Ciao!

Or as they seemed to say in Italy, ciaooooooooouuuuuuu!

So I was lucky enough to go on a wonderful trip to Italy in September--Toscano, Liguria (Cinque Terre), Lombardia (Lake Como), and Milano--and while cycling wasn't the focus of the trip, one of our hosts made us an offer we couldn't refuse. We had planned to rent road bikes one day and do some toodling around Lake Como, but when our host asked if we wanted a guide and noted that there was only a guide fee (which was ridiculously low) and no extra fee for the bikes (which were decent Fondriest bikes), we couldn't say no.

In summary, it turned into an awesome impromptu group ride. Our guide, Fabio (yes, that is really his name) seemed to know everyone else on a bicycle and boy, do a lot of people ride there. Along the way we picked up several of his friends, including a baker, a priest out on his daily ride, and a handful of other gentlemen. Apparently everyone wanted to ride with the ladies. According to our guide, not many women ride for "sport" in Italy. Many do for transportation (commuting), but it is quite unusual for women to ride like so many of us do here in the U.S. Our guide was delighted that we wanted to climb. Of all the riders we saw (dozens), we only saw one other woman.

To top it off, our hotel was only a few kilometers from the chapel dedicated to the Madonna of Ghisallo, the patron saint of cyclists. We went to the chapel twice. It is a magical place.

Enjoy these photos from our little ride and of the chapel. Complete set can be seen here.

One of the roads we rode up. That's Lake Como in the background.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1...ride-route.jpg

My friend and I on one of the climbs. We are smiling because we are riding bikes in Italy!

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1...a-climbing.jpg

That's me with Fabio. Uh, yeah.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1.../fabio-sue.jpg

A statue outside of the Madonna of Ghisallo's chapel

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1...g/ghisallo.jpg

THE chapel.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1...ing/chapel.jpg

Just in awe.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1...ng/sue-awe.jpg

A little shrine to Il Pirata

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1...co-pantani.jpg

WOW! Totally droooling right now. This is DH and my dream trip, but will have to wait until we get a couple of kids through college :(

thanks for sharing!

Nice!

Jealous.
It looks like you had a fabulous time. I want to go back to Italy so badly! We had a similar experience, when we went to Siena to visit DS, we rented crappy mountain bikes and had an unbelievable ride where we got lost and ended up doing one of the climbs on the Giro.
Even better was the little bike shop we found outside the walled city, where we wanted to buy toe covers (it was cold). The owner and his wife were about 70. Since DS was with us, he could translate and they took us in the back and showed us pictures of the guy when he raced, as well as photos of all kinds of famous riders. I still remember DS saying "Mi fratello (races) bicci en Americo." After that, since he found out my other son was racing, we really got the royal treatment.

Wow! Looks like you ha da blast!

Veronica

Wow. Just wow.

That looks and sounds so awesome! Thanks for sharing the pictures. I can live vicariously through you! :D The whole experience just seemed to be too perfect the way it all just fell into place with Fabio, and the chapel!

oh very cool!! what an amazing ride.

Does Mr Yellow know you have a growing list of cute Euro Boys?

Wow - completely amazing! What a great trip. Thanks for posting those photos.

That's definitely on our to do list.