Riding in / around Bologna

[forrestw]

I'm scheduled to be in Italy in late September, Bologna being situated at the foot of the Apennines looks like it could be good enough riding to bring my bike along.

Anyone have experiences riding in the region?

[rain dogs]

How close do you want to stay to Bologna? How much time? Milan is only 200kms away and then you're 200km from some of the best riding on the planet. Lake Como area. Up to Morbegno. Stelvio is not far. The whole Giro di Lombardia route. Madonna di Ghisallo. It's all there. Alternatively, you could go to the Northwest and ride in the dolomites. And there are loads of great little destinations south.

Italy is very small. Take a train for 2 hours, ride for an overnighter and you'll have covered so much you won't believe it. That would be my suggestion. Train to Milan in the morning, ride North.

[forrestw]

How close do you want to stay to Bologna
The work is in Bologna, when I finish up then a trip to the Milan / Como area would be in scope and I'm thinking about that but have some concerns that by September weather in the mountains might start getting pretty dicey?

[Thumby]

It would be a sin not to have a bike at Lake Como! Very nice "moderate" mountains there, I had a great two days of riding a few years ago. Sorry I can't give route specifics, I was improvising. There is a nice out and back challenge of a climb out the east side of town, a couple hours (?) of grinding up to a radio tower/tourist area where you can look down on Lake Maggiore, if I recall correctly. Great views there up high. West and North of the lake are various windy routes to get lost in.

[bocarider]

We spent 3 days in Bologna in May – very cool city. We had a few rides schedules, but due to a technical problem with my bike, only got one good ride in instead of the 2 or 3 we hoped for. Here is a link to the ride on ridewithgps.com

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/665863

It was a really beautiful ride, out through the fancier suburb of the City (up some pretty steep hills) and out to a really nice national park. The roads were excellent, traffic was mild to sparse and the scenery was great. You will see three (3) climbs on the elevation profile – the 1st one was actually the toughest as it had some really steep pitches. The other 2 where long and more gradual. The pics below are my son and I along that route and looking back at the City from about 2/3 of the way around the loop.

I found this route on http://www.bikemap.net/ which is a great source of .gpx files, especially for Europe. I was able to download a lot of routes onto my Garmin and they all worked perfectly. I also have rides in and around Parma, where we spent 3 days and then a lot of rides in the Piedmonte area where we spent a week riding - that's also amazing.

The food is beyond amazing – tortellini en brodo, the prosciutto, the ragu Bolognese, the pizza, the gelato – you are going to eat really well.

PM me if you would like any more information.

[echelon_john]

If you're concerned about the weather in the mountains you could head to Lucca and do some great riding from there. Very mild/warm that time of year, easy to get to (and out of on your bike) and lots of options for places to stay & eat. Not high mountains, but plenty of climbing, as well as a beautiful coastline within riding distance.

[54ny77]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmPRHJd3uHI

[forrestw]

We spent 3 days in Bologna in May – very cool city. We had a few rides schedules, but due to a technical problem with my bike, only got one good ride in instead of the 2 or 3 we hoped for. Here is a link to the ride on ridewithgps.com

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/665863

It was a really beautiful ride, out through the fancier suburb of the City (up some pretty steep hills) and out to a really nice national park. The roads were excellent, traffic was mild to sparse and the scenery was great. You will see three (3) climbs on the elevation profile – the 1st one was actually the toughest as it had some really steep pitches. The other 2 where long and more gradual. The pics below are my son and I along that route and looking back at the City from about 2/3 of the way around the loop.

I found this route on http://www.bikemap.net/ which is a great source of .gpx files, especially for Europe. I was able to download a lot of routes onto my Garmin and they all worked perfectly. I also have rides in and around Parma, where we spent 3 days and then a lot of rides in the Piedmonte area where we spent a week riding - that's also amazing.

The food is beyond amazing – tortellini en brodo, the prosciutto, the ragu Bolognese, the pizza, the gelato – you are going to eat really well.

PM me if you would like any more information.
Oh my, that looks awesome. I might be tempted to do that loop in reverse!

Thanks, exactly what I was hoping for :-)

[cnighbor1]

Up near the border is the alps I stayed in bormia which you can ride those great climbs they do in the giro
stevio, gavia
go to http://www.aukadia.net/alps/ita.htm for photos of all passes in europe