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Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Sunday's Winter Wander

Hi Folks,
I'm planning to do the Audax, Wandong winter Wander on Sunday 27th. The distances vary from 50 to 100,150 and 200k's. Details for the ride are below, let me know if you are considering it and perhaps we can drive across in the White Lightning. Don't leave it too late if you plan to ride as organisers need a bit of notice.
Sunday 27th June -- 200km & 150km 8 am start / 100km 9 am start / 50km 10 am start.
Contact: Lorraine Allen Tel: 03 5783 2427
Make a comment if you still intend to ride from Lancefield on Sunday morning to let others know there is a ride on.
More from Italy...
Traviata was great, and Pete didn't go to sleep (chairs weren't very comfortable really). Had to dodge a thunderstorm which was a portent of the weather to come!
From Venice we headed along the Benta past all the Palazzi, through Padua and down to Montagrotto Terme, ignored by Lonely Planet but full of accom for the hot springs. The camping ground had a swimming pool next door so Glo was happy, altho the lack of goggles meant a trip to the chemist for eye drops the next day. From here we headed toward Mantua as it started to rain again so we found a train and got out of the rain. Mantua was terrific and the tourist info (when we found it) found us a b&b around the corner. The rain had stopped so we walked the town and had an overpriced meal (should have read the Lonely Planet). Next day was raining again and Pete was restless so we decided it was time to head to the mountains. We changed trains in Milan and had some luck in deciding that Sondrio would be our destination. Sondrio is a great little town full of fruit shops and book shops. Very pleasant which was just as well as we had not left the rain behind. On the next day thurs 17, the sky cleared for long enough for us to think the climb to Bormio was a possibility. We managed less than 20k before the drizzle turned to rain and the temperature dropped a s well. By the timed we reappeared at our hotel we were all much the worse for wear. We had lunch and dried the clothes and shoes in a laundromat as Pete slept.
Forecast was for more rain so I will have to leave the Stelvio pass for another trip. We ran into some riders on the Bella Italia tour that we were thinking of doing and they told us that they had come through 5 days of rain in the Dolimiti and snow over Stelvio and couldn't see a bloody thing!
From Sondrio we had a good days riding partly on bike paths when we could find them and then along Lago Como down nearly to Lecco before Glo, nervously eyeing off the loomng tunnel didn't notice the longitudinal crack in the bitumen waiting for her. Fortunately we had a doctor with us and enough patches to shame the invisible man and we were soon on our way to the camping ground next to the lake. No long term effects that she will admit to from the spill.
From Lecco the next morning (yesterday) we headed up the west side of the east arm of the lake to Bellagio, a very pretty village at the end of the middle arm of the lake. On the way we thought we might try to ride to the bicycle chapel and museo at Ghiselle but were deterred early on by 1) Glo not being able to start the climb because it was so steep and 2) several riders telling us not to try! Another climb to put on the list.
We headed to Como after Bellagio on a narrow twisting and very busy road (traffic in Italy has been really kind to us). We sat out the start of the storm about ten k's from Como but it kept raining so after making a hotel booking we got drenched again on our way in.
Found some roast chickens last night for a feast in out apartment and woke up to more rain and a very cool temperature (probably a bit warmer than where some of you are, however). It is still raining (doesn't deter some of the locals - they have two hands one to hold the umbrella and one to hold the bike's handlebars)
Hopefully the weather will improve tomorrow as forecast and we can do a big loop across to the west and then south to Pavia and Mede to visit Glo's Aunt and then into Milano for the last couple of days before we leave.
cheers
Andy

2 comments:

  1. Hi all, Pete and I won't be going to the Audax ride, mores the pity. We will be riding from Lancefield at 9 though it anyone else is interested.......cheers, Meaghan

    p.s. Happy riding to those who do the Wandong Audax ride!

    ReplyDelete
  2. A bit of a change of plans for Pete and I, we won't be riding on Sunday after all.....cheers, Meaghan

    ReplyDelete