Maratona 2005

I spent the 4th of July 2005 in an untraditional manner. It was my last weekend in Europe and I can't think of a better way to end a wonderful 5 year tour. 4 of my friends, Ned, Tim, Tom, and Dave and I drove a borrowed 1998 Dodge van to Northern Italy to ride with 9000 other riders in the Maratona Dles Dolomities. http://www.maratona.it/ The maratona is a race for some, ride for most that tranverses 4 to 6 mtn passes. Several of these passes are ridden during the Giro bike race. There are 3 distances 65 km, 114 km, and 140 km. I went for the middle one which was plenty kms of riding for me. Ned, Dave and Tom went for the longer trek and Tim suffered some stomach trouble and had to settle for the shorter one which included all but the last two climbs. The beginning of the race was incredible. Imagine seeing 9000 riders lined up at the start line. Luckily Tim made reservations at a nice lodge that was right on the starting line or we would have to go several kms to get to the start.

Once we got going there was a ribon of bikers spread over the mtns. One thing I thought was pretty cool is that the switchbacks on the climbs were numbered. Well that was cool except for the fact that one climb had over 20 switchbacks in 13 kms. The views were spectacular.

Cyclist will understand the best part of these adventures is not as much the ride but the time you spend with your cycling friends. This was no exception. We got to the ride a couple of days early so we were able to preride part of the course and spend the evenings checking out local eating and drinking establishments. We had a great time. Even the 8 plus hour trip crammed into a dodge van with 5 guys and 5 bikes was fun. We weren't the only American's or Germans riding the Maratona that year, but I bet we were the only ones who arrived in a borrowed Dodge van.

Here is a link to a great video of the ride. It even features Tim for a second looking at a black bike. http://www.maratona.it/info/video_2005