room to the west in the beautiful wide
Adige valley between Bozen and Trento, in a place that Sharon liked. Since I
have the remarkable fortune to be in long-term romantic relationship with
someone who is willing to join me in some of the great bicycling areas of
the world -- and who does not argue against me riding some extra days there
on my own -- I found myself able to endure the hardship of riding the great
Sella Ronda from an imperfect start-point.
Having a car with a rear rack gave us the flexibility to:
* not need to move to a different hotel room. We just drove up from the west
thru Canazei that same morning.
* easily enjoy on other days: riding with our tandem on some gentler roads
and bike trails in the Adige valley.
* be in a village and hotel in Italy where German is the main language.
Sharon was a German major in college.
* drive to a trailhead to do a hike Sharon wanted to try on another day.
* be in position to "cheat" again the next day in the Adige valley: by
somehow squeezing our tandem bicycle into the cog railway train from St
Anton (near Kaltern) up to the Mendelpass, which saved us ! 800 vertical
meters of steep climbing. Then long riding (mostly gentle, and much down)
with view across a valley filled with apple orchards and villages. Found it
pretty to ride alongside apple trees, even though I'm don't eat apples much.
Gelato stop in Cles, then more descending, into a gorge back into the Adige
valley (including a hard-to-find car-free road from the Rocchetta
intersection into Mezzecorona), then a beautiful ride north thru the
vineyards on the west side of the Adige valley, underneath dramatic cliffs.
(Let's have the Tuscany-riding partisans tell us about a route that good).
Only drawback was we still had to do a hefty climb from the Kalternsee up to
the bottom of the cog railway in St Anton (perhaps an opportunity for more
sophisticated cheating next time).
I think the flexibility and "cheating" by clever use of a car is what
allowed me to "make the sale" to be there riding in Italy at all -- and
greatly increased the probability that I'll get back there again.
Ken

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