Tarzo - San Lorenzo

Sunny and warm for January (10℃) so time to hit the road.  Thought I'd ride through the  prosecco vineyards in the hills above Conegliano to Soligo di Pieve.  Along the way, I passed hundreds of cyclists lured out by the fine weather.  Several bike club rides, with huge herds of bikers packed together, a few junior cycling race teams out for a training ride (with team car loud speaker goading them on), and countless small pacelines, pairs and lone wolves (like me).  I rode a bit faster than usual, which I paid for later.

At the Cadoro store in Vittorio Veneto, I turned left toward Cozzuolo.  It's a nice climb up a couple hundred meters, briefly levels out in the vineyards, then dives down to the intersection for Corbanese.  From here a long climb up toward Corbanese- the turn off for Soligo di Pieve was allegedly somewhere along here, but I never saw it.  I'll have to print out a trip-tic next time.

At Corbanese I turned right toward Tarzo.  Before I got to town I saw a turn off signed Panoramica Tarzo-San Lorenzo.  I jumped on this, and was rewarded with a lovely ride through a little side valley covered in vineyards.  The road is quite steep in some sections, hitting 15%.  Then it joins the main road from Tarzo to San Lorenzo, which is a better constructed road.  There are switchbacks to keep the steepness down as you wind through the forest to Passo di San Lorenzo (417 meters).  A junior cycling team and team car were gathered at the pass, waiting for stragglers to finish the climb up from Vittorio Veneto.  Maybe from there they descended to Tarzo.

The road then winds down more switchbacks to San Lorenzo village, then down a set of roughly paved switchbacks to Vittorio Veneto.  I rode through town and then through Anzano for a change of scenery.

The ride home up Via Pedemontane Occidentale was rough- I had burnt up too much energy on the outbound leg, had only half a water bottle left and 20 miles of rolling hills to go.  I gradually wound down and bonked, crawling home in first gear.   A couple of glasses of mango tea with lite salt and honey perked me up enough to go on a nice walk in the woods with Marilyn and the pups.  Lots of people out for walks, enjoying the beautiful day.

Monte Altare (left), Monte Pizzoc in background

From the road to San Lorenzo, looking west toward Tarzo 

Pian delle femene

Prosecco vines on road to San Lorenzo

Looking down at San Lorenzo village

Grade from Vittorio Veneto to Tarzo - San Lorenzo