Tutti Dolomiti Day Zero

After a solid but a little short sleep, I had a nice call with Katie, just getting ready for bed. We had breakfast then Mike and I walked over to visit a castle we had seen on our ride the day before. I was quite a few steps up from the river with a really scenic view over Verona.

After a relaxed chat we headed down, crossed the bridge to the old town and wandered through the streets, eventually getting to the touristy area around the Verona Arena we had seen on our ride yesterday. The square there is nice, but we didn’t feel like going in the Arena. As we walked back to the hotel I noticed my throat felt a little funny, like I might be catching a cold. So I just relaxed and read in the afternoon, opting out of another beer and snacks session at the nice café across the road.

Our tour briefing was at 5pm, the first time all 28 of us (plus 4 Bike Dreams crew) were together. Snacks and drinks were provided, then Wilbert, our leader, gave a nice talk, familiar to me from the three previous trips I’d done. Our riders vary from first timers to Lex, who’s done 20 tours, some of them repeats. We moved our bike boxes to a small room in the hotel garage where they will stay for the two weeks of the tour. Then we did some packing and organizing, getting ready for the start tomorrow.

About 7:30 I went out to dinner with three of the riders – at the restaurant from two nights ago. As we walked in there was already a table with at least a dozen Bike Dreamers. We had another delicious dinner, senza alcol for me. Now the forecast has improved to predict a dry morning which is nice. Everyone seems very excited to start riding in the morning.