Today I had planned to ride up to
Madonna del Ghisallo, woke up early then decided to go back to sleep, once I did wake up, had a raging migraine so I headed down to the coffee shop by the lake had a cappuccino, a fresh baked pastry and then a shot of espresso, I love espresso! I sat down there for awhile and the migraine was not going away, went back up to the room and lie down a bit, checked the weather online and its might rain here tomorrow afternoon, well today is once again beautiful so if I'm going to make the pilgrimage up the mountain, it had to be today, headache or not. Started putting my bike back together, its been in my bike box for the past few days, here we go again, tires won't seal, lucky I brought at least one tube so I took the worst one the rear and put a tube in, after some messing around with the front it sealed enough for a ride, I did have extra CO2's with me, dressed and headed out the door. The climb up to Madonna del Ghisallo is a signature climb of the Giro di Lombardia as well having been featured in the Giro d'Italia it takes you high above Lake Como and this tiny church is home to the Patron Saint of Cycling, no way I was going to be this close and not ride up there. After having raced in the Alps last week I wasnt sure how my legs would feel, I programed the name into google maps just incase and set off, from the very beginning in Bellagio its starts out uphill. The beginning was fairly flat, 2 miles in the switchbacks start, and they are steep, 14% grades at times, I was feeling good and having fun, not even thinking about my headache. 5 miles in I come to a split in the road so I pull out my phone while still riding and check it, google tells me to go right, ok I go right, the next 3 miles were steep other than one short flat, I get to the top and google is telling me its right here and either I'm blind or google is full of shit, well my eye sight is fine! I run into a couple roadies, ask them where the Madonna is, they dont speak any english and have no clue what I'm talking about or because I was an American on a mountain bike didnt want to help, have a nice Fking day!! I ride around at the top and ride to a bar, there's a guy sitting at picnic table drinking beer, I stop and ask him, he also doesnt speak english, I show him a picture, his breath almost knocked me out when he said its about 2 km back, crap I just came from there and its uphill! I hop on the bike and head back up, can't see a thing, I'm thinking there's no way I missed it, just then a couple guys on mountain bikes come by and stop, again no english, I show them a picture and they tell me to follow them, ok mountain bikers, I trust them :). We head off on a couple mile descent, round a corner and there it is the Madonna. They dont stop but I yelled out a thank you and walked over, Wow how cool, one of cycling's most sacred places sits in front of me.
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| Madonna del Ghisallo home to the Patron Saint of Cycling |
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| Me in front of the church the statues are of Italian cycling greats Bartali, Coppi & Binda |
According to the legend, the Medieval Count Ghisallo was being atacked by bandits when he saw an image of the Virgin Mary at the shrine. He ran to it and was saved from them. A local priest, proposed that Madonna del Ghisallo be declared the patroness of cyclists, this was confirmed by Pope Pius XII. Now it contains a small cycling museam with photos and artifacts from the sport and an eternal flame burns for cyclists who have died. I walked in and was in awe at the items in there including the bike Fabio Casartelli was riding when he crashed and was killed on the descent of the Col de Porte d'Aspet during the 1995 Tour de France I remember watching this on tv. I just stand and take in everything, there are few others in there as well but at the time I was the only one who had ridden up.
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| Along of the walls of Madonna Del Ghisallo |
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| Looking in the door, the eternal flame dedicated to fallen cyclists |
After a few minuets, I head out and next to the Church is now a cycling museum, whats funny is I'm walking my bike around the grounds and here comes this guy on a mountain bike, he fly's across the grass and toward the front door of the museum, the sidewalks are all stone, he makes a turn and slam right to the ground, I just laugh to myself what an idiot and what place to crash that way. As I make my way over there he's getting up and brushing himself off, looks at me hops on his bike and leaves LMAO! I ask the attendant if its safe to leave my bike outside, she tells me to bring it right in, Sweet! I pay the 6 Euro and head in, very cool as well, it mostly Italian cycling history, but in the day they made the best bikes and components, still do. I walk around the museum for about 45 min and head back outside.
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| View inside the museum |
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| Jerseys from Giro D'Italia winners ove the years, this pink leaders jersey is known as the Maglia Rosa |
After leaving the museum I walk around the grounds some more the view from here down on Lake Como is beautiful, and the grounds are just as special, after last weeks race being able to stop here had some special meaning to me, I have a whole new respect for anyone that compete's in a stage race of any kind, here I was at place dedicated to the greats.
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| View of Lake Como from Madonna del Ghisallo, in the middle there is Bellagio, thats where I started my ride. |
After about an hour and half I decided to head back, this time the way I was suppose to go up, now whats funny is that I read another blog that talked about all the farm tractors, cyclists, and usually at least one Ferrari is encountered on this road, well the whole way up I was excited to maybe see a Ferrari flying thru the switchbacks but nope nada, but on the descent there it was a bright red Ferrari coming at me on the climb, my day was now complete, I love Ferrari's :) I enjoyed the the rest of the ride back down to Bellagio, between the Alps last week and Italy this week I have been blessed with some of the most beautiful views in the world, in the past week I have climbed mountains in Germany, Austria & Italy all by bike, how cool is that, as I said in a previous post Life is Good and I'm lucky to be able to do theres things, no doubt that I work hard, but so worth it, to me anyway. Today was another special day, this trip to Europe has been loaded with them, in the end I rode 20.3 miles with 3115 ft of climbing, but those are just numbers, the actual adventure I had on my bicycle today....Priceless!!
I ended my day with some wine and a pizza, and for some reason after a ride like today's food no matter what it is, tastes all that much better. Soon my trip will come to an end, but boy did I make some life memories, views of the world you can only understand if your actually here, pictures do them no justice and like the food, a view from the top of a mountain is so much better after its been earned, good night.
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