PEZ Rides the Maratona dles Dolomiti

After years of listening to how good this trip is, I lastly bought the prospect to cycle the Maratona dles Dolomiti in Corvara, Italy. It’s a climbers’ gran fondo, with 7 large 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 puzzled what it’s wish to trip, this video offers you an concept.

Click on Play to observe my video report of the day, together with my PEZ Instagram Dwell posts from all through the trip.

Technically, it’s a gran fondo, however everybody on the pre-ride press convention known as it a “race”.  This made sense as a result of we’re in any case, in Italy, the place the gran fondo was born, and up till a number of years in the past they had 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?).

As we speak the vibe has chilled out  – a bit – (there’s nonetheless a number of rider who present up absolutely educated and truly 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 wherever.

However with over 4000 meters of climbing over 138km for the lengthy route, this one shouldn’t be for the softies.  Riders listed below are severe since you want a number of miles within the legs to get by.  Folks 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 stay on the Italian RAI television channel.  The roads are absolutely closed till 4:00ish, and with all that climbing comes some wonderful descending.  Man that’s enjoyable!

My trip for the occasion was this lovely Dogma, geared up with Princeton Wheelworks carbon disc wheels, Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 – a really good trip, courtesy of the people at Pinarello.

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