Quote Originally Posted by khg View Post
I gotta hand it to Emily--I'll take hills over wind any day. The only hill that I walked part of in Italy was going up Passo Fedaia on a super windy day. After a couple gusts that blew me crosswise across the road, I was more than a little freaked out, and walked much of the rest of the climb.

I've had my eye on this Italy trip for a while, but a couple years ago it was with the thought "that's amazing, but I'd never be able to do that..." So it was really special to do the trip, above and beyond how great the trip was in itself.
Thanks, but the hills you climbed were massive, khg! I can't imagine doing rides with the amount of elevation gain you posted on your blog above. Wow! I'm duly impressed. But yeah, I do hate wind (when riding) a LOT.

What gearing did you have to do those climbs? I just can't climb super steep hills on my Trek. I have a 30t granny in front, and my lowest in back is 25t. Pretty standard for a road bike but not low enough for me! My Bike Friday has mountain gearing, so I can do a lot bigger hills on that one, but it's heavier, so a bit of a trade-off.