After years of listening to how good this experience is, I lastly obtained the prospect to cycle the Maratona dles Dolomiti in Corvara, Italy. It’s a climbers’ gran fondo, with 7 massive climbs and 4000+ meters of elevation for the 138 lengthy route. I opted for the 106km medio route – with 6 climbs and 3000+ m of elevation, and recorded my day from begin to end. In the event you’ve ever questioned what it’s prefer to experience, this video offers you an thought.
Click on Play to observe my video file of the day, together with my PEZ Instagram Dwell posts from all through the experience.
Technically, it’s a gran fondo, however everybody on the pre-ride press convention referred to as it a “race”. This made sense as a result of we’re in spite of everything, in Italy, the place the gran fondo was born, and up till a couple of years in the past they have been really “raced” by a hardcore peloton of riders starting from wannabe’s to ex-pros, and oh yeah – there was loads of “kitting up” occurring (… savvy?).
In the present day the vibe has chilled out – a bit – (there’s nonetheless a whole lot of rider who present up absolutely skilled and really race one another), and with 8,000 riders chosen from some 24,000 who apply for an entry spot, this is among the hottest rides anyplace.
However with over 4000 meters of climbing over 138km for the lengthy route, this one just isn’t for the softies. Riders listed here are critical since you want a whole lot of miles within the legs to get via. Individuals come from everywhere in the world to do it, and it’s one helluva day – the beginning gun fires at 6:30am sharp, and it’s broadcast dwell on the Italian RAI television channel. The roads are absolutely closed till 4:00ish, and with all that climbing comes some superb descending. Man that’s enjoyable!
My experience for the occasion was this stunning Dogma, outfitted with Princeton Wheelworks carbon disc wheels, Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 – a really good experience, courtesy of the people at Pinarello.
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