Preliminary Thoughts about 2019's Ride

We're starting our ride this year a bit earlier than the past several years.  One reason is that we want to watch a few stages of the Giro d'Italia.  We've seen stages of the Tour, and stages of the Vuelta, but have never seen the Giro.  It will be fun.  The part of the race we'll watch is the stages in the high Alps and Dolomites, just a few days before the race finishes in Verona.  We will enjoy being able to contrast the enormity of the Tour, the brutality of the Vuelta, with what we hear is the absolute passion of the Giro.

But that will just be a few days and the rest of the ride should be just as fun.  Here's our basic route.  The actual route that we ride will be on much smaller roads.  This map is just to show you the essence of where we are heading.  With each day's blog entry I will try to include a map that shows where we rode that day.



And of course I will include photos that Lorie takes along the way and stories about our adventures (and misadventures!).

I write this preliminary entry in the waning days of March.  We still have a meter of snow on the ground and there is no end in sight.  Needless to say, we have not been on the bike since last fall.  It could be a tough first few days in the Alps -- including riding to the top of the Gavia.

We were hoping to take a shake-down ride in early May in Eastern Oregon but time has flown by and that looks doubtful at this point.  Well, at least a few trips up the McKenzie Pass will be good indicators of our lack of condition!  If we're especially frisky we'll ride up a proper climb, Three Creeks.

OK, the ride in Eastern Oregon didn't happen.  Weather.  Work.  You name it.  It just wasn't possible this spring.  But things are coming along as we've been putting in miles as we have time.  We're resigned to slow and steady this year.  Not a bad way to go.  Right?  We did make it up the McKenzie a few times, and Three Creeks, so those help our confidence.  We're off in a few days and looking forward to getting started.

Cheers.