We spent the first week driving down, spending a few days in Grenoble before moving onto Trento in Northern Italy. The place we stayed at in Trento was amazing. It was a converted farm house on the side of the hill, with vineyards surrounding it. A truely idyllic spot for a week of cycling.

So we’d typically spend the morning riding around the local mountains before the sun got too warm, before settling in for a nice bit of lunch, and of course the ubiquitous Peroni and relaxing for the day.

Before we got too accustomed to this fantastic way of life however we departed for Corvara, the start point for the Maratona.  It was fantastic driving down Passo Pordoi (3rd climb of the ride) on the way to our appartment.  The hill was full of cyclists finding their legs.  Some looked distinctly more uncomfortable than others but it was a fantastic sight.  As we got into Corvara we had the pleasure of pulling up at some traffic lights next to the legend that is Mario Cipollini, who was in town for the event.

The morning of the event saw us getting up around 5am to load up with food before rolling down to the start point.  Despite seeing so many cyclists around the town each day it was still a surprise to see so many waiting in the dusk for the start.  We thought we were early but were still 20 or 30 lines back.  It was an interesting atmosphere, with the tv helicopters zipping about overhead, Europop being blared from the speakers, and cyclists from all sorts of nationalities nervously shuffling about whilst admiring the bling on display.

6.30am came and everyone started to get going.  The ride out of Corvara up towards the first climb up the Campolongo was pretty hectic with so many people of varying abilities jostling for position.  If the ascent was interesting, the descent was a real eye opener, with people taking crazy lines down the other side of the climb.

After a few climbs things began to thin about a bit and the ride became much nicer as people got into a rhythm.  I think most people were trying to keep plenty in their legs for the Giau loomed around the 80km point.

It’s reputation as the hardest climb of the ride certainly didn’t disappoint.  In terms of gradient and length it wasn’t that different to the climb to Villard Notre Dame the week before, but with 80km already in the legs over 5 climbs, and the mid-day sun beating down it was tough.  Really, really tough.  I suppose if you weren’t in the middle of it you could find humour in the grimaces of pain etched onto the faces of everyone as they ground their way up the climb.  It seemed to go on forever and was by far the hardest hour I think I’ve spent on a bike.

Eventually the summit was reached however, and the rest of the ride from there was relatively plain sailing.  Just one more climb to do, albeit an 11km one, and it was into the home straight and the end of the Maratona dles Dolomites.

For my first European sportive my time wasn’t as good as I had hoped, but many lessons were learnt on how to survive on slopes such as these.  It certainly gave me a taste for more and I’ll hopefully do a couple next year.  The organisation was fantastic, the weather perfect and a fitting end to a memorable 10 days of cycling.

Still, I finished in around 6h30m so am quite pleased with that time. A good day that should set me up for the rest of the season.

Mow Cop

Finally rolled off at 10,10am, a full 50 minutes after my scheduled start time.  The next few hours were pretty good.  It was cold but the sun was shining and the riding was good.  Completed ‘The Wall’ to the top of Ashdown Forest and felt good.  The wind up there was horrendous but was nothing compared to what greeted us in the valley.

The forecast had been for snow today for most of the week but this morning it was scheduled to hit us in the evening.  Did it buggery.  It was a full on blizzard for the next hour or so of riding.  Couple the snow with the howling wind and it was in your face, horizontal style snow.  Absolute murder.  My fingers and toes were as good as gone as I lost all feeling in them pretty quickly and it was a miserable experience.

Thankfully for the last ten miles or so the sun came out, and with my legs feeling ok I was able to complete those at a decent pace to complete the course in 4hr 41mins.  A bit slower than I was hoping for (sub 4hr 30min) but given the horrendous conditions I was pretty pleased.

The organisation for the event was superb and the poor souls stood marshelling the course in the snow deserve an enormous amount of credit.  And the cooked food upon our return was very welcome indeed.

To cap things off the train home was late arriving, then delayed by twenty minutes getting back to Waterloo.  So all told an eventful day and, whilst I doubt I would have agreed when the snow was falling, an enjoyable one.

Thankfully no lasting damage was done, just a few bumps and bruises down my right hand side, although the rear brake was a bit wonky, meaning most of the ride home was done with it stuck on.

Not sure for how much longer the ice will be on our roads but do take care if you’re out and about as it can be rather treachorous.

The course is the same one used in the Bec CC Hill Climb, one of the leading such events in the country.  Don’t have any pics from the event today but some of these from the Bec Hill event may give you an idea of the anguish involved

You may be able to tell the gradient of the climb from the pictures.  Rest assured it was bloody steep.  Anyway, dragged my butt up the hill in 2mins 44seconds, not too bad for a first effort.

As you can perhaps imagine from the title there were quite a few fallen leaves littering the roads, which led to some rather hairy moments zipping down country lanes surely not wide enough to fit a cyclist and an onrushing vehicle should one decide to bear down upon us.  Nevertheless I believe everyone managed to navigate the course safely so no harm was done.

The ride itself was tougher than expected with a reasonable number of nice climbs.  I managed to tag along with a fellow IT nerd called Ian for the first half of the ride before the lack of miles in my legs told and he dropped me on a particularly harsh set of climbs.  At least they felt harsh as I struggled up them (pic below for visual evidence of my malaise).

Anyway, the ride was completed in round about 4hr 30 mins so I was quite pleased with that.  Shall have to endeavour to get some more miles in the legs over the winter to ensure it isn’t quite so painful next year.