Friday, GhisalloIt has been a while since we did this ride, but I wrote a bunch of notes each day while we were in Italy on our FinKraft Camp, a trip that you do no forget anyway. I have not had time to post everything, but I will finish off the whole camp, so you guys can see what it was all about and if interested next year you can sign up.
Today was a pretty nostalgic ride to Ghisallo. A ride we all were looking forward, scenic, but nothing crazy climbing. Uphill for sure and an hour to the base in Bellagio along side Lake Como, we are feeling good and really enjoying the view.
The Ghisallo climb is about 12 K , we took the Super Ghilsalo , since it is a little longer , isn't that what you supposed to do anyway , no short cuts !
A few rain drops, but nothing that would spoil the day. Legs were good today and if it was a race, I think I would have had a chance! 
At the top there is the very famous Madonna del Ghisallo , a bike sanctuary filled with nostalgic bike from way back , some thing you would never see some where else .
This is bike “heaven “ with a museum next door and a restaurant, which we picked over the museum, it was lunchtime and the boys were hungry! 
We had a quick lunch and then back on the bikes, we took the back way, around the mountain a nice route were the Giro di Lombardi goes as well on October, fare amount of climbing, but nice roads and not much cars.
We ride by all the lakes around the Como region and after a nice 4-hour loop we are back at Cascina Belvedi. 
A perfect ride, perfect timing to watch the Giro while having some cheese, bread and wine. Big day at the Giro, Mortirolo and finishing at Aprica. We were just there 2 day ago, familiar grounds and even more exciting to watch. Tomorrow is our off day and we get to watch the Giro live 2 feet away from Basso and the rest of the crew.
A relaxing night and more great food !Ciao
Roger
To be more exact; Cita Alta. Some round stone covered streets, not exactly easy to ride on in the rain and uphill, thru the famous gate where the Giro and the World Cup Race; Tour of Lombardi has passed thru so many times.
Quick stop at the town square and by now it is raining pretty hard. Enough of the sightseeing and time to head back towards the Hotel, we passed some slopes with wine yards and some really old building all surrounded by a wall, with the road snaking along the wall in between some really cool old houses, what a great place to live. Paolo takes us by his property he bought and intends to start an apple orchard on in the future, a really cool hidden location right in the middle of history. The rain just picks up and it is a couple of inches of water on the road by now and it is starting to get cold. We are soaked to the bone by the time we get back to the Hotel, but no big deal. 2 ½ hours in the rain is not the end of the world. Little lunch and a good clean up is next on the menu. 
This afternoon we have a visit at the De Rosa factory scheduled.
We get to see the step-by-step procedure and a great explanation of the actual manufacturing of these sexy bikes. They are very open, no secrets here! 
These frames go through pretty stiff testing and the Italian craftsman ship is very is not compromised at any stage.
Now if we only could sneak one out. This one was actually presented as a gift to me at the end of the visit ( sold it already on e-bay , sorry) 
Many Pro Teams has ridden these frames and still do today.Riders like Pettachi and De Luca and Garcelli have all been on these bikes .
De Rosa has always been a bike that competed with Colonago and Bianchi, in other words the big league! Some souvenirs and we are on the way to a clothing company call Rosti . The Italian version of Verge . Cool to see how the cycling clothing is made and designed. We bought a few pieces to see what Paolo's Team clothing is like . 
A fun day and now we are recovered and re-energized to do another epic ride , I am thinking Ghisallo!
