Ride Day 1: Milano to Lake Como

The bike is assembled, we've seen what we want to see in Milano (what a beautiful city!) and are ready to ride.  We've plotted a route that runs directly north from Milano along the shores of Lake Como and plan to watch the Giro as it passes through Bellagio.  From Bellagio we will catch a ferry to the east side of the lake.  Neither of us has been to Como before and it sounds fantastic.  But there's a lot of urban between Milano and Como so I tried to build a route that stays mostly to the small roads.  But we'll surely find a lot of traffic on this first day.

Here's our route:



First, I will mention again that it is mostly the people we meet along the way that makes our rides worth doing.  Our Kiwi cum Aussie friends Gary and Sue have made the start of our trip a real pleasure.  Last night we had pizza and wine and lots of conversation and I am counting on them making the trip to Camp Sherman one day.  I know that you are reading this Gary, so you're on and need to show up!

Dave and Judy from the UK, Sue and Gary from NZ / AU.

After a hearty breakfast we said our goodbyes and got a decently early start this morning under gray skies that threatened rain but never proved up.  The traffic out of Milan wasn't too bad on a Sunday morning, but it was stop and go with stop lights for about 40 km of suburbs.  The cars were careful and courteous for the entire ride, even though traffic built as we got further out of Milan -- it seems that a lot of people were heading to Lake Como to watch the Giro d'Italia race.  It was a steady climb and we're always amazed at how differently the bike handles with the load -- all of our panniers and bags and stuff and it is a heavy machine.  I say that every year but it is always such a shock.  We get used to it.

We rode the same route as the Giro would follow a few hours behind us and evry village was dressed up in pink and people were having fun with big tables set for a Sunday feast.

All of the traffic islands sported a pink theme

Km after km of pink.  What fun!

After about 60 km of climbing we hit a steep descent down to the shores of Lake Como.  Neither of us have been to this part of Italy and it is tough to accuse it of being anything other than beautiful.  The lake is surrounded by high rocky peaks on all sides and there are beautiful treed slopes everywhere.  And this must be the jasmine growing location of the world!  Everywhere it smells of jasmine.

We made it to Bellagio in no time and headed to the ferry dock to get tickets for the short ride to Varenna on the east shore.  Then we headed back about 5 km to where the Giro would pass in about an hour.  It was getting crowded with lots of cyclists and families out for a Sunday afternoon.  We found a good place to park and waited.  Soon enough the pre-race caravan came though -- far more subdued than at the Tour (thankfully!) and then the racers came flying by

The guy in blue won today's stage

I'm not sure that this video will post -- the WiFi here in Varenna is very slow

It is amazing how fast these guys go uphill.  We creep along at a snail's pace trying not to tip over and these guys are a blur.

Here are some photos taken around Bellagio and Varenna on Lake Como -- Varenna is where we are staying on the eastern shore of the lake

Bellagio from the ferry

The Alps to the north -- we head there tomorrow

Bellagio

Looking south.  Today's route came through the saddle in the mountains

The race was soon a distant blur so we rode back to Bellagio to catch the ferry across to Varenna.  After a few kerfluffles we got tucked into a BnB and then headed to town for a negroni.

Well-earned negronis.

We are both pretty tired tonight -- our legs are like rubber.  Tomorrow is a big climbing day and the weather looks pretty rank.  It should be big fun.  Due to snow and avalanche danger they were forced to eliminate the Passso Gavia from the race on Tuesday http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/giro-ditalia-passo-gavia-removed-due-to-avalanche-threat/ so our plans will need to change a bit.  We'll see what happens

Until then, Happy Memorial Day back home.

Ciao.