Tuesday, July 31, 2007

David, the "Flatlander", Visits Verona






We first met David, and his wife Kim, last year. Kim was here in Verona for operatic voice lessons while David wished he had brought along his bike. After Kim decided to return for this year's classes, David was in touch with me about bringing his bike and planning some rides.




David is a BIG guy and also happens to live in the flats of the southern Chicago suburbs. David's familiarity with climbing and descending came only as close as having ridden some highway overpasses. I knew the riding here for him was going to be an eye opener, maybe even an eye popper.




Over his stay of two weeks we did some nice rides: two Gruppo 1 club Wednesday rides to Bardolino followed by our famous lunches; the Pisarotta ride that featured climbing and switchback descents, the club ride to the Parco Adamello, and a ride that visited the Lake Garda towns of Lasize, Garda and Torre di Benaco, and included the scenic climb to Albisano. It was amazing how quickly David adapted to climbing.
We also managed to squeeze in visits to some of bike shops in Verona province: Grandis, Fontana and Paola Pezzo's Olympic Bike Center.
We all enjoyed David's visit and look forward to his return next year.
Photos: David in the hills near Rovere, north of Verona; the Parco Adamello climbs await us; rowboats in the harbor at Torre di Benaco; at Torre di Benaco; a view of Lake Garda and Torre di Benaco

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