Day 3 provided the ultimate justification
for traveling this far to ride a bike.
We set off in the morning to honour the
cycling gods at the Madonna del Ghisallo. Half church, half cycling museum situated
on top of our first steep climb. The steep
gradients and accompanying switchbacks have begun.
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Heading out in the morning toward Bellagio,
we traversed 5 mountains keeping the spectacular Lake Como on our left. After 30 kilometres riding quickly behind our
new friend and guide for the day Flavio, we turn right at the last of those
mountains, Monte Comet. It’s hard to
explain why climbing a steep hill is fun – it just is.
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| Our new friend Flavio (left) with Darryl |
Two of our party seemed to miss-read one of
the street signs, halfway up the climb.
The sign indicated the gradient of the slope - 14%. Not a native speaker, Tony thought it read – “do not pass this point.” Amazingly
there was a restaurant and bar nearby.
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| There are not many 14% climbs in Sydney. This was a fantastic climb that had everyone digging deep. |
The group was reunited at the bottom of the
hill for lunch, in a pretty little town adjacent to one of the many ferry terminals
along the Lake. A great spot to rest and
watch a huge blanket of rain come in off the lake.
Decision time: Dry ferry back to Como or
wet ride back
You may have noticed in yesterday’s post that we give out three awards each day.
Hard-man, soft-man and team-man.
Some of us took the ferry, including our previous day’s hard-man jersey
winner, Erik Owens.
Erik handed his ‘hard-man’ jersey back without
argument and collected the pink ‘soft-man’ cap award without complaint. He was today’s recipient and the groups
‘softest man’. I believe he voted for
himself.
Hard man award: Darryl Galpin. Strangely he has made it his business to wear
the traditional pink of the soft
man. His bike, helmet and his wheels for
god sake are all pink. But today he stood
above the pack. Galp lead for long
stretches out and home, in the
pelting rain.
Team man: no doubt about it – Flavio. He
not only provided direction to the Madonna del Ghisallo, he took us there.
Enjoy the pictures as much as we enjoyed
the ride:
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| The team - in our "Italy 2012" kit at the base of the Mt Comet climb (Madonna del Ghisallo) |
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| The Madonna del Ghisallo itself, at the top of Mt Comet |
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| Inside the Madonna del Ghisallo - a shrine to cycling |
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