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The scenery is mind-blowing. Enormous limestone peaks everywhere around you. And the roads weaving their way around it. The Italian Dolomiti mountains offers so much uniqueness. But be aware! You really need to be in shape! Otherwise, instead of conquering these climbs, these climbs will conquerer you…. It was by the end of June I reached out to my mate rubenhoogland to check out if he was interested in what I had on my mind. Spending a week at Hotel Melodia Del Bosco , and bringing our road bikes in order to ride as much Dolomiti climbs as we can. He agreed. A few weeks later, Sunday, August 5, I got in the car early in the morning. I picked up Ruben at his place, and we headed south together. When we arrived at Melodia Del Bosco , it was dark and it rained incessantly. But as soon as we got our bags in the lobby, we immediately felt that this was going to be an amazing stay. And that was even before this superb 6-courses diner was served to get us ready for our first bike ride. Tired but well fed we fell asleep in our suite. The great night of sleep and the extended breakfast got us ready for day 1 on the bikes. Day one covered 90 kilometers with 2, m elevation gain. The story in short, my mate Ruben suffered as never before We considered it to be a sort of warm-up for the rest of the week. The loop would contain the Passo di Giau 2, m and the Passo Falzarego 2,m. Warming up was kinda like an understatement. It turned out Ruben overestimated himself. Not just a bit. A lot! Or, let me put it this way He underestimated this area. The Passo di Giau pretty much managed to kill him. The number of times his Wahoo automatically paused couldn't be counted with two hands. Fact, his 36 x 28 gear ratio turned out to be unsuitable to digest these tough climbs. Nevertheless, he made it to the top of the Giau and I really felt happy for him the Passo Falzarego was a bit milder on him. Anyway, when we returned to Badia, Ruben scored himself a sprocket and we really had good hoops right away for the rest of the days. To be able to enjoy, make sure you bring the right gear ratio! The Passo Giau turned out to be an extremely tough test for our first day. Its top stands at 2, metres above sea level and serves 29 switchbacks. The Passo Valparola twists and turns, but offers a lot of straight stretches too. The Valparola is strikingly beautiful, rising up to 2, metres above sea level. Day two covered 63 kilometers with m elevation gain. For Dutch standards, this ride still could be quite extreme. We called it a recovery ride anyway The reason for taking it easy today was twofold. On the one hand, Ruben suffered quite a bit on our warming up ride the day before. On the other hand, Ruben had to attend an online meeting for work, early in the afternoon. That worked out quite nicely! This ride was the perfect combination of moderate-intensity while enjoying fantastic views from this idyllic location. After we got back in the hotel we spent our afternoon with both a book and a coke in our hands, on the sunny terrace of this great hotel. Nothing to complain about this day. And we felt ready again for the very next ride. Looking back on this whole week, this was by far the easiest and most relaxed climb we did. Nevertheless a pretty one. The landscapes are of a bizarre beauty, as if an overconfident giant had folded stones of all sizes and scattered them here randomly. It felt a bit like the grassland parks of Yosemite, California in the United States. This dead end road starts quite steep from the main road but furthermore the Day three covered kilometers with 2, m elevation gain. Another day in the saddle. And an easy one to remember The first climb was okay. But getting down appeared to be tricky. I found out I had totally worn my front wheel brake pads the day before. And this steep 30 km descent wasn't the best moment to find out about that. But in the end, I managed to get safely to Chiusa Klausen where we found a proper bike shop where the guys were really keen to help me out. This region is heaven for cyclists. And you can find bike shops pretty much everywhere. So, I was really happy the friendly guy here carved out time to replace the pads right away. And in addition, I asked them to tweak my front derailleur a bit so I could ride with my chain fully to the left without any noises. But we struggled through it while taking picture after picture. This is a nice quiet climb cut in two. Coming from San Martin de Tor you immediately get a tough part over an open Alpine meadow. Steeply in the direction of a church. Once there you have had the first tough part and the climb flattens out slightly. You even get a descent. Just before the village of Antermoia, where you turn into green fields again, the road starts to rise again. In the village itself climbing gets more serious and when you leave the village you get the hardest part served. Nice climb, especially in terms of landscape and view. Pretty quiet too while doing The road to Plan de Gralba was really nasty actually as it was full with traffic. Especially nasty when riding uphill. Nevertheless, the first 10 kilometres we had this road closure not for bikes which made it heaven until a certain point. From Plan de Gralba you face two kilometres of winding climbing to arrive at a plateau with an almost flat straight road parallel to the imposing north side of the Sella mountains. A real relief to switch bigger again. The last 2 kilometres to the top goes up again via five short but sweet switchbacks. Day four covered just 67 kilometres with 2, m elevation gain. The classic clockwise Sella Ronda loop, coming from Corvara, it was… This very popular Sella Ronda loop is inspired by the similar ski tour. The The Gardena, Campolongo, Sella and Pordoi. Ruben and I were really longing for a shorter day of riding, so we could take more time for coffee stops and shooting pictures. Okay, it was a bit tough, but as we made stop after stop while taking picture after picture, it felt quite relaxed as well. The only thing was that it appeared we ran a bit late for lunch. So after two climbs and descends, we were really graving for a pizza lunch. As we promised ourselves. It turned out that no restaurant could serve us pizza. I consider this as one of the nicest climbs of the area, as without extremes it goes up with 19 unnumbered hairpin bends. The trees along your way up gradually become scarcer and the panoramas all the more beautiful. Doing the Sella Rondo, counter clockwise as we did, this pass starts at the three-way intersection in Plan de Gralba. And winds to the top through a long series of gentle curves. After 4. The road rises another kilometer further to one of the most beautiful pass heights in the Dolomites. At the top you have this narrow passage, between one souvenir shop and one hotel. Classic mountain top scenery with a magnificent view of the three peaks of the Sassolungo, the Sella massif and the Marmolada glacier. Short 5. This might be the slightly lesser-known side of the Pordoi as the way up from Arabba might be the most beautiful one. Nevertheless this is very nice as well. The Passo Campolongo was our last climb on our Sella Rondo. You leave Arabba via 3 short sweet switchbacks and these takes you through the village of Varda. At the top you find this plateau with a few hotels. Still worth going up the 3. Day five covered just kilometres with 2, m elevation gain. This time we did the Sella Ronda loop clockwise but extending it with the Passo Fedaia. That appeared to be savage… Did anyone of you ever managed to do the Passo Fedaia climb? No, no! Not the smooth one from Canazei! I'm talking about the Fedaia from Caprile! How intense was that! Perhaps because at that certain point we had been riding Dolomites cols for four days in a row. Without holding back. Or this climb is really badass. Anyway, this Fedaia climb really made me squeeze all the air out of my lungs. Just to manage to get to the top. However, once at the top, the experience was beyond amazing. It served this stunning view on the highest mountain of the Dolomites. The 3, metres Marmolada. Covered in snow. Plus, we enjoyed this 5-kilometer plateau stretch riding along the Lago di Fedaia. Last but not least there was this descend to Canazei. All 'galerias' and switchbacks. Once in Canazei we found this place serving great paninis and espressos. Great to head back to the hotel again. And although we had to conquer the Passo Sella and Passo Gardena again, this time from the other side, after that Fedaia experience, these ones were easy peasy It winds up straight from Corvara. Oddly enough, the switchbacks are steeper compared to the rest of the climb. Halfway it serves nothing more than a long spur to the top. Great new tarmac and spacious road for the whole 6 kilometers while gaining metres of elevation on this average slope of 5. As already mentioned, this side of the Passo Fedaia is just savage! The first part can be considered not too tough. The part which lets you explode starts from Malga Ciapela, where the cable car to the Marmolada departs. Starting with what is described in Giro history books as the 'Championship Cemetery'. These 4 kilometres psychologically feels like not progressing on the climb at all. Nevertheless, the last kilometers there is a final series of 10 switchbacks as gutters against the mountainside. In the end the top is a peaceful relief and if you proceed your way on the plateau you reach the reservoir with a view of the Marmolada glacier. This bad ass climb is Same climb as on our ride mentioned at day 4. Although this time we did this climb at its full length coming straight from Canazei. So the full Same climb as on our ride mentioned at day 3. Although this time it was shorter and really from Plan de Gralba. So we really just did the 5. Day six covered just kilometers with 3, m elevation gain. Pouring rain at an altitude of 2, meters was not what we expected. When we left our hotel it was all sunshine and just a few clouds. So we took off in bibs and jerseys. Ruben brought his rainjacket for descends. I laughed. I just brought a vest and arm warmers. We didn't use any of that on the first climb of the day. On The Furkel Pass, the sun was burning our skins and the effort made us sweat even more. Another break for photos, as we did A LOT these days, appeared to be a great idea to get ourselves up there. A fast descend got us to Valdaora where we got ourselves our first coffee of the day. We continued our ride at an altitude of 1, meters. It was since last week since we had seen grain and cornfields. But from there, it was all up again. A stretch of 40 kilometers on a gentle slope increased until we reached the breathtaking Lago di Landro. It was where we had another coffee stop with a view. Another fast descend got us down in Cortina d'Ampezzo. As expected, again, no pizza. But, yes, pasta! And it appeared to be a good one to get us up on the last climb of the day. Meanwhile, dark clouds moved over the mountains into the valley. It started to rain a bit as we took off for our 17 km up to the Passo di Falzarego. Light rain turned into rain, which eventually turned into pouring rain. We both decided to go at our own pace. After an hour we met again at the top. Ruben with his comfortable rainjacket. Me, soaking wet The last descend back to the hotel was everything but fun. Actually, it was hell. It's was so hard to get down safe. I was shivering from head to toe. It was so cold! But eventually, we made it back to the hotel where a warm bath was the greatest help to get the blood and energy back flowing. Our last day here in The Dolomites turned out to be the most epic one. No doubt! Pretty much an unknown climb in this area. Nevertheless really worth it! Nice views from open green fields. Just a few switchbacks but I rather had more to feel progress instead of these longer straight stretches. However, this 12 kilometers long climb gaines metres of altitude with an average slope of 6. Same side of the Passo Valparola as mentioned on day 1. So we did the full What a trip this was! This area is heaven. For lots of outdoor fanatics as for us on road bikes. Only thing is traffic which can be quite overwhelming. Busses, cars, motorbikes. But hey, everyone deserves to enjoy this unique scenery, right!? Sep 12 Written By Rik de Voogd. Otherwise, instead of conquering these climbs, these climbs will conquerer you… with the two of us It was by the end of June I reached out to my mate rubenhoogland to check out if he was interested in what I had on my mind. View fullsize. Passo Falzarego, from Cortina d'Ampezzo The Passo Valparola twists and turns, but offers a lot of straight stretches too. Day 3 - passo delle erbe Day three covered kilometers with 2, m elevation gain. Day 4 - sella ronda Day four covered just 67 kilometres with 2, m elevation gain. Passo Gardena, from corvara I consider this as one of the nicest climbs of the area, as without extremes it goes up with 19 unnumbered hairpin bends. Passo Sella, from plan de gralba Doing the Sella Rondo, counter clockwise as we did, this pass starts at the three-way intersection in Plan de Gralba. Passo Pordoi, from canazei This might be the slightly lesser-known side of the Pordoi as the way up from Arabba might be the most beautiful one. Day 5 - passo fedaia Day five covered just kilometres with 2, m elevation gain. Passo Pordoi, from canazei Same climb as on our ride mentioned at day 4. Passo Gardena, from plan de gralba Same climb as on our ride mentioned at day 3. Day 6 - furkelpass Day six covered just kilometers with 3, m elevation gain. Rik de Voogd.

6 days of conquering dolomiti climbs

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After many years of visiting the great cycling regions of France and Spain, and having ridden a good number of the classic climbs — it was with great excitement and a little trepidation that welcomed me over the Brenner pass into Italy. My god those mountains are impressive. More like sheer cliffs than the stylised mountain shapes that a five-year-old might draw. Innsbruck airport itself beautifully previewed the week ahead, seemingly trapped in an improbable alpine valley, only reached by air via the most amazing descent and banking down a valley, towering rock on either side as we approached the runway. I expected it to be hot, Bolzano is only m above sea level and in the bottom of the Adige valley. However I have now been informed by many locals that the last 3 weeks have been the hottest ever in the Dolomites! Nice timing for a group of pasty white Englishmen! Fortunately this was not the case and after a few kms on the roads nearby we had supper and planned for our first ride the next day. Our first ride was a simple and easy ride north from Bolzano to Merano and then up the Val Passiria — in Almeria I am totally in control of route planning, no road is an unknown. The convoluted urban roads of Bolzano and a 3km stretch of dug-up road on the way out of town was, to say the least, an auspicious start. Then as we left the city behind the road wound its way up the eastern edge of the Adige valley towards Merano, all the while the vast rocky cliffs flanked us to our right and also not far across the valley — their partners looked down from the east. After coffee we headed up the Val Passiria — although a very busy road, it climbed gently up a more open Alpine valley, cows munching on verdant pastures replaced the vines and orchards of lower down the valley. We turned back after 50km and after lunch in Merano took a different road back. Here we struck gold with route planning. A wide, quiet road through row upon row of apple trees bursting with ripe fruit of all colours. The town of Lana was particularly stunning. The baroque onion-domed church amazing against the azurri sky! These towers I have always associated with eastern Europe would be common place in the Dolomites! Day two of riding saw us head into the Dolomites for real, an hour and half drive up to Canazei — in the company of what appeared to be most of Italy on holiday! We started a few kms earlier than planned as we encountered the first of many seemingly pointless accidents between high-powered motors that appeared to have impacted at low-speed! Canazei was bustling with cyclist, walkers and holiday-makers, it was also still resplendent in pink from the visit of the Giro a few months before. The group split on the ride today, the stronger and more optimistic took the Sella first, then Pordoi and finally the monstrous Fedaia, the more conservative did Pordoi first then back up the Sella. Either way it was a big day in the sweltering heat. For me Pordoi is one of the climbs that symbolises the mystical nature of the Dolomites — when we were planning the trip this was one Passo that had to be done. So I decided to head up Pordoi first and then back down and tackle the Sella — eschewing Fedaia in light of all the climbing to come in the coming days. Pordoi did not disappoint, stiff hairpins straight out of Canazei and some serious gradients. Resisting the urge to stop and take in the views- I promised myself some good photo stops on the way back down. We re-grouped at the top and the selection was made — some went to on down the Pordoi to tackle the Fedaia from Caprile, I decided on the lesser of two evils and descended back towards Canazei before taking the fork north up to Passo Sella. The view from the top of Sella is possibly the most iconic of the trip for me, it sums up the Dolomites. Towering blocks of rock, contrasting grey with a celestial blue sky. As I stood at the top and looked back on the magnificent Marmolada, little did I know the carnage that Fedaia was reaping onto the strongest riders in our group. Tales of zig-zagging up savage gradients, stopping as there was no choice, Garmin auto-pausing, no gears left, stall speed … all these were re-told at the coffee stop in Canazei as we met up before heading back to hotel. These epic tales were retold many times that evening as we sample some marvellous local wines at the delightful Enoteca Bacaro in the Old Town. There were some tired bodies after the traditional battering that Day 2 of a bici-almeria trip seems to dish out year after year. The last couple of bends were particularly tough, as it always is when you discover a perfectly good funicular runs up the to the top of the climb. The rest of us took a memorable descent down from Mendola to the shores of Lago di Santa Giustina for lunch at Cles. What followed was another piece of inspired, if fortunate, route-planning. We discovered perhaps the greatest piece of cycle path on earth from Mollaro to Sabino down the Noce valley. Amazing and technical, one to ride again and again! Then we entered the Trento vineyard region, passing through hectare upon hectare of vines, nice labelled and the Teroldego Zone, then the Pinot Grigio Zone. As a former wine-professional I had learned about the trellised pergola vineyards, this was a joyous opportunity to see them for real — and there were plenty! Finally we joined the Trento-Bolzano cycle path along the banks of the Adige and sped wind-assisted back into town, all the time looking down at the river, full of grey silt washed down from those towering Dolomites above us. Plan was to head up to the Anterselva valley and ride from the bottom up to the Passo Stalle on the Austrian border. This would give a couple of us that are huge biathlon fans a chance to have a look around the Antholz Biathlon Centre. Well that was the plan … as we approached the foot of the valley and found somewhere to park up and get the bikes out, the first rumble of thunder entered the scene. As soon as I turned first people out of car park the first drop of rain landed on my forearm. By the time we reached a cafe m up the road, the heavens had opened, dramatic fork lightning surrounded us on all sides. Very soon it became apprent that there would be no riding today. The next morning normal order was restored, skies were blue, breakfast taken early, bikes packed … however there was a sense of uneasiness in the air. Today was the big one — Passo dello Stelvio or Stilsferjoch. So we set off to get there nice and early, deliberately choosing Monday in the hope that it might be less busy in terms of petrolheads and motorbikes. Deciding to park up and have a 20km ride along the well-signed cycle park to the foot of the climb seemed a nice idea until the arrival of a 3km section of gravel meant a return to the busy main road. No bici-almeria trip is complete without a little dirt road rambla riding as all veterans will know! Personally I love it — Strade Bianche on my Bianchi! So after a brief coffee stop it was onto the serious business of the Stelvio! Again the ride was briefly interrupted by idiots in high-powered sports cards who had decided to collide head at a speed slow enough to avoid injury but doubtless keeping insurance firms, and the recovery truck happy — more of him later! So after the best part of two and tree quarter hours I reached the summit after enjoying the spectacle of a Lammergeier behind chased by a rampant flock of choughs! Any big mountain climb has a special feeling towards the top. Passo dello Stelvio has it in buckets. History, traditional, sheer brute force of nature — a place of sublime beauty and somewhere I would encourage all that like to ride to go while they can. After the obligatory fotos at the Cima Coppi memorial, which doubled as a Scarponi shrine this year, I rode gently back down the first 10 or so hairpins stopping to take some photos. As the road corkscrewed ahead of me down the valley I had toiled up, I picked up speed and relaxed into the descent, passing bikes, buses and cars as I went. About halfway down I came up behind a row of motos following the tow truck that had retrieved one of the sports cars from the earlier prang. Every apex he pulled away from bikes and began to distance them so I passed them on a tight hairpin and got into his wake. Clearly this guy had done this descent many times before. The gap between us and the motos stretched out and I was quite gutted when he pulled aside 8km from the valley. So our last day of riding came along — another drive, this time south to the legendary Monte Grappa. We decided to ride it from the north from Caupo as this was the Giro stage route this year. He was there waiting for us at the cafe in Arten at 10am as agreed. Not long before we met a couple of pretty savage short ramps and then a quite long section of fast downhill. As the summit approached and the view south over the plains all the way to the Adriatic beyond Venice — it became clear why comparisons are drawn between Grappa and Ventoux. Approaching from the south it must appear omnipresent and ominous to all. At the summit m above sea level is the beautiful yet haunting memorial to thousands of Austrian and Italians that died in both World Wars. Many, many thousands are buried up here in the stark, white mausoleum that is perched atop this mighty mountain. Yet another memorable trip with bici-almeria friends — one of the places I have always wanted to ride has been done and it did not disappoint. Obviously there are many famous climbs that could be added to the list. However the cycling is amazing even if the climbs are not so famous! Our last night meal was a return to the outstanding Gasthaus Fink in the old town of Bolzano — a place I would certainly return to and would recommend to anyone in the area to seek out. Amazing food, wine, service and amazing value. After a blog hiatus I am going to make a genuine effort to keep this blog more current! Apologies to those of you who have been coming on here regularly to check out my perusals … not! Full details on website or drop me an email mark bici-almeria. Any worries about self-catering, the houses, the location were all laid to rest. Check out our pics from the trip HERE. Obviously it is only a tiny run in terms of kit orders but for the bici-almeria spring week it is one of the key ingredients to a good group vibe. Gear Club were producing kit for Reading CC at the time so I approached them for a small run of bici-almeria jerseys. We came up with a simple white jersey trimmed with a very Iberian red and yellow theme. Like all subsequent jerseys, the red indalo figure has pride of place. In , for what turned out to be the last time, Gear Club again provided the jerseys. This time I went for something quite different. Bibshorts were also made to match. For the trip which was a extended 6 week stay in Spain I decided that I really wanted a kit that was manufactured in real cycling country rather than the far east or eastern Europe. Then I remembered that I had an old jersey from a trip with Marty Jemison back in and fished it out from the depths of my kit drawer. Made in Belgium it proudly boasted on the label, plus the condition was still pretty good. So I tried to track down Decca who made the jerseys. Well Decca had obviously changed a bit since , a new logo, Flemish-only website. So I emailed them and they were keen to work with me as they were just launching in the UK. I knew waht I wanted this year. I had decided that from now on each year I would base my jersey on a old pro team design. After much design back and forth we came up with a jersey like that worn by Movistar in Still a classic and still one of my favourites …. In Decca again supplied the kit, the chosen theme this time was Cervelo Test Team from Back to a mainly white design that proved popular with the group. We also had custom bibshorts made up by Decca in So onto The Vuelta was, yet again, probably the best of the three grand tours so next years has quite a lot to live up to. But we do know that it is all kicking off in Marbella on August 22nd, so most likely another hot, hilly week in Andalucia for the peloton as in So this makes the possibility of a Vuelta stage or two in Almeria a distinct possibility as they seem to like to throw in at least one big mountain stage early doors — why not Velefique and Calar Alto — making their 4th Vuelta appearance — perhaps a finish up at Calar Alto this time, or a daredevil descent to a finish at the foot of the mountain. I found at least one post suggesting an Almeria mountain stage. Hopefully the race will come our way again next year after a couple of years to the west of the city, one thing is for sure, with a recent winners list of Sam Bennett, Mark Renshaw, Michael Matthews, Matteo Pellucci, Theo Bos Cav was 2nd and Greg Henderson, the race will come down to a sprint finish on the Rambla in Almeria city centre! The event was short and sharp, and resulted in a rare TT defeat for Brad Wiggins who was beaten into 6th place over 7. Team Sky at the tomato loading bay! However, it is the non-competition cycling that makes Almeria such a great place to ride. The roads are virtually devoid of traffic, surfaces as good as any always find a newly resurfaced road whenever I ride somewhere new, this year it was the climb to Benizalon in the Sierra Filabres and the weather is reliable all year round. These three pictures were taken in October and New Years Eve Samuel Sanchez coming down Velefique April More. Castillo de Tabernas — having driven past it every time we have arrived in Almeria since we finally got round to climbing the footpath up to the ruins of the Moorish fortress of Tabernas. Looks much more impressive from the road below than it actually is when you get up there, the views however are magnificent. Castillo de Tabernas panorama Clear skies above Castillo de Tabernas. Having seen the wines of Mendez Moya in a local bread shop I had been intrigued at how wine could be made in such a dustbowl. The 9. The modern winery is located at m some vines are another m up the mountainside so the punishing heat of the summer is lessened by the effect of the altitude. The wines were delicious, particularly good were the three wines that featured Syrah in the blend! Hollywood in the Desierto again! First snow! Despite toasty temperature during our week in Almeria it was clear that the highest peaks of the nearby Sierra Nevada had already been cold enough for an early dusting of the white stuff! For my second ride of the week, and a non-car assisted one at that, I wanted to check out a road I had heard about and seen from above on a previous trip whilst walking! The closest mountain to my home in Sorbas is the Puerto de la Virgen. Usually tackled from Uleila del Campo and is a favourite of mine, and also many previous guests. I, of course, made a mental note to give it a bash at some stage before April This meant that for my ride I had to head from Sorbas north to Uleila then, rather than scale the Puerto de la Virgen, head back south to the base of the climb up into the Sierra de las Filabres to the village of Benizalon. This climb has been missing from our itinerary since as we found the road surface had gotten too broken and rough please remember that this in the context of Almeria roads! However since our last visit in March the Diputacion de Almeria local government had been out with one of their fantastic road building teams and the result is yet another super smooth strip of new tarmac winding its way sinuously up the mountain side. A quick downhill blast brought me into Benizalon, and I nipped into the always busy, Bar Leonora y Jaca for a coke. Even by their standards it was particularly busy today! Then navigating a maze of tiny streets I found the narrow road out of the village towards the Ermita Virgen de la Cabeza, a distant white precipice atop a towering peak looking out over the whole locale. The track, tarmacked beautifully of course, is primarily used for an annual Easter procession, on foot, from Benizalon to the Ermita, carrying a statue of the lady Virgen herself. It is however a great road for us cyclists, After giving up trying to work out where ahead of me it went next, I just carried on climbing, suddenly rounding a bend and finding myself crossing a ridge on the southern edge of the sierra, a sharp drop down to my right but with stunning views over Uleila and extending to Sorbas and even the coast in the heat-hazed distance. The road suddenly darted back round the northern side of the ridge and there was the white pinnacle, the Ermita, ahead once more. I was reminded of Ventoux and how the tower their seems so near and yet so far, seemingly moving with each bend in the road, disappearing from view then suddenly there like some mystical genie of the mountains! Then under the literal nose of Ermita itself, about 1km from the summit, a travesty! The sudden end of the glorious smooth tarmac, replaced by loose shale-like gravel. Despite my best efforts it was virtually impossible to get any real traction on a road bike, certainly it would be ridiculously difficult to safely descend back down. Then back to Uleila and home to Sorbas. Such a shame that the tarmac ends preventing road bikes reaching the white Ermita itself, leaving the rider stranded almost within touching distance of what hundreds of Easter pilgrims reach on foot each spring! Still, like most climbs in Almeria, it is worth it all the same. Great day out on the virtually traffic- free roads of Almeria. Asked Lisa very nicely to go for a day out in the car, checking a few potential new climbs for the April trips. We headed past the place we will be staying near Tabernas, on to Gador and along the road we used last year to get to the foot of Calar Alto. Rather than climb up through Alboloduy, we headed west towards Canjayar where the first of the climbs was. So I figured it out 8km with about m vertical difference. It was a good one, perfect surface, no traffic, lots of great little switchbacks and some breathtaking scenery. The only negative about the comes just before 2km up, a very smelly chicken farm that fills the senses for about m. Resisting the urge to stop and take photos, I pressed on still managing to push on at a decent pace on the big ring! Then at about 6. Then the beautiful sight of Ohanes appeared a few bends ahead and after 36 minutes of climbing I reached the village, turned round and punctuated the brilliant descent with those photos I resisted on the way up. Back at the foot of Ohanes we continued west past the bigger town of Canyajar and onto Bieres to check out the other climb up to Ohanes, or what could be a possible descent. Like the first this had spectacular vistas, a decent road surface but was a more rustic, narrow and much rougher road. Much less fun to descend than the smooth tarmac I had plunged down a few minutes earlier. Most likely any future climb and descent will use the first road. Skip to content. Merano Day two of riding saw us head into the Dolomites for real, an hour and half drive up to Canazei — in the company of what appeared to be most of Italy on holiday! Anterselva in the rain! Passo de Stelvio Cima Coppi So our last day of riding came along — another drive, this time south to the legendary Monte Grappa. Sempre at Monte Grappa Monte Grappa Yet another memorable trip with bici-almeria friends — one of the places I have always wanted to ride has been done and it did not disappoint. So here are my highlights from the trip. Passo dello Stelvio — the spirituality of the climb and the descent behind the tow truck! Gasthaus Fink — as mentioned above — just what you need after a hard day in the saddle. Great food, value and service. Passo Pordoi — one of those climbs I have dreamed of riding, not sure why but it did not disappoint. Apples — I have never seen so many apples in my entire life. Antholz Biathlon Centre — although desolate, cold and wet — it still had sense of something special. Monte Grappa — the sheer power of the Memorial at the top of the mountain. Street Pizza — best slice of pizza I have ever bought! Agosto Little Mix also used it for a video but less said the better! For the and bici-almeria trips we used a different place to stay. We took a break in — no bici-almeria trip proper — however a sizeable group of previous clients and I are heading to the Dolomites in August, so the group lives on. Finally a plug for a book written by Sorbas-local ex-pat Kevin Borman which I recently discovered — Flamingos in the Desert — an excellent read that really hits the spot for anyone who has visited the region — mentions of Bee-eaters, Rodalquilar gold, Palomares, Ghost airfields, threshing circles, camouflaged cars and Strawberry Fields mean little unless you have spent time here! Thanks to Kevin for summing it all up so well. Well worth a read. Still a classic and still one of my favourites … Movistar inspired jersey In Decca again supplied the kit, the chosen theme this time was Cervelo Test Team from Other Almeria news Castillo de Tabernas — having driven past it every time we have arrived in Almeria since we finally got round to climbing the footpath up to the ruins of the Moorish fortress of Tabernas. The Ermita de Virgen de la Cabeza atop the Sierra de las Filabres This meant that for my ride I had to head from Sorbas north to Uleila then, rather than scale the Puerto de la Virgen, head back south to the base of the climb up into the Sierra de las Filabres to the village of Benizalon. Alto de Ohanes … wow! Older posts. Blog at WordPress. Subscribe Subscribed. Sign me up. Already have a WordPress. Log in now. Loading Comments Email Required Name Required Website. Design a site like this with WordPress.

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