Strava: http://app.strava.com/rides/21572356
Phil had promised 188km and 4,000m of climbing (an "easy day"), so he was spot on in terms of distance but off by over 3,700 feet or 1100 meters elevation (more on that later).
I rolled out of bed, shattered, to find that almost everyone had gone early, and only a few of the strongest riders remained. So, that meant I was son lantern rouge up the first steep climb of the day to the Passo Vezzena. By Strava results I was mid-pack, but Andy was waiting for me to take down the arrows and it had a real broomwagon feel, which did not help my suffering body and mind. I did take a picture overlooking Levico/Caldonazzo, though, to remind me of the gorgeous climb and the man below who made my bike ....
At the first feed I saw some other riders and then had some company, which helped my mood immensely, so much so I was singing out loud ....
Another col down!
Onwards, lads!
The next climb was relatively mellow, but was again looking for water by the time the Campogrosso hit, especially since we were on another cycle only path for a while on the way up ... got a great coke at the top, courtesy of Sergio who was quaffing an espresso ...
We ran into Canada Rob and started a series of col hunting, often just climbing up 500m to turn around and go back down, which gave the whole thing an air of whack-a-mole ... Sergio was strong on the climbs, so I took it mellow on the descents so we could ride together ... Canada Rob muttered something about crushing me up the final climb and took off ...
Sergio and I noticed the climbing was well more than advertised, but we headed up the final climb in good spirits -- 7km, steep, but food and shelter lay ahead.
Phil also forgot that this climb included multiple 18% ramps and seemed to go on forever, like a miniZoncolan without the km markers.
He did admit his error, and the family style Italian food at the Rifugio was wonderful -- it almost made me forget the epic day on tap for tomorrow!
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