Greetings from Verona

Summer sunshine in the Alps

So dawned the final day. We’ve stayed in some pretty good hotels on this trip and last night’s, the Hotel Garni Caminetto at the ski resort of Campo Carlo Magno, was no exception. As the others were getting ready for the off, I sat outside the hotel in the glorious early summer sunshine, gazed up at the mountains and reflected on this cycling thing about which we all seem so passionate and the brilliant few days we had spent together.

I must confess I’m a bit obsessed with road biking. It’s a lot to do with keeping fit, I find the older you get the more important this becomes. It’s not just about mental and physical health though, there's still a great sense of satisfaction in planning and achieving physical challenges, whether this is keeping up with the horribly young and desperately fit Sudanese guys in the desert or climbing the 19,715 meters of mountains which we did this week (which incidentally, gets us comfortably into the stratosphere!)

A stratospheric bike ride

There's also something about coming from a long line of engineers which means that for me, I find the technology associated with biking fascinating, you can spend a lot of time and money trying get the optimum performance from your much-loved carbon fibre sled (although it’s always worth remembering that less expensive performance gains can usually be achieved by simply staying off the beer and pies). At the end of the day it’s about the chaps. Whether it’s the members of the Sudanese Amateur Cyclists or the excellent fellows with whom I’ve spent this week, cyclists always seem positive and optimistic. They are ‘glass is half full’ sort of people who understand how to have fun. They’ll cheer you up even after the most awful of weeks, even the ones who are almost pensioners.

Seriously good down-hills

We were starting out at the top of a mountain today so it was nice to get straight into a big descent rather than the usual climb. Carving down wide, empty, mountain roads on a crystal clear Alpine morning, throwing the bike around at impossible angles - is just the best thing.

Then onto the valley floor for a few straight miles before getting into the last climb of the trip, up to Passo Durone. This hill started off with a really nasty steep kick up at over 15%, but eventually turned into a gentler climb up to 1010 meters. Coffee at the top and then another long descent before we got our first glimpse of Lake Garda in the distance. We enjoyed a final pasta lunch by the water’s edge before a 30-mile pedal along the lake side.

Lunch by the (flat) lake

Now here’s a question. As Harley’s got rather shorter legs than most people, does this mean he has to turn his pedals more often to cover the same distance? The consensus was that he probably did and that consequently he should be awarded his long-awaited ice cream. As Chris got stuck into his wild-berry and vanilla surprise, he spent some time pondering some other difficult questions, such as whether he was too old to have a pony tail and how it was it seemed like we’d been cycling up-hill for the past 20 miles. “How much higher is the southern end of the lake than the northern end?” he asked... We finished our run down lake Garda and then back onto more excellent Italian cycle paths which tracked along the river Adige down to Verona.

The River Adige in Verona

We picked our way through the narrow streets of this beautiful renaissance city, busy with the hustle and bustle of late Saturday afternoon street markets until we found the impressive Roman amphitheatre, with our hotel just next door. Sue Burfoot and Alison Bell had just arrived and we all retired to the bar for a few well-earned beers.

Some well-earner beers

We all had a great night out at a restaurant the specialises in something called polenta, a sort of tasteless brown porridgey goo that the Veronese seem to love, however a great bottle of rather nice of Gewürztraminer made up for it.

Sunday morning was spent dismantling the bikes and a quick wander around the city before I headed off to the airport for the long trip home to Khartoum. So thank you guys, 515 miles along and 12.25 miles up! A brilliant week, look forward to the ride next year when contrary to popular belief, Graham will still only be ‘almost a pensioner’!

Next year?