Casera Venchiareit MTB

I attempted this ride last November but rain turned me back at 1400 meters.  Today I warmed up on the climb to Passo Monte Rest, then turned left onto a gravel road.  Almost immediately it starts climbing up gravel and concrete switchbacks.  After passing some tall cliffs you climb onward to 1443 meters where you start heading down.  It descends steeply for quite a while, and  I was starting to worry.  Finally at 1100 meters I reached the turnoff that climbs up to my destination at 1350 meters.

The roads are unmarked and aren't on Gaia's GPS open source maps.  I did have my Tabbacco map so I tried to meld the two together.  After 3 or 4 dead ends I reached what I think was the correct road. It had a barrier across the road, marked "Private," etc so I turned around.  That's as close as I can get on a bike. 

Now back down to 1100 meters and then the toughest climb of the day: 2.2 km averaging 11% with some 15% ramps.  I was fried by the time I got back to 1440 meters.  Luckily it's mostly downhill from there on, turning to pavement at Passo Monte Rest then switchbacking down to Tramonti di Sopra.

Fun ride.  I think I'll try parking the bike at 1400 meters next time and hiking up to Monte Costa di Paladin. 

View of Tagliamento River and mountains toward Tolmezzo

Close up of Tagliamento

Monte Rest peeking over a ridge

Very big cliffs along the trail

Mountains to north

Killer climb

End of the public road

Banjšice

Slovenia's Banjšice Plateau is one of the prettiest, least-crowded places I've ever been.  Today I tried a new route, following the Soča River from Gorizia to Kanal, then turning onto the back road for Avče, a dolce climb through shady forest to Kal Nad Kanalom, a village on the rolling grassland of this alto piano.  From here I continued crossing the rolling terrain, through a bit of jumbled karst forest, down to Lohke and Bate.  At Bate I began the same long, steep descent to Grgar I rode last March, though without the ice this time.  There's a little climb from Grgar up to the road for Solkan, which then descends even more steeply to the Soča River.  

Wonderful ride: I know I'll return before long.      

The climb up from Avče

Kal Nad Kanalom pretty village

Look back across the rolling plain toward the Julian Alps

View south toward Lohke

Lohke northeast panorama

Lohke toward southeast

Monte Milifret - Mezzomiglio MTB

I've been meaning to ride this for years and finally got around to it.  It completely blew away my expectations.  The first step was to climb Monte Pizzoc.  Just for fun I decided to MTB up from Osigo to Campo Cadolten.  I'd ridden it from Sonego last year and was curious how the Osigo route compared.  Climb through Osigo and after the 1st switchback on Via Cansiglio turn off onto Via Pravinera.  This is steep concrete and dirt road, as from Sonego.  At 900 meters you reach Chiesetta di Sant'Antonio, then keep on grappling up a little sun-exposed canyon till you reach the altopiano of Cadolten.  Beautiful green pastures surrounded by tall beech and spruce.  At the Pizzoc road, continue up to end of pavement above 1500 meters.  

Take the gravel road toward Rifugio Citta' di Vittorio Veneto then continue on toward La Croda (bar).  The markings aren't too clear here but luckily I looked up while scratching my head and saw a MTBer on a grassy ridge above.  I found the trail (unmarked except for some Fregona Trails streamers) and crossed the rising grassland.  Now it steepens and you begin technical climbing up the west face of Monte Milifret (which means I was carrying my bike).  My hopes were rising and soon I reached the place I've been wanting to see for so long: the cliffs at the top of the gorge climbing from Vittorio Veneto to Lago di Santa Croce.  I tiptoed out to the edge and it is essentially vertical for maybe 800 meters down.  Wow!

I now pushed/rode the bike along a trail that traverses the eastern side of Monte Milifret.  Still high but now you're traversing slopes above the forest rising from Cansiglio altopiano.  The trail gradually gets easier (less bouldery) and enters red spruce forest with many exposed roots.  At a junction leading to Pian de la Pita I finally got confirmation: I was on the ridge trail Sentiero delle Piaie Longhe Milifret.  This was my goal because last year I tried riding the lower trail H3 from Mezzomiglio and it was an impassable mud bog.  This higher trail was much better.

The trail widens a bit though still rocky and rooty so I was able to ride pretty well.  It then begins descending gradually so I stayed on the brakes.  The woodland abruptly ends and you enter the rolling grassland above Mezzomiglio.  I followed the path and then a gravel road I remembered from years ago, eventually heading toward the junction with the gravel road toward Palughetto.

This joins the main road across Piancansiglio to La Crosetta, then the descent toward Vittorio Veneto and the car.  Must return and explore this area more.  Great snowshoeing in winter too.     

Chiesa San Giorgio, Osigo

Chiesetta Sant'Antonio

Interior of chiesetta

View from above of Cadolten altopiano

Monte Pizzoc from Monte Milifret

Fadalto, Lago Morto, Monte Faverghera

Lago di Santa Croce and Monte Dolado

Monte Milifret cliffs

Trail through the red spruce forest

The grassy alto piano above Mezzomiglio

Monte Grappa da Caupo

This is the 5th route up Monte Grappa I've tried, and the first ascending from the north.   This climb has a completely different character from the others.  The others cling to the cliffs along the southern escarpment, exposed to the sun.  This one is nice and shady, an important plus given the record-setting heat wave we've been enduring.  It helped that I started early, pedaling away from the car park in Fonzaso at 0630.  At the village of Caupo the climb begins.

The first third of this 28km climb is in lovely forest, long sweeping switchbacks rising to 1000 meters at an average gradient of 8%.  A great workout, and mostly free of the crazy gradients on the southern side.  Then the terrain changes, and you're traversing an undulating zone for 5 km.  It's a bit of a break, but it still rises generally with a constantly varying gradient to keep you on your toes. 

The final 8km are more familiar if you've climbed Monte Grappa before.  Treeless alpine grassland, exposed rock faces, steeper ramps.  It averages over 6%, with 170 vertical meters of counter-slopes and a few steep bits in the 16-17% range.  

Today clouds were blowing across the summit, rapidly changing from sun to white-out.  I apologize for the lack of photos- it was a tough day to take pictures.   The ride down was fun, especially the lower stack of switchbacks.  I will try this again- it's my favorite Grappa route so far.  

The Italian Ossuary at the summit

Memorial to the Partigiani, guerrillas who fought against the Fascists in WW II

Brake check Osservatorio Astronomico

Last month I canned the front brake from my Merckx to fix my old Trek1220 so I could donate the bike to a teacher at school.  I looked for a replacement online and the best value I could find was a Campy Veloce front caliper for €17.   It arrived and today I installed it, probably the simplest thing to put on a bike.  I needed to function check it so I headed for the nearest climb, the Grizzo to Osservatorio Astronomico road, starting a mere 5 km from our house.   It's fun to climb and frankly I was a bit psyched from watching Purito rocket up Mur de Huy in the Tour de France 3rd stage.

At the end of pavement (679 meters) I turned around and headed down.  It was a blast and the brakes worked great, at least as well as the 2006 Chorus brakes the used Merckx originally came with.  The only shortcoming I noticed was squealing once the pads were roasted, so I'll try toe-in or changing to Chorus pads I have on hand.  

Fun ride- I should do this everyday!

It's a good climb, and only 3 miles from home

Lucca

I decided to get one more ride in before packing up tomorrow.  I thought I'd try riding north of Pisa to San Giuliano Terme.  So I rode through Pisa (there are some great pedestrian/bike only streets in the old quarter) and then headed north toward Gello, the only Italian town named for a fun-filled fruity dessert.  From there San Giuliano is a quick jaunt.  Too quick it seems, because I felt like I was just getting started.  On a whim I decided to climb over the pass to Lucca.  

It's a beautiful easy climb with long, wide switchbacks.  At the top is a tunnel a few hundred meters long, but it's lit and most of the traffic uses the autostrada instead.  After the tunnel is a very long, slightly-downhill run to Lucca.  Makes you feel like you're flying, even if only going 35 kph.  At Lucca's modern periphery you have some traffic and busy junctions to contend with but before long you reach the wonderful walls around the old quarter.  

I rode through the fortified gate into the 16th century.  On my right I noticed a paved ramp to the top of the walls and on impulse rode up.  To my surprise instead of a narrow wall it was a park, raised maybe 15 meters above the surrounding countryside, and about 30 meters wide.  It's so wide there is a walking/biking road down the middle, lined with large trees, monuments, some houses and other buildings for several kilometers encircling the town.  Unless you go near the edge you have no sensation of height whatsoever.  On another impulse I wanted to circumnavigate the city on this wall, and so I did.  Many people out walking, running, biking, enjoying the weather.  From the inside edge you can look down into the city at peoples' gardens, schoolyards, churches, palazzi.  It was fun.  

Eventually I reached the giant gate again and rode away.  I returned via the same route, enjoying the passo switchbacks going downhill now.  When the road from Gello entered Pisa's old quarter I got lost, eventually crossing the Arno far west of the city and returning home via San Piero di Grado.  This was an excellent conclusion to our Toscana visit and made me want to come back soon.
      

One of the fortified corners; note the height compared to the walkers

Lovely bell tower

Bell tower with cathedral

A round fortified corner; note size of oaks growing atop the walls 

Palazzo with elegant gardens

The neighbors opted for shade trees

Bell tower from the other end

Dandelion thriving in a fortress crack;
I think the sloped areas are cannon positions

Open meadows around the walls provide
a clear shot at assailing enemies

Via di Montenero

Beautiful ride today.  After traversing the city of Livorno I found Via di Montenero and began climbing.  It's a beautiful winding road up the hill to Castellaccio.  From here I began a long, forested descent on Via Quercianella to the junction with SS-1, the coastal highway.  It resembles California Highway 1, spectacular twisty road on cliffs above the sea.  Unfortunately like Highway 1 it's also very busy, so I opted out of riding it today.  Maybe very early on a Sunday morning I'll try it, when no 18-wheelers are on the road and sightseers are still enjoying their complimentary breakfasts.

Today instead I headed back up the climb to Castellaccio.  A castle tower was visible in the distance, I saw a side road, I thought I'd explore.  Alas the narrow lane deteriorated, then became dirt, then steeply-descending rough gravel, small boulders.  Being stubborn I kept going.  Plus a guy (even older than me!) was climbing this on his MTB in the opposite direction.  Anyway, I avoided crashing and finally arrived at rough pavement.  At a T-intersection I went steeply down to the right and ended up in La Vedetta and then my goal: Santuario di Montenero.  Nice church here.  Then I continued down Viale del Tirreno, which  has some gorgeous long, looping switchbacks suitable for fleets of tour buses bringing pilgrims to the santuario.  I followed the same route through busy Livorno and made it home unscathed.

Note:  I have no GPS track because my Garmin battery died yesterday.  Inexplicably, I have a USB charger at home but opted not to bring it.  Also I've omitted a blog entry for yesterday's ride on Via Popogna.  It's a nice climb but joins the same road (Via del Valle Benedetta) I already wrote about, so seemed redundant.   Also I lost my iPhone on the gravel road home (Via dell'Uliveta) but a very kind Italian jogger had found it and helped me beyond the call of duty to recover it.  Such a kind person!  VV Italia!

Sea oats (?) along the mountain road 

SS-1 (AKA California Highway 1)

Ventana Highway in the sunshine

Santuario di Montenero

Il Papa visited here, I'm guessing

These are tombs I believe

View from terrazzo of Livorno and the sea

Colline Livornese: Parrana San Martino e Valle Benedetta

I'd never heard of Colline Livornese before today;  I was riding south and was afraid to ride through the busy city of Livorno.  So when I saw a turnoff on the edge of town marked Via delle Sorgenti I randomly chose it to avoid the traffic downtown.  It meandered eastward through the countryside, then branched off onto Via Parrana San Martino.  I began climbing up through forest, then into a landscape of rolling hills, fields, orchards, olive trees, vineyards.  

After San Martino I descended to busy SS206 but escaped before long onto another country road,  
Via della Valle Benedetta.  This was a pretty steep climb with the sun beating down.  It winds up through Colognole to Valle Benedetta.  While I was climbing I'd seen an enormous white geodesic radome on the mountaintop and found the access road here, Via del Radar.  This was a kilometer averaging 10% gradient up to a chain link fence topped with concertina wire.  The radome was hidden by the trees, so I descended.

Now I switchbacked down to Limoncino and into Salviano on the periphery of Livorno.  I wandered through town generally heading north and eventually reached Stagno and the road home.  I'd had a taste of this delicious countryside and knew I had to return. 

Aquedotto Leopoldini, built in 1800

Stone and brick arches

Parrana San Martino

Steep Via del Radar above Valle Benedetta

Hazy view of Mar Tirreno, Livorno 

Geodesic radome