Everyone was up early and excited about the last ride of the trip: an out and back over the Gavia. The Gavia is the 10th highest pass in the Alps and often featured as the Cima Coppi (highest point) on the Giro D’Italia. From our hotel in Bormio it would be just over 31 miles…

The day after the Stelvio, I was not feeling all that well she I woke up and was contemplating not riding. I had booked a massage for the late afternoon and would have been content to rest all morning. But, plans were being made to ride up a pass towards Livigno, a ski town near…

This post is much delayed…but I hope it’s worth the wait. I was too tired to post when we completed the ride, and then the next two days got away from me, too. So, pretend I posted this on Tuesday. Today’s ride was what the entire Italy trip was building to: climbing the famous Passo…

After several days of riding, we earned a day off today. We slept in, strolled, shopped, did laundry, napped, checked in with family, ate gelato and pizza, and anything else not bike related that felt right including wishing Larry Happy Birthday! For his present, we have a big ride from Bolzano to Bormio planned tomorrow,…

Sunday was get away day from Alleghe. The plan was to ride to Bolzano over Passo Fedaia, one of the toughest climbs in the Dolomites. What makes this route particularly tough is that the climb starts at just 3% but gets steeper the higher you get, until you’re riding over 12% for the last 3…

Today’s ride was a big one, with four climbs totaling over 8000 ft of climbing over 62 miles. The voices were loud at the start — “your legs aren’t read my for this,” “you don’t have enough water”, “you’ll never finish”, “better tell the guides to look for you by the side of the road.”…

Road cycling is still relatively new to me. Before I started riding the Pan Mass Challenge in 2016 I had never ridden more than about 25 miles. I was a runner and before that a soccer player so I had fitness, but both of those activities are bounded — I usually ran only a few…

The first day in the Dolomites (almost) did not disappoint! That almost was for Larry, whose bike crapped out before we even left for the morning. The battery for his shifters was dead and so he headed to the bike shop to see if it could be fixed. They thought they fixed it and sent…