Ride Director: Warner Griswold
Ride Co-Director: Sue Bunten
Report by: Mary Waters
This September I had the pleasure of joining 19 other is a bicycle trip from Munich, Germany to Venice, Italy. It was my first bicycle tour and it was a great introduction into Bicycle Adventure Club.
The tour was led by Warner Griswold and Sue Bunten. They both did a great job of preparing for the ride, welcoming new riders, and for the first few days keeping on eye on us new riders to make sure we were prepared for the ride (without making us feel smothered).
As a new rider I was so pleased to see that the GPS tracks sent to Ride with GPS were spot on. We went from point A to point B with no issues. We had downloaded our tracks to a Wahoo Bolt, but many riders just used their phones to display the map. The ride leaders had also provided paper maps that we printed out, but we never had to use them.
The trip began on Sept 10th with a happy hour at 5:30. There were several riders from the previous 2 week trip and new riders for this leg of the trip. Introductions were made.
The following day was a free day in Munich. We chose to ride with a few others and check out the oldest brewery in the world- Weihenstephan.
The ride began on September 12th. There were 7 days of riding, and 4 rest days after that. We rode on paved bicycle paths, gravel paths, and streets with vehicles. My best advice if you are considering this ride in the future is to have some experience on riding on loose gravel. For the most part the paths were either paved or tight gravel but there were a few portions of loose gravel, and some of those loose gravel areas had climbing and descending on steep inclines. Some chose to walk on those portions of the path and some chose to ride on a paved road with traffic and avoid the gravel if possible.
Riding days varied from approximately 33 km to 94km. The day with the most climbing was approximately 4700 feet.
My impression of this ride was “a visual feast”. It was just gorgeous scenery every day. We rode along rivers, canals, through agriculture, pastures, forests, towns and into cities. The water in rivers and streams was crystal clear until we got closer to Venice. It was so refreshing to ride in areas with no litter! Riding into Cortina, Italy with the Dolomite's surrounding you on every side was a highlight.
Days off were- Innsbruck, Brixen, Cortina and we had a day off in Venice at the end of the ride. With the exception of Venice, the other towns had trams that took you to the top of the mountain/mountains present and there were not only gorgeous views, but hiking opportunities available.
Accomodations were well thought out. At the beginning and end of the rides the hotels were in near vicinity to airports. We had few nights in quaint inns/hotels and a few in very nice hotels. All were very comfortable and adequate. Breakfast was included most every day and was wonderful with a wide variety. Dinners were included, with the exception of 4-5 nights. These ranged from simple to quite nice. More often than not it was a meal much nicer than I would have expected or sought out on my own.
It was a great vacation- riding, eating and resting with a group genuinely nice people who love to ride bikes. I can't wait to do another trip!!!
Bicycle Adventure Club
PO BOX 23998 San Diego, CA 92193
Telephone (858) 715-9510 office@bicycleadventureclub.org