Giro del Prosecco

Paul Kim showed me this route last year and I'm finally getting round to riding it solo.  After Vittorio Veneto you climb up over peaceful Passo di San Lorenzo.  Then you coast down to Tarzo, up again along the ridge to Resera, and down to Rolle.  Here begins a beautiful little winding road down through the bottom of a valley covered with prosecco vines.  You continue down to 186 meters on Via Molinetto, then begin to climb up through  Refrontolo and along the ridge to San Pietro di Filetto.  Here starts a beautiful loopy series of 8 tornanti gliding down through the prosecco vines to the intersection with the main road from Tarzo to Conegliano.  Go straight across and continue to Cozzuolo, then descend to Vittorio Veneto.

Amazingly at Vittorio Veneto I caught a tailwind pushing me at 30+ kph all the way to Fiaschetti.  From there up the hills and home.  Wonderful first ride of Spring. 

Looking back at church and Monte Pizzoc
from Passo di San Lorenzo

Bare prosecco vines from the ridge above Rolle

Cascade at Rolle

Some of the tornanti below San Pietro di Filetto 

Passo di San Lorenzo

Today the haze blew away and the skies are absolutely clear.  I headed west via Anzano to Vittorio Veneto, then up the switchbacks to Passo di San Lorenzo (417m).  So peaceful up here, then gliding down the wonderful switchbacks toward Tarzo.  Just above Tarzo turn left onto the Strada Panoramica, a narrow mountain lane that descends steeply through the prosecco vineyards.  Join the main road south of Tarzo and roll rapidly down to Corbanese, then turn left and climb over the ridge and down to Cozzuolo.  This whole zone is covered in prosecco vines, continuing down the valley and up the next ridge above Conegliano.

Entering Vittorio Veneto again I was still in ecstasy from the gorgeous hills and misjudged a roundabout and slid down.  Popped right back up, and the car behind stopped and asked if I was ok.  Very nice of them.  I headed on via San Martino to Cordignano, and must have had a tailwind because it felt like I was flying.  After Fiaschetta there's a little rise- I downshifted and noticed the derailleur cage was striking the spokes in the 4th cog.  So I stopped and saw the derailleur hanger was bent.  Without thinking I grabbed it to unbend the soft aluminum and snap, the derailleur fell off.  So I called my wife, who was getting ready to go to a doctors appointment, and she saved the day by coming to pick me up.  I walked a mile or two down the road while waiting to shorten her trip.  A fellow on a bike stopped to ask if I needed help, but I showed him the damages and he knew it was a lost cause.  People are so thoughtful to stop and try to help.

Tomorrow I'll try to order a new derailleur hanger- in the meantime I'll be riding the Trek 1220 Clint was so kind to give me.

Looking north toward snowless Col Visentin (1763m) in background
 and Col Bressen (859m) center 

Lovely Santuario di Santa Augusta, a good hiking destination

Chiesa di San Lorenzo (380m)

The poor broken derailleur hanger

The twisty climb, from right to left

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