Italy - up mountain down mountain. Repeat

I flew to Venice at the end of June. 2 hours after landing I was 1500m up in the magnificent Dolomites.

From Wednesday to Sunday I rode, hill repeats, cols, cruising about and finding random little passes.

In essence

I ate ice cream, every day
went to Venice on Friday and for the whole day ate Ice cream
I did hill repeats in between riding 2 climbs
I burnt 4000 calories in one training session
I did some more hill repeats
My legs died alittle
I ate pasta but not as much as I thought I would
I ate veal by mistake (sorry baby cows)
I like all the white kit Italians wear
Italians think I'm odd for wearing black and kit without blarring logos and screaming sponsors name
There is some amazing kit out there and I wish I had some
I'm going back to Italy. I'll make it more fun next time

Click read more to look at random pictures

By Sunday I was mentally ready to be a mountain goat shame my body is not. Awake a 4am and lining up up on a road just outside of Covara I waited. Hearing the sounds of helicopters, euro music and an excited Italian announcer. We were off at just after 6.30am to the first climb the Campolongo. Before long I was descending into Arraba and then to the Pordoi. A majestic climb that stretches up for 9km. I like the Pordoi but what was to follow as I rode around the back of the mountain I hated. The gradient altered and twisted I was climbing up to 2200m and my lungs could tell. I sat there turning the pedals in the saddle out the saddle. Couldn't find a rythmn.

I made it up and then down and then a short little rise to make it over the passe and back down a 15 minutes descent.

Back up the Campolongo for lap 2 and this time after the descent into Arabba we turned left. I tucked into a group of 6 and it became strung out as we chipped away on the undulating road towards the major climb of the day the Falzarego which led to the Valporola.

The climb was hard, but I just kept it constant the group rode away but I knew they would. One or two women passed me about 30 minutes into the climb. I let them go but tried to keep them within sight for the rest of the climb. My feet began to feel bruised as I started to push to hard on my pedals.

The descent was amazing, 10 miles of amazing. The road ahead I caught up with alot of riders and accelerated out of every turn.

Back on the final stretch it was a 4 miles drag to the finish and I dug right in head down trying to make up time I'd lost on the main climbs.