News — Italy

85 miles. 11000 ft of climbing. Strava link: https://www.strava.com/activities/2472029390 Breakfast at 8, lots of toast, lots of cereal, lots of coffee. There was a group of Czechoslovakian bodybuilders staying at the guesthouse, each one well over 6-foot-tall and probably weighing around 20 stone apiece, they were proper man mountains. We ate them under the table, a bottomless thirst and hunger upon us. The day was bright and warm. Not a cloud in the sky, perfect cycling weather. After the previous night’s poor sleep, I had managed to sleep well, and this morning felt fresh and ready for the day ahead....

Passo dello Stelvio (2758 m) and Passo Gavia (2621 m) Our day began with breakfast and Timb requesting a bowl for his Coco Pops. The hotelier promptly provided a rather large antique bowl, which was possibly a bed-pan. Timb then proceeded to slowly fill the bowl with the entire box of Coco Pops, then stated matter-of-factly “I’m not even very hungry”. I nearly spat out my coffee. The first leg of today’s 146 km ride was a 50 km stretch of cycle path. This kicked off with a short section of hairpins leaving Merano followed by 50 kms of gentle incline to...

Passo Giau (2236m), Passo Falzarego (2105m), Passo Pordoi (2239m) Passo Costalunga (1745m)   Waking up in the mountains for the first time on the trip put a bit of a spring in everyone’s step. Any remaining grappa-induced fuzziness was gone after an all-to-brief 4km descent to the bottom of the first climb of the day. Passo Giau is a tough but lovely and relatively short climb. The 10km climb averages 9.8% with peaks of 14% and is placed late on in the Maratona Dolomites which leads to it having a killer reputation. Although this was our first real 'high' mountain...

Passo San Boldo (706 m), Forcella Franche (990 m), Passo Duran (1601 m), Forcella Staulanza (1773 m)First day in the Dolomites and four mountains to contend with. First up was the Passo San Boldo, which at 706 m wasn’t particularly high, but was certainly one of the most interesting and picturesque. Our route up included 18 hairpins, 6 of which were hidden inside narrow one-way tunnels controlled by traffic lights. The red lights providing a welcome excuse to stop, have a rest and take photographs. We met a couple of Italian cyclists at the top who took a team photo for...

Today was the first day of Team Shutt’s 2017 Venice to Geneva bike packing tour over the Dolomites, Eastern Alps and Swiss Alps following a route inspired by Mike Cotty’s heroic non-stop effort from 2014 (watch the YouTube movie if you haven’t before, it’s amazing). We're planning to take a bit longer than Mike’s 50-hour epic and have given ourselves just over a week to complete the 22 mountains: Passo San Boldo, Forcella Franche, Passo Duran, Forcella Staulanza, Passo di Falzarego, Passo di Giau, Passo di Pordoi, Passo di Costalunga, Passo dello Stelvio, Passo di Gavia, Passo dell'Aprica, Bernina Pass,...