Cycling Trip to Dolomites in June 17

As the Alpine dust is shaken from travellers wheels please cast your minds forward to June 2017.

I am keen on cycling in the Dolomites next year and am wondering are there others in the club who would like to do the trip. There are a few who have expressed interest and this post is to see if there are enough others to get a club group together.

The basic details are as follows

From either TuesJune 20-27 or from Sat June 24 - July 1st - the preference is the latter but the hotel can't guarantee those dates at the moment and have offerred the former .

7 nights accomodation with 6 days cycling

Half board cost from €719 pps in a double room / €768 pps in a suite. / €852 for a single person in a double room (see below for a little more detail)

Hotel is the Melodia del Bosco in Alta Badia www.roadbike.melodiadelbosco.it/en/ . We are there for the duration and there is no relocating base during the week.

Flights are to either Venice or Bergamo and at current prices are in the region of 100-200 return

Bikes can rented there (€162 for 6 days) , brought on plane or possibly shipped with shipmytri but they are a bit expensive for <20 people.

Group size - if there are c. 16-20 interested I'll go ahead. Everyone and anyone welcome . There are two guides in the price so gives an option presumably of different paced groups or route distance each day.

Why the Dolomites ?
www.cyclist.co.uk/in-depth/1237/big-ride-dolomites
www.cyclist.co.uk/in-depth/524/dolomites-big-ride

Anthing else on there ? - well yes on Sunday July 2nd there is this event , the Maratona Dolomite
www.maratona.it/en/
As a group we won't be there for it but individuals who get entry in the November lottery can obviously stay on.

Next Steps ?
We have an option on the dates above untl next Sunday . If you think you would go on the trip please post below. If there is enough interest by Sunday I will move forward , if there isn't then I'll leave it . No deposit required just yet , just serious expressions of interest.

If you have any questions feel free to post and if I can answer them I will.

Thanks,

Stephen


Price includes

7 nights – half board
1 dinner with Ladin specialties
1 gala dinner
1 aperitif at the lounge bar
6 Xenofit snack-packs with energy bar and drink
5 guided road bike tours
5 après-bike pastas
Map and GPS data of suggested routes
Laundry service for cycling gear

think it will be hard to better last week in the Alps, but if anything close should be great! I'm interested / addicted / both! Think the junior cert exams are 7-23, so would prefer june 24-july 1, John

Hi Stephen
I'd be very interested in the trip.
Thank you.
Ken

Hi Stephen

I'd be interested

Stephen, I'm interested too.
Thanks
Brendan

Me too

Interested, depending on dates

John wrote:

Interested, depending on dates

John, which of the dates in the thread work / don't work for you? That's departure Tuesday June 20th or Saturday June 24th

The latter would work better S.

Interested!

Stephen,

Definitely interested. Have a few family wedding dates to confirm before I sign on the dotted line.

James

I'm interested also.

Hi Stephen. In middle of family holiday here, so need to look into dates later but this could well work for me next June. Slight preference for second dates option.

I'm expecting confirmation from hotel today on whether or not the later dates have become available

The hotel got back to me this morning and confirmed that the 24th to 1st July dates are not available. That firms our dates up then as Tuesday June 20th to Tuesday June 27th.

Based on the posts above and other mails I think this is the list of interested people
Stephen Ryan
John Kehoe
John Blennerhassett
Diarmuid Donnelly
Ken Moloney
John Kirby
Derek Handley
James O'Callaghan
Ian O'Leary
John Anslow
Brendan Kenny
Kevin Farrell
Peadar Corbally

If any one can't make the June 20th date please let me know

If there is anyone else interested please post below and I will add you to list. I told the hotel I would revert with firmer numbers later this week.

All are welcome.

Stephen

+ Tom Weymes

I'm interested too.
Pádraig

I'm interested Stephen. I emailed Derek already to put my name on the list.
Thanks
Conor

Update: Based on the posts above and other mails I think this is the list of interested people

Tara Nelson
Tom Weymes
John Murray
Conor Sweeney
Padraig Cunningham
Rory Finnegan
Nicholas Hughes
Raechel Campbell
Stephen Ryan
John Kehoe
John Blennerhassett
Diarmuid Donnelly
Ken Moloney
John Kirby
Derek Handley
James O'Callaghan
Ian O'Leary
John Anslow
Brendan Kenny
Kevin Farrell
Peadar Corbally
Damian Byrne

We are stil taking expressions of interest from all members and particularly welcome Yellow cyclists to ensure there is a good cohort in that group . Also would like to see some more lady members sign up reflecting the clubs gender balance. Not to mention the massive contribution made by the Womens group on past trips such as Siobhan keeping us on track and Ciara having us ROTFL in the Pyrenees.

If you are in the yellow groups and wondering are you able for it here are some reasons why the answer is YES. - this mail went out to the 100 and 200 groups recently;

There are plenty of reasons to consider this opportunity:

• The Dolomites are a spectacular destination in north-eastern Italy, steeped in cycling tradition having featured in the Giro d’Italia countless times. Cycling Heaven!
• The trip is being organised by Orwell members for Orwell members.
• The trip will specifically cater for Yellow paced participants if numbers are sufficient to form a Yellow group each day. The pricing includes two guides so running two groups per day is no problem.
• It will be a big enough challenge to give you a target to aim for next summer – and massive satisfaction/kudos to complete, but without the pressure of being a single, long-day event against the clock like the Etape or Marmotte.
• This is a cycling holiday. 6 days of group spins on amazing roads with people you will have trained with, know and trust.
• There shall be wine and beer!

Anyone who will have completed a 160 by the end of this season and is contemplating the next step up will be able for this trip. You won’t need to have done the WW200 beforehand (although no problem if that is also one of your 2017 goals) – a slightly different type of fitness is required, i.e. to be able to do 5 or 6 hilly spins over 7 days. Exact durations and distances dependent on the group, but probably 4-6 hours per spin. If you are willing to do your winter spins and then put in a consistent but manageable amount of training from April you’d be fine. If we get the numbers we would look to put some structure around getting people up to the level required by June. There is no-one active in the club who couldn’t get there by next June if they put the effort in!

I'm very much interested but I'm yellow pace