From Bassano del Grappa to Belluno
3 August 2021
After a whole year without bike trips thanks to Covid, I’m finally back to strapping bags onto my Genesis to rack up some km over a few days. The choice falls on the Dolomites — a loop that isn’t particularly demanding for someone young and fit, probably a bit tough for a Sunday cyclist like me. The new thing this time is that I’m not alone: I’m with my friend Vincenzo, and I don’t mind setting aside my solo trips for a while, without ever forgetting the spirit in which all of this began.
The start
And here we are, at the start in Bassano del Grappa this morning, after arriving the previous evening — him from Rome, me from Cervia.
My bike is kitted out with the usual Apidura bags, to which I wanted to add two Gorilla Cages on the fork: light and roomy. We’ll be sleeping in agriturismos and B&Bs, so no tent or sleeping bag.
The start from Bassano isn’t exactly quick because we can’t quite identify the road from the GPX track, but then we get going at a good pace along very pleasant secondary roads. Something is off, though — the rear derailleur isn’t shifting down the way it should, and it’s strange because I had the bike serviced before leaving. It’s still early, though, and all I find is a closed bike shop.
Things that happen to the living
Once we reach Pederobba, I pass in front of a cyclist who inspires trust in me, and I decide to give it a try. The character is fantastic — quite elderly, with a surprising dexterity that strikes me right away. I explain the problem, and the first thing he says, looking at the bike, is “how long are you gone for? Two months?” Okay, admittedly a bit too much stuff 😁
He starts studying the problem, and can’t work out what’s blocking the shifter cable. Then a flash of insight: the mount where I attached the cycle computer! By mistake I clamped it onto the cable! “Things that happen to the living,” he tells me.
In a few minutes he slides out the shifter cable, replaces it, tests it — all with a mastery and a speed that’s surprising, especially considering one of his eyes is impaired.
Meanwhile he tells me he should already be retired, but he can’t find anyone willing to come and work there. He tells me he tried to take on a young guy, but “he didn’t ask me a single question. I don’t trust people who don’t ask questions.”
In the end he sends me off with a “safe travels,” and despite my insistence he won’t take any money. On the way out, a guy who’d been in the shop tells me, “he’s the best mechanic in the Pedemontana.” And I realize I didn’t even ask his name.
Towards Belluno, working hard
The trip continues, unfortunately, along main roads — the scenery is very beautiful but the cars and the trucks don’t exactly put us at ease. Every so often we stop in the various little towns, which are calm and quiet. In one in particular, Lentiai, I’m happy to stop because I’m pretty tired after a stretch of around ten km on a slight but constant uphill grade and into a headwind. I’m probably also paying the price for stupidly not having eaten enough at dinner the night before, nor at breakfast.
The road to Belluno is incredibly dull. Only towards the end does the track lead us onto a cycle path running through the countryside, and we perk up quite a bit.
We are pretty tired all the same and Belluno is nowhere in sight, but by dint of pedaling we manage to arrive. Final comedy: we hoist the bikes onto our shoulders to climb the stairs leading to the center, because the escalator is obviously forbidden. At that point we might as well have taken the road, but honestly I’m afraid we would have collapsed before getting there!
Tomorrow the harder but more beautiful part begins. I’m here with ice on my knee. Let’s hope it holds, but if I have difficult moments I’ll think about the great strength of spirit and humanity of the mechanic of Pederobba.
The track
→ Giro_delle_Dolomiti_Day_1_Da_Bassano_a_Belluno.gpx
The comments
Vincenzo
August 8, 2021 at 9:27 am
What a start to the adventure … among a thousand fears and a thousand and one hopes