 You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Some friends of mine are off on a family holiday to Lake Garda next week. Their 19 yr old son is taking his road riding quite seriously, competing in this country. He'd like to sample the riding over there whilst they're away. He wants to just get a bike and head out, but as they're on holiday his folks would prefer him to do a guided ride so they're less worried about him getting lost/riding on unfamiliar roads/riding on crazy Italian roads/riding on the wrong side of the road etc'!!
Any recommendations for guided roady-ing out there?
Can't help with guiding, but top tip is avoid the lake side road like the plague. If it's not actually jammed it's full of speeding Italians wearing sunglasses in unlit tunnels. Get away from that and there are some lovely quiet roads with proper mountain climbs.
Eg if in Torbole take cycle paths out through Loppio then climb up behind Monte Baldo. Lower part was a hill climb TT in the Giro a few years ago.
Which town / village are they staying in?
The bottom part of the lake is a bit of a nightmare for cycling. Very twisty roads, loads of coaches and lorries and lots of non Italian drivers blundering around.
In Malcesine there's a place called Cafe Xtreme beside the cable car which sorts on and off road guided rides. It also hires bikes.
Torbole and Riva are rammed with bike shops which could give more info.
There's a route outside Riva heading towards the Dolomites which used to be part of the Giro D'Italia which is crammed with cyclists but, tbh, looked pretty dangerous to me.
I did a route from Malcesine past Riva last year which took in some of the Giro route and it was simply amazing. I think it was only 40 or 50 miles but there was some serious climbing involved. I could dig out the route on strava if it's any use. Gaining so much height and looking down to the lake before descending into the valleys was one of the best bits of cycling I've done.
<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">I would agree that the lakeside road is not great but if you ride in Britain it is certainly no worse and it's unavoidable if you want to get to nicer routes. It is a legal requirement to have LEDs on your bike for those dark tunnels so it might be worth mentioning that. Also, I would suggest going out early in the morning as the heat in the day is pretty extreme and the roads are much quieter too. </span>
<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">I hired a bike from cafe xtreme who were helpful enough. They do road bikes, mountain bikes and ebikes. You can take the cable car up to do some amazing mountain bike trails but I wouldn't even consider trying to bike up the mountain to do any routes because you'd be exhausted before getting to the start of anything decent. </span>
He's a lucky guy to get to ride out there. I'm so jealous!
This any use?
https://italy-cycling-guide.info/traffic-free-cycleways/river-mincio-cycleway/
https://italy-cycling-guide.info/international-cycle-routes/via-claudia-augusta/
All great, thanks for the help so far, I'll pass the info on 👍
@whereisthurso you weren't staying at the majestic palace by any chance?
I think that was the name of the hotel yes. I was on a family holiday with my in-laws.