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This was more of an "athletic challenge" than it was a "vacation". I'm glad Lorraine didn't come with me, (although I missed her terribly) as it was pretty "cycling serious". It was however, a dream week of riding for me - in every way. My training was clearly not enough - even though I accomplished all my goals - the goals were too low for what I was about to embark on. I dropped 9 lbs and averaged 7,000 feet of climbing per week during my training. While dropping the weight was good, the climbing didn't even come close. In Pennsylvania, the climbs are generally steep and short. In prior trips to Sicily, the climbs were gradual and long. In the Dolomites, the climbs were STEEP and LONG... ouch. In 6 days of riding, I logged over 250 miles, and 40,000 feet of climbing - doing famous mountain passes such as Pordoi, Fedaia, Sella, Campolongo, Gardena and nearby Mount Bondone The shortest pass was still over 4,000 feet and about 5 miles. Now that the "suffering" is over, I'm really glad I did it. Actually, I felt really good on all the climbs by the last day, but it was so early in the season, the first few days were still being used to "train" me for this type of cycling. The down hills were more than amazing - clocking over 80km per hour on several of them, and in general improving my decending skills by leaps and bounds. I also learned a lot about climbing, and hope to be a better cyclist overall as a result of the trip. The pics below are some of the best, but to read the daily journal and see more pics for each day, click on the links above. As always, remember that clicking on the picture directly will show you a large version of it - the thumbnails actually cut off some of the pic also.
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