Between two tours

After we finished the Tutti Dolomiti tour in Vernona on June 4, we had a nice breakfast and lots of good-byes. Throughout the day riders with their bike boxes headed off to the airport for the trip home. There were seven of us planning to do the next Bike Dreams Milano San Remo tour and we had a relaxed day without any stress of packing for travel. I had a tasty pasta lunch, and later dinner across the street at our friendly local café. I ate with Blair and John, then called it a night early after a walk to a gelateria.

On June 6, we had breakfast and then packed our luggage in the truck for the drive to Milano. One of our California riders, Skip, had to go home to help family, so we were down to six staying on. We dropped Californians Cathy and Jim at the Verona train station, then headed on the Autostrada to Bergamo. It took maybe an hour, and there we dropped off our Mechanic/Lunch Truck driver, Ben. He was cycling back to Belgium, with paniers, camping all the way. We left one of the vans in Bergamo and squeezed into the other van. Wilbert dropped the six of us off at a Milano suburb where we caught the Metro to downtown. After one quick change, we were at the Gerusalemme station, and our hotel was close by. Milano, like many European cities, has emissions rules for gas/diesel vehicles and our vans are only allowed in the center zone on weekends and weekdays from 19:30 to 7:30.

After checking in, lunch was the first thing on my list. We found a nice little café and had panini and beer. I had a nap in the afternoon and relaxed, then went over to a nearby pub for beers with a few riders and staff. It was another place like the one we found in Verona: supply great beer and people will come. Crowded and fun. Dinner was at a different beer place closer to the hotel, delicious pinsa (flat bread) and IPA. I went to sleep early.

I didn’t sleep well but I guess it was enough. In the morning we already had some new riders at breakfast. The day was really relaxed with nothing much I had to do. I checked my bike and locked it up as the place didn’t look 100% secure. My new roommate Curt (who I rode with from Paris to Marrakesh in 2023) moved in and I helped him get the routes onto his cycle computer.

In the afternoon we had the tour briefing and it was great to see quite a few friends from other trips in the past. We got our new jerseys etc. It was Skip’s last night so I had dinner with him and the Kiwis, Blair and Nick. Skip had a nice restaurant picked out and I had a delicious pizza with a limoncello spritz. We are all psyched for starting the new tour tomorrow, June 8.