raybo

I just booked tickets for a ride in Northern Italy. It is a loop starting in Trento, up through the Rechen Pass, over to Lake Como, and back. Here is my planned route: https://cycle.travel/map/journey/435988

Anyone done this before? Any suggestions?

indyfabz

A little of it, including the bike route along the Brenta from Grigno while heading back to Borso del Grappa, which is hamlet outside of Bassano del Grappa. Pretty riding. Back in 2013 we spent nearly two weeks at the Italina Cycling Center in Borso.

I think Arsie was a big battle site during WWI. We skirted it, but others who have ridden through say it's nice.

If you don't mind larger cities and have the time, Bassano might be worth a couple of days, especially if you have never been to Venice. You can take the train from in town to Venice for a day trip. IIRC, it's about a 1.25 Hr. ride. If you like grappa, you can visit the Poli distillery, and there is a great WWI museum below a bar/cafe at one end of the old bridge in town. Lots of authentic WWI miliary stuff, including a Bianchi infantry bike with a real rifle in its rack.

In any event, you will have the opportunity to eat and drink well. Valdobbiadene, SE of Arise, is a name you will see on many brands of Prosecco. Our hotel in Borso sold so much Prosecco they had it on tap. In a small town near Valdo we stopped at a swanky villa for refreshments. There were photos of actress Sandra Bullock taken during her stay there.

axolotl

I've toured on part of your route. It sounds like you'll be doing the route counter-clockwise. I've biked from La Punt (downriver from St. Moritz) thru St. Moritz, then over the Maloja Pass down to Chiavenna, then along the northeast coast of Lake Como. I've ridden it in both directions. I took a short ferry between the NE coast of Lake Como to beautiful Bellagio. The valley around St. Moritz is quite high in altitude (for Europe), and westward from St. Moritz, the Maloja Pass is barely a bump. Yet it's a true pass dividing watersheds. It's a long enjoyable descent down to Lake Como. Traffic was light between St. Moritz & Chiavenna. Going the other direction, it was a long slog up the Maloja Pass, though not too steep. You gain (or drop) about 1500m in 32 km, or about 5000 ft in 20 miles. Going eastward through St. Moritz I continued north on to the Flüela Pass toward Davos.

I haven't biked in the eastern half of your route other than passing through what appears to be your starting point around Vittorio Veneto. I was biking from Lienz, Austria to Venice. The Dolomites in northeastern Italy were very pretty and traffic was light.

djb

Mamma Mia, now that's a spicey meatball!

raybo

Thanks axolotl. Useful information. As you note, I will be going counter-clockwise. When did you ride this route? How was the weather? I have friends near Vittora Veneto, wihch is why the route starts there.

Since I don't camp, I'm looking at hotels and other sites but finding it hard to locate places to stay during a busy holiday time in a tourist/vacation place that offer the flexibility to cancel/change dates if necessary.

indyfabz

When will you be going?

raybo

In about a month (prefer not to state exactly publicly).

djb

may your middle aged but spanky clean and lubed rear derailleur remain intact ;-)

axolotl

I rode up the Maloja Pass in late July. A few years later, I rode down the pass in early June. I had great weather both times.

MarcusT

Are you afraid the paparazzi will find you?

raybo

In the past I listed specific dates and got lots of feedback about that not being a safe thing to do on a public internet forum. It seemed like good advice.

MarcusT

I guess. The only reason I can think of, is not wanting to let people know your house will be unattended. I don't believe there's any kind of risk of abduction thing. There are far too many tourists in Europe these days to single one out
Not criticizing, just curious

raybo

I created a touring planning page on my website that I have been using for many years. One of the columns on that is date. When I posted a link to it many years ago, people said they didn't want that information to be public for various reasons. So, I disabled the display of date on the public plan views.

The more I thought about it, the more it made sense to be a bit cagey about disclosing my personal information. Announcing I'm not in the US might allow someone to do something that I wouldn't notice unless I was at home, not just burglary. I decided prudence was better than full disclosure. YMMV

MarcusT

Understood. I was missing the gist because I don't have any personal info posted, not even on FB.
Which reminds me of a meme I recently saw:
Hacker- I have all of your passwords
User- Thank goodness, can you send them to me?