Fortitude PT Matt is really into his cycling and this hobby recently granted him the experience of a lifetime to go on a tour of Italy. He has documented his trip in this blog so you can go in the tour with him. If you’re a keen cyclist or looking to get into it have a chat with Matt..
Day 1 – lake Como, scenary & weather amazing, pure sunshine 29 degrees, 36 mile round lake at slow pace…ferry over from one side of lake to other…few dramas getting bike sorted but got there in the end..
Hotel really looked after us and put on a good spread for our evening meal.
Mix of Italian and English…
Tomato penne pasta & lasagne followed by half roast chicken and chips
Day 2 (27 miles) – set off early to bormio, 2 hour trip, check in at hotel, setup bikes and off we went…completed STELVIO climb ( 5000 ft of climbing with an average speed of 10.5 mph)…. we all met at the top at different stages of the day, but we made sure we were all together at the end with a well deserved brutwurst baguette, coffee and Powerade…weather was amazing, 29 degrees throughout, pure sunshine, got sunburn on nose….decent was incredible, but needed more technical handling….
Evening meal – not many restaurants open as it’s in between seasons, found an American diner open, few beers to finish the day.
Day 3 (31 miles)- this was the worst forecasted day for weather….and the reality matched up the forecast….
As we came all this way, we still ploughed on and still went out on bikes…
GAVIA climb – this felt mainly easier than STELVIO, due to more flatter sections but this was matched with more steeper section….weather was awful, mild misty and rain up till bout 75% of climb…once we reached high altitude, the temperature sawed to 5 degrees…..coffee and cake at the top in an amazing authentic coffee shop with a great atmosphere….tried to get warm and changed into winter gear…the descent was awful , probably worst in my life…cold wet and shivering….could barely feel my hands so braking was difficult, so had to be reserved all the way down….
Overall, with the conditions, looking back, still really enjoyed this ride
Day 4 (56 miles) – this was the biggest & toughest day of cycling, of the whole trip…
3 big climbs, STELVIO, umbrail and lake ( check name)….weather forecast was set to rain at 1pm, so we were up early, are breakfast quickly and set off by 8.30am…..Me & John set of with a plan to do STELVIO and umbrail pass, if possible. The other lads of the group didn’t fancy this ride and planned a different route.
The weather ended up being alot better than forecasted, as it turned out to be lovely all day ,so we did the lake as extra….The decent down STELVIO this time was amazing…due to doing this 2 days before, my knowledge and experience of the hairpins gave me more confidence and therefore could push this more…this was a real adrenaline and was absolutely epic!!!!!
Umbrail pass , descends into Switzerland, this was very interesting as the road was closed at bout 2 miles away from Switzerland, so we had to turn around and climb back up the umbrail pass….this zapped out motivation for a short while, took bout 1 hour to climb back up umbrail, but motivation soon returned due to the epic scenery .
Evening meal, found a lovely authentic Italian restaurant where we shared pasta, pizza, bread, olive oil and obviously beers and red wine
Day 5 – Lake garda. This was the last stint of our trip…4 hour trip from BORMIO to lake Garda….set off early and arrived by mid afternoon…quick spin, 18 miles, on bikes around parts of the lake to gather our surroundings…
Evening, nice 2 mile walk down the lake to find a restaurant. Great food and laughs as always…we all hit the hay bit earlier than normal as we planned in a massive bike ride for the day after….
Day 6 – cycled full loop around the lake, 92 miles in 28/29 degree…set off at 8.45am and got back to hotel at 6.45pm…
Obviously a few stops for coffee break, lunch ( pasta) , and then a stop with bout 20 miles to go where we had a beer / radler!!!….long day in the saddle but had laughs, made memories and the scenery around the lake is something else….
Last evening – as it was a Saturday night, couldn’t get into a few restaurants so had to resort to the hotel restaurant…this ended up being quite nice, food was good, service was good but we clocked up a few more beers than normal which led to a later night but with alot of laughs….
My highlights of the trip were STELVIO climb on day 2 ,the scenery is amazing/ STELVIO decent on day 4 / customer service at hotel in BORMIO / getting to know the lads and having plenty of laughs with them
My top tips if you are going to do something similar plan for every weather / pack more normal clothes / take more snacks for the big climbs ( real food), these really zap your energy and this catches up with you later ( gels and sweets are not enough)
If you want to know more or if you are interested in working with Matt to achieve your fitness goals then give him a follow on Instagram.. https://instagram.com/skipworthmatt?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Matt is always posting his rides on there so it’s great to find new routes..
