To Trento

October 3, 2021

We’re in an apartment, but we don’t really have any breakfast materials with us this morning other than a couple of pods of espresso that came with the unit. We have those to jolt the eyes open when we get up and then walk a few blocks to a bar for a few rounds of pastries and a another coffee.

In Borgo Valsugana, a pretty little place that was just right for an overnight stop.

The Brenta River and the two halves of Borgo Valsugana.

Today’s ride feels like a bonus. A double bonus, really. First, we were sceptical that we’d be riding at all because rains were in the forecast. We thought it likely that we’d wake up, be discouraged by the weather, and just hop the train for the short ride to Trento. Instead, this morning it looks like we’ll be dry until 3; so of course we’ll ride.

Second though, I expected that if we did ride we’d only do so as far as San Cristoforo and then catch the train for the final few miles because it’s really unclear what the route to Trento is through the low pass between Trento and the Valsugana. The reading I’ve done about this stretch is pretty discouraging; but with us both feeling well rested, with cooperative skies, and with the likelihood of two or three days off the bike after today we decide to go for it. I just let RideWithGPS pick our route through the pass and we’ll see how it goes when we get there. Worst case we can always backtrack to San Cristoforo again and catch the train after all.

First though we have to get our bikes which are locked away in a garage down the street. Theres no one on site this morning, but we’ve been left the key to the garage; so I go out to retrieve the bikes while Rachael finishes packing up.

I can’t find the garage. Or rather, I find three candidate garages and don’t know which one of them is ours. I wasn’t paying close enough attention last night when our host led us there. All three seem like candidates because the key fits all three doors. But none of them seems like the right door, because the key won’t actually open any of them. I make the rounds of all of them twice, and then look further for another possibility but finally give up.

I return to Rachael with the sad news. She comes out for her own look but fares no better. Finally there’s nothing to be done but call the host. We feel like idiots, but mostly we feel relieved that she’s home and says she’ll be by to rescue us in about ten minutes. When she arrives I really feel like an idiot because she opens the first door right up - the one I thought it was if only the key had worked. It’s one of those trick locks where you have to hold your mouth just right and put just the right amount of tension on the door in order for the key to work.

Something to stare at while we wait for our host to arrive. Actually, San Giorgio is a very nice apartment and highly recommended. Just make sure you know where your bikes are locked.

So finally we’re off, happy that we’re in no hurry and that the weather is still holding for us. The first fifteen miles, to San Cristoforo, are a continuation of yesterday’s brilliant ride. A well marked bike path, quiet except for the plethora of Sunday morning riders on the trail with us. And beautiful, but more quietly so than yesterday as the valley is wider here and the mountains less immediate and dominating.

San Cristoforo is at the west end of Lake Caldinazzo, at the upper end of the Valsugana. Between it and Trento is a low, narrow pass. There’s only one obvious route through it - the highway, SS17 - which is the route RideWithGPS has chosen for us. It has chosen unwisely this time though, for when we reach it we discover that bicycles are prohibited. Undeterred, and armed with the knowledge that bikers really do make it through somehow, we draw on our copious map-reading skills and wing it.

It isn’t pretty, but we finally do make it through. We stop three or four times to ask oncoming bikers if we’re going the right way, bike up two or three dead ends, and are bailed out twice by the kindness of strangers - once, when a man leans out over his balcony, shouts “Trento” to us, and points us in the right direction; and once when a couple driving by pulls up when we’re staring at a tunnel and tells us we really don’t want to go there. They point back up the long hill we just coasted down from, give us some directions we only dimly follow, and drive off.

I can report though that it’s really not all that difficult a route, now that we’ve found the way. It’s odd that it’s so poorly marked, especially considering that at least part of the way it follows the Via Claudia Augusta. If you have plans to come this way yourself you might check our the route below. I’ve helpfully omitted a couple miles of dead ends you probably wouldn’t care to explore yourself.

And in case you don’t routinely watch the videos, you might watch this one. I’m not sure why exactly, but it’s one of my favorites of the tour.

Have you ever had the urge to kiss a sign? This is the first time I felt confident that we were going to make it through.

At the high point, or so we think. Believing it’s all downhill to Trento from here and seeing two other bikers streaking down ahead of us, we turn left and down. A half mile later and two hundred feet lower we’re at another dead end and climb back up to this point again. It really does seem like this would be a good place to sign the bike route.

Video sound track: Anche I Galli …. Cantano, by Puerto Vitale

So we make it to Trento and check in to our apartment. We’re left with a set of three keys - one to the unit, one to the street entrance, and one for an interior door in the apartment complex. Rachael disappears on a grocery run to supply us for the next three mornings, and when she returns calls me from the street. She’s locked out and can’t open the street door. I go down to let her in; and later, when it’s time for dinner, we try the key again.

She’s right. I can’t open the door either, after seven or eight different attempts. In a nice bookend to the day, we call this host too for help with the key. He speaks no English, so we communicate with text and Google Translate. Once he understands, he says he’ll arrive in fifteen minutes.

The key works. He shows me the magic trick, and then goes off to get some lubricant. Later when we return after dinner the lock opens much more easily, so that’s good.

In Trento, on the way to dinner. Like so many places in Europe, this is the magic time of day when the streets are quiet because the shops are closed and no one is out rushing to dinner but the Americans.

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Ride stats today: 30 miles,1,300’; for the tour: 1,744 miles, 62,100

Today's ride: 30 miles (48 km)
Total: 1,744 miles (2,807 km)

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Gregory GarceauKey problems two days in a row? That's got to be a first. By the way, does Italy have any ugly towns?
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3 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Gregory GarceauWorse than that - two in the same day! And yes, Italy has its share of ugly towns. We don’t feel the need to encourage them though by spending our tourism dollars there.
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3 years ago

Jen RahnDefinitely a video worth watching. I particularly liked seeing the other sea creatures and other human cyclists along the cycle path.

Oh, and the absolutely spectacular scenery!
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3 years ago