Monte Zoncolan

The sign above the start of the steep stuff on Monte Zoncolan said "the gates of hell" in Italian, and that's what we were riding through...attempting what many people are already saying is the steepest road climb ever used in a professional cycling race. '2007, the legend begins' said another.

Were arrived in the area from Cortina the day before and ridden 25 miles to the base to try and ride the climb and watch the Giro ride up as a summit finish a few hours later.

On the way there I chatted with Ric Hjertberg, a manager at FSA (Full Speed Ahead, bike bits) and very friendly chap over to watch and ride the Giro course with hospitality. He had a helicopter option to the top.....unlike us.

Once we had gained our compsure we hit the lower slopes and were immediately out of gears. Oh dear.


Then after 2 k's and a small village, the serious climbing began..announced by that banner across the road.

To get an idea of what we would be pedalling up, a profile of this fearsome climb can be found here :http://www.climbbybike.com/climb.asp?Col=Monte-Zoncolan&qryMountainID=36 but the key stats are over 10 km's at 12% average with a kilometer of nearly 20% near the bottom. Owch !

The road through the forest ramped up and straight away our heart rates jumped to threshold. And then they kept rising......the crowds at the side of the road were cheering us on (especially Amy) but we knew that were were losing the battle. Just as Amy slowed to a point where the wheels were barely turning I heard a cry of 'Mark...MARK !' and turned round to watch her topple sideways onto the road, still clipped in.

The crowd rushed in to help...which being in Italy also involved the offer of a shot of Grappa. I took a swig and a breather and carried on up whilst Amy waited for the stars to disappear from her vision before being given a push start on the >20% ramp.

The other feature of the climb is that a bit like the Koppenberg, much of the bottom section is in a trench, so it feels like the crowd are looking into a gladiator's pit as you ride up.

The helpful pushes from the crowd continued for Amy (why do I not get pushed ?...ok, I think I know why) and she was given the traditional Italian two cheeked kiss by a marshal at the point where we cyclists were told to stop. There was still 5 km's to go, but I think the marshalls were wary of amateur cyclists causing serious medical issues and blocking the roads with ambulances before the pro race got there and they wanted to minimise the risk.

The leaders (Maglia Rosa, Di Luca on left) looked strong on very low gears (Ric, who was staying with Discovery Channel told me Sean Yates had specified 34 x 28 for their riders, we had 34 x 25) but the domestiques at the back were a different story. They were really struggling, some holding onto motorbikes or team cars and nearly all when offered a push replied with a faint 'Grazia' as spectators pushed them up the muderously steep slopes. Don't be fooled by glamorous TV pictures, they do not all make it look easy...the back markers looked like they were totally spaced out as they toiled up.

Mark pushing the pros on the left. They are suffering like dogs.

60,000 people were estimated to be on the slopes that day....I am sure it will become a classic, but don't expect to ride up it like you would l'Alpe d'Huez or the Ventoux....it is in a different league. On long climbs it´s my legs that get weary, on this I couldn´t really control my heart rate. Doing it on thrashed legs (ie summit finish after 100 mountain miles) would be impossible for me, I would make about 10 metres of the steep stuff. And I´d ignore that 12% average stat, take out the bottom two k´s of and it is much steeper.

If you live in the UK I reckon it is a bit like Winnats Pass x 8.

Back to Italy, Gran Fondo Dolimiti Stars, The Giro and Snow !

Have to be quick....everything seems to be permamently closed, or about to close here....

We drove from Slovenia into the heart of the Dolomites, Cortina d'Ampezzo. Then across a major pass (Falzarego - 2100m) to Arabba to register for the Gran Fondo Giro d'Italia Dolomiti Stars.

The campsite at Corvara was in a beautiful location....on the route of the famed ski tour the 'Sella Ronda' and we only need to turn left at the campsite entrance to cycle it. But first the Dolimiti Stars.

We got locked into the campsite by the barrier which didn't open until eight officially, but a phone call to the owner at home sorted that out...not sure we were that popular though.

So a little rushed we dropped over the Campalongo pass to join the 1000 or so starters for the race/ride.

The first part involved a descent for alost 20 miles and I was getting worried as my GPS altimeter just kept dropping and dropping height.

Finally at about 600 metres we began the first of four climbs that made up the ride, 83 miles and 3500 metres of climbing. The 3rd was the Passo Giau which was tough...long and steep. Chatted to an Italian couple on the way up before conversation died and it got serious.

Cold at the top, a marshall stuffed all sorts of food into my jersey pockets so I had a lucky dip as I ate on the descent. beautiful scenery, great organistation, lots of spectators and I felt good on the climbs. Didn't trouble the front runners though, the winner took 4 hrs 26, I took 5hrs 45.

Next it was time to watch the second biggest cycle race there is, the Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy) itself. The pros went over one of the passes we rode and then had the daunting summit finish at Lavaredo to contend with. I rode up and waited in the rain and cold for the riders to finally appear.

I always feel like calling those poor boys mothers when I see them suffering like that.....it almost brings tears to my eyes to see the huge gaps and the lonely riders.......many were being pushed up. Pro cycling is a brutal sport.

Next day we rode the Sella Ronda curcuit in rain and about three degrees temperature. The ride was noted by lots of cheery Americans and Ozzies putting a brave face on it....and Amy taking a wrong turn and heading off to Austria by mistake. Argument still continues as to whose fault it was.....but essentually you can't go wrong when cycling right round a big mountain - keep turning left. Ahem...Amy turned right. Still, it gave me two hours in a mountain restaurant though where I troughed on Strudel. The T-Mobile squad were out training on their rest day...in the freezing rain. Cyclists are mad, especially ones like us who don't get paid. It was very cold on the descents and regular cafe stops were required.

Woke up ths morning wondering why my feet were colder than usual and the tent roof was sagging. Bizarre ???

Amy unzipped the tent door and we discovered that camping at 1500 metres in the Dolomites means that it can snow.... a lot !
This was quite exciting as far as was concerned, gets you out of bed, but we were due to leave and had to check that the passes were open. They were and we packed up a damp tent and headed over the two major passes to Cortina where it warmer, but drizzly. Lots of Pro-team lorries and vans seemed to be driving lost around the mountains, you can't move for Astana or Discovery this and CSC that. I am now in some sort of photocopying shop running out of time.

It's very snowy above 1500 metres and the snow ploughs have been out, but it's pretty wet rain and the roads will be clear for the Giro to come through.

There is more snow now than there was in Austria in January...I thought this was a sunny cycling trip !

Some recent video of the Giro and this morning's snow here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zS4YAyRKPM

Slovenian ride, Bovec - Kranska Gora - Tarvisio - Bovec

Wow, what a ride, but more on that in bit. The evening before we watched the Champions league final in a little bar. Pepe had joined us earlier and after some tasty and very cheap food we sank a few beers as the Liverpool were outclassed by AC Milan.

I couldn't understand the Slovenian commentary, but the result was fairly obvious and Pepe being a Milan fan was pretty happy.


Now, back to the ride. First off let me explain that photos don't do this place justice, it has quite simply the most stunning mountain scenery I think I have ever witnessed, made even more special by being on a bike.

I have been lucky enough to see many mountain areas over time and seen some special places, Mount Aspiring National Park, The Rupal Valley below Nanga Parbat in the Himalaya (unbelieveable 5km vertical cliff-face), K2, The Rockies, Zermatt in the Alps as well as Torres del Paine and Fitzroy in South America.

But I think this area may top the lot.

We started out on a loop that took us over two passes, into and out of Italy and then back to Bovec.

First up was some very gentle climbing from 450 metres or so to about 750m. All the while the turquoise waters of the Soca river were visible and I posed by a bridge for a photo. Then the climb to the pass that would take us over to the ski resort of Kranska Gora began.

Having crested the col at 1610 metres, I would suggest this would be an Hors Categorie or at least Cat 1. It had over 20 hairpins, a consistent gradient and almost 1000 metres height gain - nice.

More photos at the top and we began the descent to Kranska on a road that had views that must have caused my eyes to enlarge to twice their normal size, the scenery was eye popping.

Enormous vertical cliffs towered straight up out of the forests and it was impossible not to gawp upwards as the cobbled hairpins
carried us down. The French Alps are fantastic, but somehow this was better, if this is a taste of the what the Dolomites may involve then we are in for a treat.

Photos can't really capture the enormity of those towering vertical rock faces topped with snow...it was truly amazing. You need an Imax camera and cinema to convey what if feels like to freewheel down those roads as the trees rush by whilst the background up to the sky is filled with enormous rock faces.

We passed a little Russian Church that was built by surviving prisoners in in WW1, the text on the left explains more but basically this amazingly beautiful and peaceful place was the scene of bitter and pointless alpine fighting during both World Wars.....over a million died between 1914 and 1918 alone.

If bullets didn't get you avalanches and falls did, and this was at a time when they would get 6 metres of snow in the valley floor as opposed to the more meagre amounts nowadays.



The wooden Church was in fantastic condition considering the age, and I paused by the memorial wondering what the inscription said in Russian.






After re-mounting, we hurtled into Kranska and found a little bakery were we bought a tasty lunch for about 1 pound each....it's extremely cheap in Slovenia, ie beers are around 80p.

The ski resort looked lovely, I am not sure it is high enough or has enough lifts to tempt me to snowboard, but as a mountain town it is one of the most picturesque I can think of.


We went through the Italian border crossing without showing passports (not sure brigands and cut-throats often ride expensive racing bikes) and pedalled into Tarviso. A left took us on a road that would lead to the Predil Pass, lower than the other one at around 1100 metres.

But before that we stopped at a most beautiful lake - Predil lake - and it was so inviting I whipped off my jersey and plunged in.
And then scrambled out. Despite the air temperature being
around 30 degrees C, the water was still chilly and after a refreshing few strokes decided to get back on the bike. But The Bear (Mike D) would be proud !

Over the pass, another border crossing with disinterested guards (can never quite rule out being sprayed with machine-gun fire) and we were back into Slovenia for a long descent through more stunning mountains and forests until we finally dropped into our campsite in Bovec.

Around 60 miles and definitely amongst the best rides I have ever ridden. I am not sure this is in my book of 'rides you must do before you die', but it should be. I don't think you can get any better, and damp and busy roads in the UK winter now seem such a long long way away. It makes it all worthwhile.

Some video I took of this amazing area can be viewed here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCsVx5A6p9o

Slovenia

After 10 mins internet research, we decided to drive to Slovenia as it sounded a little more exotic than Tuscany (that can wait). The autostrada whisked us to Udinese and then we took the road from the town of Cividale (last town in Italy) across the Solvenian frontier.

The border guards examined our papers, luckily they were in order but we were advised that we had to have our car lights on at all times. We drove up the very lowly populated valleys (joking about banditos emerging from the undergrowth) and the scenery got increasingly beautiful, it was like a fantasy land we had entered - surely we needed to pay to get in here ?

Eventually after lots of very windy roads that revealed bigger and bigger mountain vistas we arrived at the town of Bovec, our base for the next few days. Bovec lies on the Soce (Socka) river - it's spelt in many variations - and the Kampsite (with a K - nice) office had all sorts of info on enticing options, kayaking, rafting, canyoning etc etc. Excellent, my kind of town. We were also told that they are shortly filming some of the second of the 'Narnia' films here, you can see why.

Next morning (after more gawping at the truly sensational view across the valley from the Kampsite) we talked to a very nice young lady at the tourist office who said we should do everything if we could, prices were cheap and there were hardly any tourists aroud this time of year. So we booked Kayaking for the afternoon and canyoning for the next day.

Before the river fun began, , we checked out nearby the Boca falls, the second tallest in Slovenia at 106 metres high. Being one for always choosing the more strenous option, we decided (ok, I decided) to walk up the mountain to the source of the falls which come straight out of the side of the mountain. It was a hot day and I drank about three litres of water as we toiled up the thickly forested slopes.

We arrived at the top to a fantastic view across the valley and we drank from the very cold waters as they emerged from the rocks. By the time I got back to the car the temperature inside was roasting and my power inverter alarm was going off as it was almost melting.



Next stop was kayaking. Our friendly wacky-haired guide greeted us and in no time we were equipped with all the paraphanalia we needed, wet-suits, paddles, overshoes etc. A chap called Pepe also joined us, he had just arrived from Mexico to be a guide for the season and this was his first trip onto the river) and pretty much the first thing he had done since arriving.

Following standard backpacker practice I made up some impressive sounding stuff about other rivers I had paddled to ensure we got some decent rapids, and was rather peterubed when Pepe began asking questions about the river in Costa Rica I had been on ! Luckily I backed up my stories with some facts (it was a Sarapiqui river) but I didn't mention it had been rafting rather than kayaking.

So once on the water and into some trickier stuff, the inevitable happened. As Amy drifted casually down-stream bypassing all the hazards, I hit an enormous rock and flipped upside down. My made up Eskimo roll skills proved themselves to be just that, made up, and once upside down and underwater I decided to eject the kayak to save myself from further humiliation (and a potential rock to the face).

This happened once more before the trip was over (following the guide through a narrow channel between rocks) and he decided that the next section of the river - the 1998 women's world cup course - was probably beyond us. Amy heartedly agreed as she had seen me swimming down the rapids next to my upturned kayak and was not eager to do something similar.

The river was perfect though, if I was a serious paddler it would have been heaven. And being one of the purest rivers in Europe you can simply lean over the side of the kayak and drink.....how awesome is that !

That evening Amy cooked up some delicious Burritos on the stove, this country is perfect, camping, mountains, rivers - and Mexican food.

Canyoning was on the agenda at 11 the next day, and after a lazy 'double coffee' breakfast we met up with Pepe et al again. Our new guide Christian followed the same process as yesterday (no signing your life away in Slovenia, or talk of payment) and we drove to the trailhead where we walked in wet-suits etc up the mountain.

The canyon was superb, almost purpose built as the difficulty level gradually went up. Swimming jumping and sliding down enormous shutes into plunge pools took up the next couple of hours, with our guide Christian cracking jokes that this was first trip he had done and that he had done all his research on the internet and that he wanted to test some new drop-offs using us !
The shutes became bigger until last up came the piece de resistance, the final super-size plunge shute.

Despite the fact I used to lead these sorts of sessions in Snowdonia, this final pool was extremely high and I couldn't even see the bottom. But Christian's advice worked, feet together, arms crossed, a few seconds of panic as the speed picks up and then whoosh, underwater in the cold before rising to the surface to see the sun glinting off the rocks.

A picture of this final shute is just above and to the left of this text, believe me it was a big drop. But we survived, although Amy's shoulder is a concern again - fingers crossed.

As I write this I am sitting in a school classroom enjoying free internet during a thunderstorm. Amy's computer next to mine just died on the last clap of thunder, but mine seems to be still going. Better sign off now before my luck runs out. The additional challenge is the keyboards aren't standard qwerty, they are qwertz, so apologies if some of this text looks a little Russian.

Cycling will start again soon (shoulder permitting), we are signed up for the Dolimiti Stars Gran Fondo in Italy on Saturday.

I love Slovenia.

Gran Fondo Nove Colli Marco Pantani

Another early start...this time the number started with a 5 as the alarm went off at 5.20am. We were entered in the Gran Fondo Nove Colli Marco Pantani and the depart was at 6.15. In the chill early morning air we ate breakfast, assembled bikes and headed off to join the 11,000 othe riders massed at the start. 11,000 riders is a lot and at the base of the very first climb everybody was forced to walk as the road couldn't accommodate everyone.


As the sun rose the climbs started. I had wondered where all the hills would come from as the coastal plain looks pretty flat, but before long we were in beautiful 'typical' Italian scenery of verdant hills with clifftop villages perched on top. Some of these 'small hills' were almost 900 metres high and the ride seemed to ascend virtually every one of them......which meant that legs would probably be mashed.



The field split out after the first feed stop and after the split between the 130k and 200k route, got much thinner indeed. Amy and I made good progress up the field on the climbs and we started to wonder if we were either having a good day, or, we had started at the back of the field and were passing all the really slow riders. I think it was a bit of both, but probably more the latter.



The feed stops were the best I had seen on a sportive...all sorts of delights could tempt you including sandwiches, lovely cakes, flapjacks, oranges, biscuits and even honey sachets. I remember the cakes best. Indeed the feed stops became a little too frequent and we had to ride on past a couple of them as our calorie intake was threatening to exceed the amount we'd burn off in our legs. The sun got pretty hot and getting enough fluid in became very important...it reminded me toiling up alpine slopes in extreme heat last year. Hard.

The villages and countryside continued to produce fantastic cycling terrain and after the final climb (which was starting to take it's toll on my legs) we started the long descent back to Cesenatico. There was a chap in a white shirt at the front (who will never realise I am writing this), but basically he towed our group all the way back to town and no-one felt strong enough to take over.....a very impressive performance and I gave him a pat on the back as we caught the group in front.


We finished in about 8 hrs 30 in total I think (inluding stops and faffing), 130 or so miles and approx 3550 metres of climbing. Worryingly Amy said how good she felt all day.......my legs were starting to die by the end. The winner (disgraced pro Raimondas Rumsas) finished in 5rs 45 mins or something, which is hard to believe. Results will be posted here : http://www.novecolli.it/MainSiteEng/003.Classifica.asp



After a pretty pathetic attempt at a sprint finish, we were presented with medals by very podium girls (first and last time that will happen), Amy was also presented with a commorative flower (we are in Italy) and we then tucked into some free pasta and downed lots water to rehydrate. My face, jersey and pretty much everything was coated in salt from the ride and we pedalled back parallel to the beach to finally get off the bike. It was a tough day in the saddle but I think we did Marco proud in his home town, he was looking down at us from a giant poster at the finish.


Overall I was extremely impressed with this area for cycling. It looks like nothing special on the rather large scale map that I have, but once in those hills it is idylic. Amy says it reminded her of Girona, which hopefully we will have time to visit on the way back.....so little time, so many places to ride a bike.

Post-script - Overall I came 2680th (374th in my category) and Amy 2681st (31st amongst the women) on the 200km route in 9hrs 13 minutes.

l'Alpe d'Huez & the road to Italy.....

Our European trip started at 2.45am on Thursday morning in order to catch a 7am ferry. The destination was Le Bourg d'Oisans in the French alps at the base of the legendary l'Alpe d'Huez. It rained heavily for the entirety of the 800 mile journey, but after eventually arriving, the campsite lady promised sun and 25c the next day as we pre-ordered our baguette and pain-au-chocolate for breakfast. Dinner in a fine local Pizza restaurant was shared with two Coloradians Val and Skip who had flown over for some climbing and cycling. Amy was at home chatting with them !

After some 'admin time' (Amy's rather complicated tax forms...) we hit the Alpe at a pleasant cruise and noted that the temperature was rising as the hairpins went by. There was some crazy dutch sportive that morning which finished at the top, complete with brass band and every rider wearing a matching jersey.

After some lunch at the ski resort we took the side road past Villard Reclusas to start the climb to the Col de la Croix de Fer and the Col du Glandon. This is a lovely climb which again we didn't take too hard and by the time we had descended in the dropping temperatures (picking up a baguette on the way) it was gone 7pm. We had seen lots of marmots running around the rocks at the top which was nice, there seemed to be more this year (where's my shotgun....). There was also more snow than usual due to the earlier time of the year and the mountains looked very pretty indeed.

Dinner was the cheaper 'pasta a la tente' which is delicious all the same and finished off with some biscuits. Class

Next morning involved a pack-up and breakfast before the long drive to the Italian Adriatic coast for the Gran Fondo Nove Colli Marco Pantani in Cesenatico. We drove over the Col du Lauteret, peeked at the Galibier (without going up) and dropped into Briancon for some picnic shopping and then climbed over the Italian border at Montgenevere. The local fauna almost lost a couple of marmots as two of the furry critters ran right under my wheels, the second one stopped just in time with a startled look on it's face as the noises Amy was making indicated she anticipated Marmotte soup for dinner. They were fine.

The landscape was now terra-incognita for me (quite exciting) and after passing several ski resorts including Sestriere we hit the Autostrada to Turin for an interminable downhill into haze that the plains seemed to be sitting in.

We had just crossed the alps ! I felt like Hannibal.

The route to Cesenatico was characterised by about a million peages that gradually milked us for all the euros we had and driving on basically the same very high speed motorway all the way for hundreds of miles. There are either no speed cameras in Italy or at least I didn't notice any (and now have no license), either way lots of big Audis were going faster than me.

As we approached the town the number of cyclists increased to plague like levels. The weather had peaked at 29c earlier in the day and the cycling locusts were cruising around town trying to work on their tans and look cool. I would be ruining that image the next day that's for sure (Ireland wasn't the best location for a base tan.....). Anyway, we stumbled across a campsite just as we were beginning to think we would be homeless for the night, threw the tent up and headed off to the registration. This was painless and after picking up a fancy logoed gillet we headed to the beach-front area to be confronted by an enormous cycle expo style show, with loads of stalls selling lots of fancy bike stuff. The ride/race tomorrow would have an amzing 11,000 people taking part over 200k's of what looks like great cycling terrain....looking forward to it. Let's hope it's not too hot and I don't get dropped on the first climb. 1200 miles of driving and 2 HC climbs ridden in three days is not ideal preparation.