PDA

View Full Version : Question for OLS and other italophiles

hybridbellbaske
06-14-2005, 03:18 AM
I have looked at the recent post regarding Madonna del Ghisallo a number of times thinking how cool it would be to ride in Italy again (I had a week in the area around Bassano del Grappa 4 years ago), but did'nt think it would be at all practical.

I ran into an old friend on the weekend who now lives in London. Guess what? She and her husband have just bought a house on the western side of Lake Como and they have kindly issued an invitation to stay, whenever I can get to the northern hemisphere again.

Their house is just across the lake from the Ghisallo climb. So the question is- apart from the Ghisallo- what other rides/areas have people done in the lakes area?

All ideas and information welcome. Planning trips is (almost) as much fun as the trips themselves.

Thanks!
ols
06-14-2005, 08:26 AM
The lake definitely had lots of beautiful roads, although, since our Bikestyle trip was following the Giro route day to day (more or less - thankfully not the entire stage each day!), we only did the one ride around the lake, through Bellagio, up to the Ghisallo and back to Lecco. Beautiful ride!! As for suggestions of other rides around Como, though, not too helpful I'm afraid. Nevertheless, here's a link to the Bikestyle site showing the Italy itinerary (Day 4)

http://www.bikestyletours.com/index.php/167
hybridbellbaske
06-15-2005, 01:21 AM
OLS- Thanks for your response.

I have also been considering a week in Provence with bikestyle tours on one of their self guided tours. I get the feeling that you think bikestyle did a good job with the Giro tour- Am I right?
ols
06-16-2005, 09:44 PM
You are correct. Based on the Giro trip, I thought Lawrie and co at Bikestyle did a terrific job and I'd recommend them highly -- A really good group of cyclists, about half US and half Australian, excellent hotels/ menus, really good 'backstage access' opportunities to the teams and finish/start areas through their network of current and former pro contacts, well planned logistics, and of course, phenomenal places to ride every day. It was a fun trip.