Saddling up for our own Giro D’Italia
LAWRENCE MATHESON takes on a self-guided 280km cycle ride from the Italian Alps to the Adriatic
WE came. We saw. We cycled. We came close to not going at all. There were some U-turns on this tour – some before we got on our bikes.
Novice cyclists might think a 280-kilometre ride from the Italian Alps to the Adriatic is mission impossible. Not me. Carpe diem.
Three of us signed up for the self-guided ride beginning in Bolzano, crossing the ‘finish line’ six days later in Venice.
Could I keep up with my competitive brother Andrew, a paid member of the lycra brigade?
Joining us would be Jeff, my sister’s partner. He hates coming second. Family board games are tense affairs.
The tour is described as suitable for families and ‘easy’ with few hills. I knew when the pedalling began the rivalry would be as fierce as gladiators battling it out in the Colosseum.
Was I fit enough? My intensive training programme and crash diet hadn’t materialised. The tour was weeks away. The scales told me I was still a heavyweight.
I was the weak link in this chain gang. Andrew, aged 57, shares his cycling feats (he bikes to work and back) with his virtual pals on Strava.
Jeff, 48, had turned his commute into a workout, hopping off the bus early to walk and swapping the lift for the stairs to reach his office.
Would I do myself justice on our Giro D’Italia? I wanted to back out. I called the tour organisers, Freedom Treks, to share my doubts. They made me an offer I could not refuse – an electric bike. This would even things up. I would still do most of the leg work, but with a little assistance.
The tour was back on. I headed to Decathlon and bought padded shorts and tops that were too constrictive to be healthy.
The night before the tour I struggled to sleep. There would be sprints and mountain ahead. Earlier we had been shown our bikes, given route planners and maps. Green arrow stickers along the route would also show us the way.
I loaded up on energy, devouring a dinner that included bruschetta, pasta, steak, apple strudel. Oh, I almost forgot the cheese board. Andrew was preoccupied with showing off his Italian to the waiters.
We would be travelling light. Our luggage would be transported.
I wanted to make a good start. The day before, we visited an exhibition about Otzi the Iceman, a glacier mummy from the Copper Age. Unlike Otzi, I didn’t want to be caught cold. I flew out of the starting blocks.
For the first two days, we were on the most beautiful cycle path. It took us alongside rivers, by mountains, past orchards, through vineyards, next to castles.
The stunning scenery almost made me switch off, but I was fully focused on arrival at Trento. When they stopped to admire a medieval fresco, I sprinted past to take the 70km stage.
The e-bike did make a lot of the cycling seem effortless.
In the evening, we were in high spirits as we watched life go by in Trento’s magnificent centuries-old Palazzo Pretorio. After charging the e-bike overnight, I too felt re-energised from a high-carb breakfast.
Jeff was tucking into bacon and eggs and returning for more. His nutritional intake was sub-optimal to say the least. We relaxed into a wonderful rhythm of cycling, eating, talking and touring.
My two cycling companions were distracted once again as we made our descent to the glistening waters of Lake Garda. Film-buff Jeff had spotted some tunnels alongside the lake that featured in the James Bond movie Quantum of Solace.I stirred myself and left Andrew and Jeff shaken as I put in a sprint to ‘win’ another stage, before we put our feet up on a four-hour ferry ride across Lake Garda.
In the days that followed, the cycling was mostly on cycle paths or quiet secondary roads.
In Verona, we visited the first century amphitheatre and watched young couples posing at Romeo and Juliet’s balcony. Then it was back to the unofficial race. The 72km stage to Vicenza would be a test. There was a mountain climb before we made the descent into Vicenza. Jeff finally showed his true colours, wearing a red and black Chris Boardman jersey (Boardman is an Olympic gold medal winner). This was a visible statement of intent. Jeff wanted to be King of the Mountains.
When we arrived at the foot of the climb I was ‘in the zone.’ A lot of cycling is done between the ears. It’s a test of mental toughness. I made an all-out attack. I only turned the e-bike to its maximum setting briefly and shot up the mountain. Where was I finding the strength? It must have been 10 minutes before Jeff inched his way to the summit, followed closely by Andrew. I was lying on the grass thinking about what to eat for dinner when their huffing and puffing disturbed my reverie. In Vicenza, we enjoyed the classical Palladio architecture.
Throughout the tour the food was a culinary journey, as we enjoyed a risotto in a Verona bistro and seafood linguine with a glass of wine in Padua. The desserts looked like works of art and tasted heavenly. We were being served food for the gods and it felt like we were starring in our own version of Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon’s The Trip. We rarely lost our way, thanks to Jeff’s faultless map reading. When we did, it was usually after I had forged ahead, only for to him shout ‘not that way Lawrence!.’
In Padua, we spent a wonderful night in an outdoor venue listening to Ennio Morricone’s film scores. For a week, the verdant region that is Veneto had been our playground, much of the time under clear blue skies.
As the days went by, any worries or concerns evaporated as we enjoyed the freedom, tranquillity and simplicity of just following the path ahead.
The last leg of the journey took us close to Venice. We cycled past magnificent mansions as we neared this World Heritage Site, a spectacular end to a spectacular ride.
We had arrived by the sea. We had reached the end of the road.