I’m sure most of you could understand my angst when I arrived at Marco Polo Airport (Venice, Italy) without incident, but also without my bicycle. Being without a bicycle for a bicycling trip would be worrisome enough, but the thought of losing my Project-One Trek 5900 was devastating. Of course, the airline found my bike in Madrid, but it took two days to get it to me in Italy. To top it off, my shoes and pedals were in the bike case; otherwise, I could have borrowed a bicycle. As it was, I planned to take a day to visit Venice, so I really only lost one day of bicycling. There could be worse things to do than to spend a day wandering around Venice.

I went to Italy to ride hard and sight-see for a week. I signed up with the Italian Cycling Center (ICC), run by George Pohl, a somewhat crusty old man with many opinions, which he is glad to share. It is based at the Locanda Montegrappa, a small family-run hotel, in the village of Borso del Grappa, located about 60-70 miles northwest of Venice. The village sits at the base of the towering Monte Grappa, which is about 5,800 feet high and about 60 miles in circumference. This is a popular training ground for cyclists, and the roads were sprinkled every day with cyclists of all ages in full team kit. Apparently, several ProTour riders train here also.

Each morning, after a hearty breakfast, we rode out at 8 AM to meet up with others at a bus stop (similar to Cow Pasture) and returned about 1 PM for lunch. Lunch and dinner were always four courses. To say the food was incredible would be a serious understatement. In fact, despite riding 4-5 hours every day, you could easily gain weight if you weren’t careful. I also learned to consider the local Italian table wine part of my recovery meal.

George sets his stronger riders up with Leopoldo Ceccon. Leopoldo is a former Italian racer who now rides every morning and opens his bicycle store every afternoon at 2 PM. Even though he must be in his sixties, he rode my legs off. Ironically, he rides a Giant TCR spec’d with Shimano components. However, I think he had a SRAM 11-28 cassette which allowed him to spin up many of the huge climbs in the area.

The first day, Leopoldo took me for a quick 60 mile spin around the base of the Monte Grappa. It was rolling with only one small climb of about a mile at a 10% grade. However, Leopold pulled the entire time, never stopped for 3 hours, and also never ate or drank. I began to understand his nickname “the camel.” I think he said something to me once, but in Italian. Apparently, he likes to be in front, and if you offer to pull, he thinks you want to go faster.

The second day, we again met up at the bus stop and headed north up the Brenta River Valley for a 75 mile ride. The river is lined by towering 2-3,000 foot rock walls that form a very narrow valley. As a result, you get a strong wind from the north each morning. We rode through the beautiful town of Valstagna and then onto a great bike path cut into the rock wall above the river. Then a right turn, and we began a 5 mile climb up about 2,000 feet to Castello Tesino. Luckily, I got a little ahead of Leopoldo so that I could jump off my bike and fill my bottles at a roadside fountain, before chasing him back down. Then, we descended. The view was incredible, but with several miles of switchbacks, including two inside a short tunnel, I focused on braking and cornering.

On the third day, we again went up the valley. This time, we turned left and climbed up to the Asiago plateau for a 70 mile ride. I learned the previous day, when Leopoldo removes his helmet, we’re going to be climbing for a while. This time we climbed 8 miles at a 10% grade through 18 tornanti (switchbacks) from the river at about 500 feet, up a rock face, through an alpine forest, and then out of the trees and onto an alpine meadow at about 4,300 feet. Leopoldo was actually eating a banana while he waited for me. Then we climbed another 2 miles across the Asiago plateau. What a scene: the dolomites over my shoulder, cows lowing, cowbells ringing, and a beautiful road across this open field. Luckily, I was able to get Leopoldo to stop at a bar for a quick espresso and water-bottle refill. Then we descended for about 15 miles, through Foza and back to Valstagna. This descent had 20 tornanti, and my hands were numb by the bottom.

On the last day, George took me and two others who had joined us to ride the Passo Rolle, a great pass in the Dolomites just north of our location. We started at about 1,800 feet and the road was fairly flat for a couple of miles before climbing for 20 miles to about 6,300 feet. The climb wasn’t bad, as it was mostly about a 6% grade, just long. There was a moderate amount of traffic, especially Austrian motorcyclists, but they were courteous. An elderly man passed me going down on a townie bike. I’m sure he had just noodled to the top for his morning spin. When we got to the top, we had lunch at a bar before descending. Two hours up; one hour down.

That night, I packed the bike for the return home. This time the bike and I arrived together, although a day later than expected, which is another story. Although it was a long way to go for only four days of riding, it was well worth it.

- Doug Keim