Distance: 44.4 miles / 71.4 km
Elevation: 2,657 feet / 809 m
Time: 5 hours and 34 minutes (3 hours and 41 minutes cycling)
The plan
Throughout Friday night, after work and immediately following the Imps AGM, I drove to Gatwick airport for a 6am flight to Verona, Italy ????????
I have a return flight home booked from Geneva (Switzerland) on September 15th. Of course the plan is to cycle between those destinations! The route I will take is not concrete and is fluid, with lots of alternatives (some going completely different ways) and bail out options. In that vein I also haven’t booked anywhere to stay on any evening (except for one) to keep my options open as much as I can. That way I can react to problems with me and/or the bike and/or the weather. This also relieves any pressure to carry on, when I’ve had enough, to reach a destination I’ve booked.
But it’s also a bit risky ???? to remedy that somewhat I am carrying a tent, sleeping bag and mat in my pannier bags which I will be using possibly every evening until Geneva.
Despite writing all that, I have some bits of the route that I consider ‘must do’.
These are:
The Sella Ronda mountain range in the Dolomites
The Passo dello Stelvio (2,757m high ????). This is the highest paved mountain pass in the Eastern Alps and second highest in all the Alps (7m smaller than the highest ????)
The only way to complete all those landmarks in one trip is to also traverse other mountain peaks of the Alps – of which, many peak at over 2,000m above sea level on their own. These will be tough and I’m not underestimating any of them.
At the airport
Since I’m flying back to Gatwick from a different airport, I had to transport my bike in a cardboard box. The idea is to build your bike back up, and then throw the cardboard in to the bin. For the return journey, you need to find a new one. Sometimes that’s easier said that done, but I chose Geneva as they’re one of very few airports to have some for sale.
I got a few funny looks at the airport with a huge cardboard box and a Sainsbury’s carrier bag as my hand luggage. It seems the case that the average Joe isn’t aware that bikes are allowed on flights in any capacity, and I’m yet to complete a flight yet where I’ve not been asked in a puzzling manner what on earth can possibly be inside the box by other passengers. Kind of strangely the cardboard box and carrier bag gave me a slight look of hobo, especially compared to the wealth of designer suitcases and Gucci handbags and the like. I sort of liked the idea that nobody would ever guess there’s a bike worth a couple of thousand pounds hidden away under all that amateur packaging. That means it will probably not get nicked by anyone – but hopefully the baggage handlers know to handle it with care ????????????
Ironically, actually riding the thing you’ve meticulously planned is probably the easy part. The lead up, where you constantly question yourself about whether you have everything you need, is and always is stressful. Only when you see your bike at the airport, and you build it back in to a useable state, can you begin to relax a little.
When I saw the cardboard box on the carousel, I thought I was through the worst of it.
Disaster
The lead up to this ride was particularly hard for me – I didn’t have any bike I could take on the trip at all until less than 24 hours before I needed to leave for the airport because of delays outside of my control.
Sadly on this occasion I had a significant mishap and my front wheel was accidentally left out of the packaging that was loaded on to the plane. Having to rush probably had an effect on this, but honestly I have to take some criticism against myself for the order in which I did various crucial tasks, and where I placed those parts, when loading the bicycle. There’s a chance it would have been left regardless of the last minute rushing. Hindsight is a wonderful thing of course.
I therefore had two choices : Abandon the trip, putting to waste all the hours spent planning. Or buy a replacement wheel. The problem with this is that with a cardboard box 1.8m wide, you are not very mobile or manoeuvrable. You certainly can’t use a bus, and there’s no guarantees that the places you go to even have suitable wheels in stock.
The generosity of strangers
I decided to hedge my bets and just phone every bike shop in Verona until I found an operator who could speak English. Eventually I found one, but sadly they had no wheels in stock. I was cheeky and asked if I could get a people carrier taxi to his shop regardless, and leave my box there whilst I visited all the stores in person. Amazingly he agreed, but more than this he went above and beyond the call of duty and phoned all the local Italian speaking bike shops on my behalf. Literally off his own back, despite knowing he would get no monetary amount in return.
It didn’t take him long to find a stockist, and he even offered to drive me to the bike shop (with my bike) in his own personal vehicle, closing his own shop in the mean time, so that I did not have to order another taxi. I refused this but nevertheless even now I am completely flawed by this generosity. What an absolute legend.
To cut a long story short, his generosity (and my unplanned spend ????) has really salvaged this trip. I’ve only ridden 12km less than my 1250km+ ‘plan A’ today. Considering the circumstances that’s remarkable.
I think now I can hopefully start to relax ????????
Lake Garda
As for the ride – I went around the eastern side of Lake Garda, but threw in a 500m climb to see the lake from above. It’s a beautiful part of the world for sure!
The campsite I am staying at tonight only has packets of ham and packets of cheese to conclude my stressful day. The bread is incredibly tasteless, and really dry. The best solution I found was to use the full packet of ham on one slice, and even then the sandwich has to be open top.
