Dutch Wheelman Bicycle Tours

The last 2 days we have seen some beautiful Irish countryside,with the patchwork fields separated by stone fences,castles and ruins,Irish cottages with the thatched roofs, and the inside of a few pubs!  Fish and Chips, along with Bangers and Mash are two of the most chosen pub foods and most are trying to get their fill of Sticky Toffee Pudding and Banoffi for dessert.  We are staying away from highway riding and have been on some very narrow country roads, where the driver and passenger could easily put their arm out the window and touch the shrubs on the side of the road .  It makes us all a little nervous to see a big tractor or a bus coming at us on the same road!  Tomorrow it is off to The Cliffs of Moher….sixty miles of riding, but the view will be worth it.

After a long delay at JFK in NY, group 2 finally arrived in Dublin. However spirits were high and they all headed into Dublin to visit the Guinness  store house to get that well deserved first pint. Temperatures are a lot cooler now, which makes for great biking weather, but it also brings the clouds and rain.We encountered our first big shower yesterday, but with most showers here, they only last a short time. Overall we had a great day. We also hit some bumps in the road, with percentages shooting up to 13%. And all the country roads are unmarked, which makes navigating very hard. But we got to Kilkenny, where we will visit the castle this morning.

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Tis grand, lovely and brilliant. These are the most common words in Ireland. Today marks the end of a very successful first trip. We experienced record high temperatures and not a drop of rain. Perhaps not a true picture of Ireland, but great for cycling. As not to ruin the trip for group 2, we will wait a few days to post more pictures.

Our fabulous cycling trip came to an end today, with a flat 3 hour ride to Venice. After arrival we took our bikes apart and got them ready for our return trip back home. A special thanks goes out to Cindy and Cheryl again for providing us with the support of getting our food and drinks and getting all our luggage to the hotels. Traveling through the mountains on narrow roads with lots of switchbacks added an extra challenge for them. We could not do a trip like this without their support.Due to our early arrival we had a few hours to visit Venice.

Today was our last day of climbing as we traveled from Trento to Thiene.  Again along the climb up and down Passo Fricca and Vezzena, the scenery was beautiful.  However, we are no longer seeing the snow covered mountains.  The mountains are now, not as steep and they are pine covered.  This made the cycling a bit cooler and the turns for both the cyclists and the car drivers a little easier.  We arrived a Hotel Belvedere in Thiene and were greeted by Luigi and a nice cool drink of fresh mint flavored lemonade.  This was followed by a trip to a nearby Gelateria for what else….gelato!!!  That was to be our appetizer for a delicious Italian dinner, with an education from Luigi about the local ingredients used in his food preparation and also about the local wines.  Everyone enjoyed Luigi’s enthusiasm for his food and his knowledge of the wines.  And then a perfect ending to an Italian dinner is a drink  (or two) of the Italian drink Grappa

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Half the group went for a ride around Trenton and climbed the Manghen mountain, which was over 15 miles in length and gained over 5,000 ft. We all thought that this was the most picturesque climb of the trip. The other half went sightseeing in Trenton.

On most of our days we started climbing right out of town and this morning was no different. After 16.5 miles we reached the top of the Gavia, the climb where Andy Hampsten conquered the coveted pink jersey and became the first and so far only US winner of the Giro. The downhill was very narrow and at times treacherous. When cars came up, we had about a foot to ride on, with a 1,000 ft drop right next to us. And there were no guardrails!!!!

Today we set out to ride the Mortorolo,which translated means “Mountain of Death”  It was by far the toughest climb we encountered.  Most of the road up was just wide enough for one car.  When Cheryl and Cindy were met by another car, one of them had to back up to a wide enough space for passing. The climb was mainly 10-16% and we all were all happy to make it to the top. This was to be our 18,000 ft day, but very bad weather on the Bernina climb, made us pack it in for the day. Just about everyone was dealing with colds already. A big plus for the day was that Ken was allowed to get on his bike again and rode very strong to the top of the Mortorolo.

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