93km in 3hr17
average 28.2kmph
maximum 55.5kmph
odometer reads 4708km
There is a definite nip in the air as we awake at the top of a mountain range, one foot in Italy, one foot in Austria. The temperature is hovering around 5 degrees celsius and we are fully ensconced in thermals and windproofs, hopeful of a long fast descent into Italia aproper. Despite the Germanic language of this area of Italy (Ein Tirol!), breakfast or colazione is definitely Italian. The coffee is superb, by far the best in Europe, but food option is minimal and small! After cleat adjustments on my delightfully yellow new cycling shoes, we depart this peculiar town of two countries and multiple discount outlet shopping centres. I would like to point out at this point that my original cycling shoes were from Lidl in Tooting and cost just £16, yet they lasted a good 4700 km and could have gone longer if they were not unbearably smelling of cat piss. It just goes to show, you dont need expensive kit to cycle across Europe!
We set off on the only road out of town (apart from the motorway which we decide not to attempt) and to our delight we find a newly built cycle path running alongside in beautiful black tarmac with sparkly white lines. A pleasant surprise, and we are cruising in style, barely pedalling, brakes ascreeching down the mountain. Of course, this being a cycle path, before long its taking a detour round the mountain and down into a village in the valley. We have cycled a few extra km but enjoyed the descent all the same.
We stop, and realise we have cycled through about three seasons in 45 minutes. Its now glorious sunshine and around 20 degrees! Off come the thermals and out with the shorts and tee shirts, its alpine tan time! Before long my nose is as rosy as a tomato and we stop for more coffee in Vipiteno, delighted with swift progress today. I feel almost guilty cruising downhill, but I figure we deserve a break after all the ascending for the last week. We switch on and off road for a while, before attempting to be well behaved and follow the official bike path to Bolzano. Off we swoop and onto a wooden bridge over the main road. Unfortunately, the cycle bridge has not been designed for cyclists of our speed, and as she ascends the ramp with much force, Hazel manages to discard of all her panniers off the bike. We peek around the corner and note the bike path has decided to take a detour up a mountainside (classic). We decide to return to the flat road, but first unhelpfully decided to eat our lunch on the narrow bridge as other cyclists squeeze past, apparantly looking to enjoy an unneccessary 15% climb uphill. One chap with light panniers on a mountain bike gives a smile and cranks up his pace, obviously looking to impress.
After a fairly long break we return to the road, and fly along, enjoying the straight and flat for once. Before long we find ourselves caught up with the aforementioned mountain bike chap, who obviously has taken the long way round on the bike path.We find his pace a little slow, so Colby begins to pull out in order for our peloton to overtake him. As it is a busy road, she calls out that she is passing him, so he knows. He looks at us as we begin to roll past, turns back then does a double take, as if he cant believe he is being overtaken by three glamourous (ahem) young ladies. Unfortunately at this point his back wheel falls off the tarmac and for a terrible minute it looks like he is toppling over as we pass. Gratefully his mountain bike knobblies can cope with the off roading and he rights himself, we cruise past with apologies and stifled chuckles.
We stop for more refreshments as Hazel is starting to feel a little faint, most probably from a lack of water and change in season from winter to summer! We find a nice bike path along the river (no mountain detours this time) and follow it all the way into Bolzano, through various tunnels and past a great many other Sunday cyclists. It really is a cycle superhighway, quite a surprise as we really hadnt expected Italy to provide such traffic free facilities. Despite feeling flaky, Hazel insists we keep up our superfast daily average speed (approx 17mph) and we fly straight into central Bolzano. We check ourselves into a Best Western as it is the first place we find, and it appears Hazel is not up for a long trawl around town. Delightfully as it is a well appointed Hotel, we are given a whole conference room in which to store our bikes, and also a bath! (For us, not the bikes) After a red blood cell boosting steak we retire to bed and sleep soundly.
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