The Biking Thread

[sunvalleylaw]

Ok, starting to travel home and will post a few more ride reports while on the train to Milan. Will stow bags downtown, and walk town today. Then train to airport, airport hotel, then shuttle and flight home tomorrow.

Got some nice riding in on and off over the last couple weeks here. First up, in and around Agordo/Tibon up in the Dolomites. My wife and daughter joined some others in our party for a Refugio to Refugio (chalet to chalet) hike. Some with helmets and Via feratta (sp?) gear to hook on to cables. They were not near the horrible tragedy that just happened when a glacier broke under climate stress. Thankfully.

anyway, I was going to join a couple days later but there were some weather concerns. So I stayed down with a car in case I needed to go pick them up somewhere. And got some bike rides in.

At first, found it hard to find anything other than an e-bike. But it was so steep, if I left the assist on low, I still was getting a hard workout. And sometimes I needed to bump that assist up to get up a few things. No IMBA mellow grade trails here!

sorry on a train on my phone and poor woman-fi so I can’t fix the uploads easily.

First pic, just happened to run into a friend from little Hailey, ID doing a bike tour with his family. We knew they would be in the region, but had no expectation that we would see them. They just happened to be at the bike shop where I was renting, to deal with a mechanical problem. Small world!

I love the public potable watering stations everywhere. Able to refill with cold clean water often.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Second day with a friend of my wife’s in the same area, still on e-bike. Plus our little Fiat 500L. That little thing did well for travel for us with four and gear/luggage. Handled the hills and curves like a champ as long as I kept the power band in mind and used the upper range of the RPM’s.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Next, San Martino Primerio to San Martino di Castrozza. Found a decent gravel bike to rent. Non-e assist. High to very high. Mostly bike path. Ended up on the wrong single track with some epic hike a bike. Very fun day. Returned via the highway down. Cars gave me room. One sport biker looked like he was going to hit me but it was ok.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Two days in Riva del Garda at the north end of Lake Garda. Lots of cycling here. Mostly mountain bike. I explored on my own one day, and my wife and daughter came out for pet of my second day in the same area, then I went on further around another little lake at the top of a pass.

Day 1.

with Kraken Salat at the end.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Day two. Earlier, heat of day. Busy. Still beautiful and fun.

Out three plus hours. Birra on the way. Burning tons off Cals. Had a few figs and a roll in my pockets too. Touring on a nice carbon KTM 29er hard tail. Learned some better cornering on the way down the paved switchbacks following a local on a similar bike.

I liked that fountain too.
And another good watering station I found.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

all done now. Going to try to hit the Bianchi Bike Museum and Caffe today, as well as check out the Duomo. And whatever else.

 

[nuke_diver]

like I said on FB some gorgeous rides. Looks like an epic vacation

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Bianchi Bike caffè in Milan ended up being closed down. Pandemic I guess. But found some other good stuff to look at walking around Milan. I. The airport now through security and awaiting our first leg of the flight home. It was a nice vacation, and I am happy with the riding I did.

 

[Mark Wein]

Day two. Earlier, heat of day. Busy. Still beautiful and fun.

Out three plus hours. Birra on the way. Burning tons off Cals. Had a few figs and a roll in my pockets too. Touring on a nice carbon KTM 29er hard tail. Learned some better cornering on the way down the paved switchbacks following a local on a similar bike.

I liked that fountain too.
And another good watering station I found.
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Incredible pics!

I just started riding again, although qhwn I go with my kids its slower and shorter than what I'd like. This was yesterday's rid by myself:

 

[Tig]

Bianchi Bike caffè in Milan ended up being closed down. Pandemic I guess. But found some other good stuff to look at walking around Milan. I. The airport now through security and awaiting our first leg of the flight home. It was a nice vacation, and I am happy with the riding I did.

That was an awesome trip. It's hard to leave such beauty behind.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Ni

Incredible pics!

I just started riding again, although qhwn I go with my kids its slower and shorter than what I'd like. This was yesterday's rid by myself:

nice!

 

[Lerxst]

Did the Fam enjoy the trip or are they biked out for a lifetime ?

 

[Mark Wein]

T

Ni

nice!

Thanks! Just trying to get back in shape. Since everyone in the house now has a gym membership and I'm their ride to the gym most ofd the time I've been getting much more cardio work in between rides so it was much easier to go that distance in that time than it would have been in the past.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

And sorry I kind of blew up the page with them. Page takes a while to load now. At the airport in SLC. The flight from Amsterdam to SLC left late so we missed our connecting into SV. Waiting now until 8:55 to see if we will get on the later flight, or they will put us up in a hotel until tomorrow’s flight. Peris of travel.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Did the Fam enjoy the trip or are they biked out for a lifetime ?

They only rode a day or so. And they enjoyed the bike time, and gained confidence. So all good!

 

[sunvalleylaw]

like I said on FB some gorgeous rides. Looks like an epic vacation

Yeah, if anyone wants to see more about the rides, or maps, etc., my rides are all on Strava under my FB Steve Thompson name, most with some pics, some of the same, some others. My wife and daughter focused more on hiking, and did a hike including some really steep tunnels up a pass from WWI where the Italians hauled up artillery to defend against the Austrians. Apparently, Italians use those to hike, or just walk their dogs and cats. Italians seem tough as hell physically, as compared to what most Americans consider a walk or a hike.

They also did a Refugio (mountain hut/chalet supported) hike in the Dolomites, some of which involved Via Ferratta , which is a harness that hooks on to a cable, and helmets. Exposure. I was going to join them part way through, but the weather looked dodgy with lightning and thunder, and they we rerouting lower, and it looked like I might need to hold on to the car rather than dump it at a shuttle point, in case they needed out. Weather worked out for them, and they got some great hiking in. And I ended up biking more. Then we rejoined for heading to the lake, and later Milan. It was good especially for Anneka, to do that hard climb on that 29er hard tail, and feel good about it, stopping when they did. She is motivated to bike more now. Gwen likes to bike when there are other friends or the kids, but prefers to hike if it is just us on our own. We crossover some together, but also do our own workouts. And she had fun on this ride. Will do a hike like that another trip.

Gwen and Anneka with our friends, Lori, and her daughter, Elana. It was Lori's 60th birthday trip, and she invited us to join us in that villa in LaValle Agordina on Duran Pass, and for any that wanted to join on the hut hike. Everyone found good stuff to do, and I was able to support transport of Lori's other daughter,who was not going, another friend who was not, be available if they needed to pull out, and also get my training and enjoyment/exploration rides in, so it all worked out.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

As a side note, within the last couple days, there was a huge tragedy in the region involving a glacier we had seen and viewed in car travel, in a part of the Dolomites we were not hiking or biking. The glacier let go due to way higher than normal temps. (thanks, climate change), and killed at least 7 folks and maybe more, and injured a bunch of others. I am so saddened that this is what is happening, and am also very glad my family and friends were not near. My middle kid, Dane, is trying to guide on the glacier up above Juneau, but they keep having to cancel trips for safety, as the glacier is too unstable where they normally access above the calving point at the nose. This shit is starting to really bite us. *sigh*. Not the point of these posts, but an important aside.

 

[MonkeyZero]

Looks like an incredible trip. I have been craving Europe since we got back from Milan and Switzerland in April. I wanna do Amsterdam with the wife and maybe Rome.

 

[Tig]

I haven't been to Europe in 45 years, and it looks like I'll never return unless a lottery win is in the cards.

 

[MonkeyZero]

I haven't been to Europe in 45 years, and it looks like I'll never return unless a lottery win is in the cards.

It ain't cheap, that's for sure. We're shooting for 2025 and not holding our breath.
We were wanting to go to Japan and started planning back in 2018 but that stopped real quick when we realized it was gonna be about 15k all told for one week for 3 people. That and neither the wife nor I want to fly 20 hours in coach. That business class drives the price up real fast.