South Lake Garda

Miles from Home - 5370.1 miles
Firsts / Highlights - Ferry crossing of Lake Garda during ride, vineyards, olive groves, Simione – a castle fortress town, band playing on lake-front piazza, lemoni gelato, local truffle tortolini.
Miles Ridden - 54.95 miles
Vertical Feet - 1,994 ft
Route - View Today's Route Here.
People - Ride was with 5 Australians, 2 Italian guides and a Yank. The Aussies were on their international version of the “Men’s Club” that we started this year in Steamboat. They went to Hotel Dory 2 years ago and here this year. Fun group of +/- 50 year olds. They plan to come back next year in May to Lake Garda, then possibly fly down to Sicily.

Met Paola Pezza. She is the Italian 1996 mountain bike Olympic gold medalist. Now she and her husband own a bike shop in Bardolino along the lake.

Our guides today were Nicola and Marozzio. Nicola is one of the brothers who owns and manages the hotel. He rides with the groups a few days a week. Marozzio is 65 years old and rides 20-25,000 kilometers every year. When he decides to bridge from the back of the group to the front, he can out-motor anyone else in the group.



This post is from May 16, 2009.

My cold is currently at bay. I don’t dare be smug and say I have it licked, but I hope it is waning.

The ride today was not the hilliest or quietest roads we have done, but it was very enjoyable. The Aussies were on their last day and feeling a bit melancholy about leaving and celebratory for the great week they have had. We rode along the lake from town to town stopping for coffee in one, gelato in another. A ferry ride in the middle made for an interesting navigational element.

After the ride, we went down to Liaze for a drink between the after-ride snack and dinner. I didn’t realize from riding past it for the past two days that the town is not just the lakeside tourist community you see from the road. When you step through the thousand-year-old fortress gate, you find that there is an entire pedestrian medieval town. Ancient European ambience full of restaurants, bars, bakeries and such. Although I have not visited very many of the famous cities yet during my travels, I think I am finding that I like these little towns that no one has ever heard of and will never show up in a guidebook.

Had a great dinner with the Aussies. They have befriended the chef and head-waiter during their stay, and rather than order from the menu, they just have the chef send whatever he wants to serve. The highlights tonight were tiny locally made tortellini served in butter with locally found truffles. They were spectacular with the Valpolicella wine grown in the vineyards surrounding the hotel.



Tomorrow is Sunday, which means lots of bikers on the road. Although the Aussies will be leaving, a couple from Aspen just arrived and the couple from Finland will be rejoining the group. In addition, a cycling club from Verona is going to join us, so we should have about 50 people on a 118 km ride.