Reviews

I was describing the Campagnolo Granfondo and your company to several other cyclists at the Wisconsin State Time Trial Championships. I’ve been meaning to write to you to let you know how much we enjoyed the trip. Based upon your web site descriptions and pictures, my second hand knowledge of the Granfondo, and my other European bike adventure, I had very high expectations. My expectations were exceeded!

First the Granfondo itself: it is fair to call it a race, for there are certainly Cat 1 and Cat 2 riders (or the UCI equivalent) riding very fast. I intended to ride the Medio course as a race; that is to say, fast as I could. But others including Joanie just really enjoyed the crowd, the excitement, the great organization and support, and went out at their own pace. I’ve raced around the US, and the larger events tend to be more chaotic. Our state time trials just completed, for example, started late and got later, with miscommunication and class start time changes, just like the road events in Superweek earlier this July. No such dilemmas for the Campagnolo Granfondo! Race organization is superb, the event goes off on time, everyone is gated to their start slot efficiently, the course is well marked, and it all happens with that festive Italian love of life that makes the country so wonderful.

The start is a typical crowded fast road race type, with a huge field, the largest I’ve ever been in. But the length of the event allows the field to really spread out, and the pace can’t be faster than your reaction time, so the day was really enjoyable, with opportunities to enjoy the beautiful panoramas (and marvel as you look back over your shoulder, “did I REALLY climb all the way up there?!”). Rich and I stopped several times to take pictures, as well as a short stop at the monument to Tullio Campagnolo that graces the summit of the last climb. But the race was hard. We don’t have many races of this length at the amateur level in the US, and we don’t have elevations like this in the US. The Medio course was 120 kilometers with 3 mountain passes, about 4,000 meters of climbing. My time of 6:02:xx was in the middle of the finishers for my age category. But I never doubted that I would finish, and the enthusiasm of the crowds, the good nature and comradeship of the other riders (who were so happy to see Americans that could climb and descend), and the gorgeous weather and scenery all contributed to my confidence. One undervalued aspect of riding in a mountainous environment like the Dolomites is the frequency of natural springs. In Italy these have been used as drinking water for centuries, and spout clean, cool, delicious mineral rich water (but drink electrolyte replacement too!). No pictures can adequately represent the beauty of the sites (and smells!) of riding in the Italian Dolomites.

Even pre race registration was cool, with many booths handing out information, selling clothing and accessories (some of which can only be found in Europe), and providing another opportunity to enjoy the company of Italians who love to cycle. Alas, they were all more successful at practicing their English on me than I was at practicing my Italian on them! The post race dinner was like the event: well organized, very efficient, high quality. But we all looked tired; not a lot of conversation, even among the usually boisterous Italians! I was glad I rode the Medio; those who rode the long course looked exhausted for days afterwards.

And speaking of “well organized, very efficient, and high quality” I should conclude with a few words about our hosts, Tobias and Carrie Panek, and their company Granfondo Tours. The web site does a very good job of emphasizing the tour strengths of the company. This is about enjoying long hard climbs, spectacular mountain vistas, and hours in the saddle. Our routes were very well selected, well mapped and explained every day, and well chosen to alternate a challenging day with a recovery day. After a week, we were all ready to ride the Granfondo. The routes were extremely well supported, and had long and shorter options so that everyone could find an enjoyable length and degree of difficulty. Including local guides like Gaetano and Massimo was terrific! This vacation is first and foremost a bicycling adventure, and is so well designed that both those who came to race and those who came to tour had a wonderful time.

But you can’t spend ALL your time on the bike, and Joanie and I just loved the other aspects of the Granfondo Tour. The “Sport Hotels” we stayed in were gracious and well appointed, with wonderful staff. The food was fresh, wholesome, and delicious, the towns and villages were beautiful and each contained historic treasures of art and architecture worth enjoying. I’ve been to Italy five times, including several visits to Verona and Venice, but I think this may have been my favorite! That is largely due to the attentive but unobtrusive support that came from Carrie, Tobias and Sean. We arrived on Saturday afternoon without my wife’s prescription glasses…and by Monday morning she had an (incredibly stylish) Italian replacement! My bike suffered a cracked brake lever on the plane ride over; replaced within one hour of discovery. Specific requests or needs from others on the tour were equally well dispatched, with a casual appearance of ease that concealed how well organized and knowledgeable our hosts were.

The entire tour unfolded with an easy rhythm that mixed incredible variety with plenty of free time to take an impromptu ride, stroll to the piazza for gelato, or just hang out on your balcony and enjoy the magnificent mountain vistas. If I start to tick off the activities – the walking tour of Verona, the days in Venice, a boat ride on Lake Garda to Catullus’s Roman villa, the visit to “Otze the Iceman” in the Bolzano Natural History museum, the trip to the hot springs – the tour sounds hectic before you include the bike riding. However the organization and pacing was perfect, the trip was extremely relaxing, never feeling rushed. But with all the great times spent together at meals and seeing the sites, the bike rides up Perre Fosse, over Stelvio and Gavia, through the Alps and Dolomites are still the part I rejoice in, every day.

My one disappointment is that while I came back faster and stronger, all my USCF competition somehow got faster and stronger too! I am currently hanging on to sixth place in the Wisconsin Cup …I was sure I’d return and smoke’em! But I can’t fault Granfondo Tours for that. It is quite the opposite: you guys got me motivated, first to get back on the bike after a 20 year absence, then to return to racing. So thanks for that as well!

Joanie is also riding more…on her birthday gift, a Pinarello Marvel. She noticed that most of the good women riders were on Pinarellos, and I don’t think Brian’s Dogma was unappreciated. And we are saving our money for next year: we’ll be back for Riviera/Florence Granfondo or the Pinarello Granfondo, depending upon your final schedule. Riding with you is the very best way to enjoy Italy!

I wear your kit to almost every race now…in part because of its quality and fit, and in part because it starts so many conversations. Folks are writing down your web site address; I hope your success continues to grow.

See you next year,

Bill and Joanie.

I joined the Granfondo tour in June of this year. Tobias and his wife are friendly and sincere people, and they do a great job of putting together a great cycling vacation. I really don’t even know where to begin, because there was so much to the tour. To be honest, I chose their tour simply because they were going where I wanted to go (the Alps and the Dolomites), and they offered the best price. I wouldn’t have cared if they were rude and I had to stay in the Italian version of a cheap motel, as long as my bike and I were in the Alps!

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Tobias and his Italian guides were extremely likable, knowledgeable, and determined to show all the riders the best of Italian cycling and a good time. The lodging ranged from good to outstanding. The food was very tasty, although I don’t think that my customary low-fat, hippie granola diet is very popular there, so I had to make some dietary adjustments. Italians love pasta, though, so we got along just fine. Also, if you like wine . . . hey–it’s Italy!!! As an aside, I should also mention that Italians love cyclists, and you’ll never cycle anywhere in the U.S. where you’ll be treated as courteously as you will be in Italy. Several large-scale opinion polls have found that about three-quarters of Italians like Americans pretty well. That is about as friendly as it gets anywhere out there these days, and considerably higher than some other great cycling destinations. So, if you’re halfway courteous, you won’t have any trouble. I kept my mouth shut about politics, and everybody treated me like a long-lost relative. I only mention this because of the current political climate.

Skill level: The other clients were just regular cyclists like me, and there was a broad range of ability. I absolutely love to climb, because, like Tobias, I am a crossover from mountaineering. However, I am relatively new to cycling, and I had only been cycling for a year when I went on the tour. I did some specific preparation for climbing because it’s flat where I live, and had a very challenging, but good time on the climbs. I rarely race, but the local group’s 18-25 mph, 70 mile rides are a pretty hard workout for me. I can’t quite break the five-hour mark when I do centuries (I ride them solo), but it’s close. In sum: I’m a regular joe.

Tobias and his team were able to accommodate everybody’s abilities. I should also mention that their cycling tour favors -gasp!- cycling. I was surprised that many of the other tours I considered were pretty casual about the cycling and heavy on the recreation. With Tobias, Carrie, et al., you’ll do some sightseeing and have plenty of R&R time, but the trip is intended to be a cycling tour. While the other clients and I were just regular cyclists, everybody was serious enough about cycling that nobody on the tour would have dreamed of spending all their time lounging around. Nor would anyone have done this trip on a rental bike. These are pro-level Giro climbs with breathtaking descents, and you will want and need to be on your bike. Everybody wanted to spend as much time in the saddle as possible, and you don’t want to do all this on a strange bike.

I don’t know how to convey to you what it’s like to climb the passes on this tour. These are some of the most legendary climbs in cycling, and for good reason–they ‘re very tough (but attainable) and stunningly beautiful. It’s been five months since I was there, but I don’t go two days without daydreaming a little about those climbs–they’re that good. Like I told one of my cycling buddies: if you love cycling, climbing, and the mountains, your life will not be complete until you’ve cycled the Italian Alps.

I’ve just kind of rambled on about the trip, so I doubt if I’ve answered all of your questions. If you have any specific questions, I’d be happy to answer them. Be sure to check out the photos from this year’s trip. They just scratch the surface of what you’ll see, but they’re worth browsing.

I hope you don’t mind, but I should also send this response to Tobias, because I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t think I ever properly thanked him and his team for all their hard work. I’d like for him to know how I thought his tour stacked up.

I hope you get to go on the tour. I think you’ll be amazed.

Best regards,

John