My brother and I have been planning an annual event that we can ride together for the last couple of years.
This year's event took place last Sunday, which was the Sportful Dolomiti - 205km and 4900m of elevation or 128 miles and 16000ft of elevation.
If that by itself isn't enough, all this fun took place in 33 degrees celcius / 91F.
My brother arrived a week prior to the event, mostly to do some riding here locally and get used to the difference in temperature compared to the UK.
Race day arrived;
Alarm went off at 0430, got some breakfast in, left the house at 0530 to arrive in Feltre at 0630. Start was at 0700 so perfect timing all around.
The vast majority of the elevation is made up during 4 climbs:
- Cima Campo is the first with a length of 18.2km and an average gradient of 6.1% (max 10%) - Passo Manghen is the second and worst of the bunch with 22.2km and an average of 7.3% (max 15%) - Passo Rolle is the third with 19.9km and an average of 4.8% (max 10%) - Last but not least is the Croce d'Aune with 11.2km and an average of 5.4% (max 16%)
The first two climbs went really well for me. I'm a faster climber than my brother so I waited on top of each climb for him to catch up, get some fuel in and crack on.
The second climb is an entirely exposed climb and it was getting hot already despite it still being early. The temperature took its toll and he was suffering quite a bit. We barely made it to the two cut off points during the race but we managed to hang in there with an occasional push uphill from my side haha and some motivational speeches.
Climb three and four went a bit better as it became somewhat overcast but still, the combination of the distance and elevation are not be underestimated. It's easy to forget to keep eating and drinking for instance but luckily we both managed to stay on top of that.
In the end, we crossed the line with 30 minutes left to spare before the final cut off time. It was a hard day in the saddle, probably more so for my brother than for me but what an experience. Really proud of him for hanging in there when the easier choice was to simply park the bike and give up.
Finally had my new Carrera delivered by the seller.
I had to sell my Brand-X road bike to pay a bill, so got this for £100, used. It's in brand new condition and not a spec of dirt or any scratches on.
I calibrated the bar/hood angle after these pics. I'll get new pedals & black bar tape for it over the next week or so.
I bought a Specialized Romin Evo seat for £30 on here which should arrive next week.
Happy with the bike and I plan on keeping this one. If I ever go into fulltime employment in the future, I'll save up for a used carbon road bike to add to the collection and use this one as a winter trainer.
Another gran fondo done and dusted, probably the most beautiful one I've done so far:
Maratona dles Dolomiti - 138km and 4200m of elevation
Short clip to give an impression of the surroundings, this is downhill from Passo Giau, probably hitting about 70km per hour there. Top speed was 87km per hour.
Yeah the descents are fantastic but not without risk. I saw some crashes and heard the air rescue helicopter more than once.
That top tube sticker was provided by the organization, very helpful as it's indicating rest stops etc and good for moral support.
In this case there were 6 stops available during the ride, I stopped at three of them to refill bottles and get a quick snack to eat. I finished in 6h and 24 minutes, quite happy with that as a first attempt. I was running low on fuel with still 35km to go and therefore had to squeeze in that third stop. If I still had a bar at that point I would have skipped that stop.
Would definitely like to try and finish in less than 6 hours next year.