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Our last big ride was on Saturday when we rode from Lake Iseo to Varenna on Lake Como. Again the weather was great and it was getting pretty warm already early in the day. About 5km from the top of the first pass of the day, the Passo di Zambla we were stopped by a police officer who told us that because of a motorcycle race, the road was closed and we could not go through. The only alternative was to go back down and ride an additional 40km across a steep pass to get back on our scheduled route. This would be virtually impossible for us because it was already a long and tough stage without this! After more than 20 minutes of arguing we noticed that a local cyclist had cunningly taken advantage of a momentary loss of concentration by the sole police office and crossed the barrier to ride up the mountain. Once the police man noticed this he gave up and waved us all through! This picture captures the moment quite well:

We then rode up on an empty road where all the motorcycle teams were setting up their pit crews by the side. A bit higher up we entered the actual race course which was still being laid out. It was going to be a time trial up the mountain but luckily it was not starting until later in the day. So we made it to the top without any trouble. After a fantastic descent we then all sat down in the sleepy town of San Giovanni Bianco (next door to San Pelligrino) where we had a good lunch in a traditional trattoria on the town square. After this we started the gentle approach of the last climb of the day, the Culmine San Pietro. This proved to be another great road with nice sleepy towns along it and very distinct sections. Hot, tired and hungry we arrived at the top where we got cold cokes and fresh fruit from Marcus who had been supporting us all day from the van. There was 40km to go but it was (almost) all down or flat so the mood was very good.

I jumped on the O train (behind Oscar the giant) on the undulating sections gritting my teeth and telling myself it would be over soon. He doesn’t seem to notice any gradient under 5%, unfortunately my legs do! We again hit the downhill sections and I had a very close call coming out of a tunnel into a sharp corner and as I went to brake my hand slipped off the brake lever. Talk about a heart in the mouth moment. I skimmed past 2 cars coming in the opposite direction with a few cm to spare and them blaring their horns at me. It was enough to slow me down for the rest of the descent and give me a reality check! We rolled into Varenna late in the afternoon and promptly sat down for a nice cold beer. My hands were still shaking from my close call.

On the last day the group took the ferry over to Bellagio to ride up the famous Madonna del Ghisallo climb where there is a chapel and museum devoted to cycling. I decided my day would be better spent reading and drinking coffee so I stayed behind in Varenna and did a nice walk along the lake. The group got lucky as it started raining heavily as they got back to Bellagio. In fact from then on it did not stop raining at all and it was still raining the next morning when we left the hotel on our group transfer to the airport.

Thanks to Bike Plus Tours for another amazing trip, well organised with superb routes as always. Also thanks to Helen and Marcus for the great support on the way and keeping the van well stocked with everything we could possibly want!

Finally, it wouldn’t have been possible without the fabulous Felt bike Wiggle provided for me to do the trip. Thank you!

Happy training.

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