Italy vs. UK - Dylan's Ride Blog

Just back from a week in La Marche, Italy. I took my bike, and got to ride some really nice routes in the mountains. It's interesting to compare riding abroad against the UK: On the plus side, was the total lack of mud, and fast, dusty trails. On the negative side, was the 32 deg heat, huge hill and the lack of decent maps.

Although there were quite a few long sloggy uphill sections, which are inevitable in a very mountainous area, the payback was equally huge descents, some of which were very narrow and technical. Riding down zig-zag paths takes skill and nerve, especially when you start to notice the big drops and the lack of grip that loose rocks offers. My biggest gripe, was that even with the aid of a local topographic map, which had walking routes marked on it, finding good routes was a challenge, as the map didn't really show what was legal to ride on (although nobody challenged me when I rode forest tracks), nor have nearly the same level of detail as an OS 50,000 scale map.

Still, if you ever happen to find yourself in Pianello, near Cagli, there are several way marked trails on Monte Nerone and the surrounding hills that will reward the long climbs that you have to make. The trails are for the most part technically easy (even though you need to be fit to get up the hills) as they seemed to be aimed at fairly modest mountain bikes, although the downhills will get even Hope M4s very hot. So much so, my disc rotors have gone a funny shade of blue in parts! If you fancy sometime a little more challenging, there are walking trails that are sometimes ridable, if not very steep in parts. I scared myself stupid on a narrow path far above a river: one slip on a loose rock, and it would have been time for some 'big air'.

The real action in Italy seems to be on road bikes, and it's rare that you don't see somebody attempting one of the large mountain passes except during the hottest part of the day. It being Italy, the bikes are inevitably very nice road bikes, with well dressed and very honed riders on them. To my great suprise most riders seem to be able to cope with one water bottle, whereas I was going through several litres of water every hour. Either they have some secret supply of roadside water to replenish themselves with, or else they are far more acclimatised them me.