Stevie Blom Posted May 5, 2004 Report Share Posted May 5, 2004 Italy Report Part 1 Hi all here is my report in the trip to riccionne on the adriatic coast 5km from rimini. scott donaldson will report other indepth details like total km plus altitude etc. hopefully he can report on day to day riding too. in attendance where the following: 1 stevie blom 2 ali winship 3 euan mckay 4 scott donaldson 5 andy cambell departed on the 24th april 04 and returned on the 1st may 04. 1 week in the sun riding the adriatic coast into mainland tuscany why italy: alison contacted kenny mac asking if any1 would be interested in joining her on a winter break holiday and to get away from the norm of “majorca†etc. kenny mcdonald new i was a fan of italy as i have been many times with my father in his truck. i was in rimini last year summer time and thought to myself one day i will do a tour here. well why not this year! i got in contact with alison and arranged we should get a bunch of fellow wheelers to join us in a great trip. i scanned the internet and the company hooked on cycling caught my eye! they are based in coatbridge which is close to us so makes sense to book with them. contacts where john and sue hook. later i met john at the hotel in riccione and realised i had met him before at an audax run that me and scott did last year up in cupar. they sold us a package in a 3 star hotel called the “belvedere†in riccionne. for 2 people sharing it was a total of £392.00 this is the brakedown £308.00 for the weeks stay £55.00 for the transfer from and return to airport £29.00 insurance 9 day plan the £55.00 is a standard fee for up to 5 people so it will be divided. the flights was a tricky part as we did not want to go with easyjet (aka sleazyjet) easyjet do not transfer your luggage to the next flight or airport you would have to reclaim your baggae and check in at london stansted. so we opted for klm airlines via amsterdam - scott donaldson and his magic net skills managed to find a cheap price of £118.00 return. flight route glasgow - amsterdam - bologna total £510.00! the hotel belvedere is a very popular hotel with our european friends. moslty used by ze gurmans and many swiss , austrian and australian with the odd from the uk joining in. after we booked up the package we received a hotel brochure information with routes , maps , specific details to what we would be in for. very handy and gave you basic tips on what to bring with you especially if you are to be flying over. the airline klm could only take 3 bikes per aircraft so be warned make sure you call them 24hrs before your flight to arrange space.(this is due to size of aircraft) if you can not bring your bike due to space problems then the hotel belvedere has many different bike's on hire. for 7 days hire it will set you back about 90 euro’s = in our money that works out about £65.00. now, here is the good news if you was to hire a bike! the hotel owner marina has a very close couple of friends: 1 ernst colnago 2 da rosa!!!!! believe it or not they had brand new c50 and c40 frames with not bad wheels and campaq chorus groupsets on hire for 90 euro’s. many assorted da rosa frames including the dougie da king due to the overwhelming amount of foreign tourists cycling in that part of italy from many hotels , colnago and da rosa with fondriest arranged a few deals for her. they handed in many top quality bikes which are for sale later in the year normally in october. so if you have always wanted a quality frame then she is the person to speak to arrange an ex hired c40 / 50 frame! for a good price i hope! on the saturday morning we departed on the 0920 flight ex glasgow! connected with the 1415 to bologna . flight time from glasgow to amsterdam is 1hr 20 minutes flight time from amsterdam to bologna is 1hr 30 minutes we was greated by the hotel 7 seater driver marccio! a very polite bloke - this guy was a bit of funny bloke with all the patter and jokes as his english was very good. journey from bologna to riccionne was 1 hr drive. everyone was in high spirits enjoying the nice country side scenery so a bit of italien music in the back ground and the journey felt like it lasted 5 minutes. finaly we arrive at the hotel belvedere approx 1730 itlay time.(1 hr ahead of u.k.) once we got our luggage out of the vehicle the owner insisted we should down tools and sit outside the hotel in the terrace on lovely sunbeds and enjoy a free drink on the house. what a way to enjoy your 1st day in the sun with a free beer /cofee etcetc in 25 degree heat. the hotel was situated infront of the beach so it was only a few steps away. near the hotel you had many bars , cofee shops , resteraunts , and the top quality clothing stores such as timberland , iceberg and gucci etc. the staff at the hotel where extremly friendly and very helpful , on our 1st day each member of staff introduced each other and gave us an idea what they would be doing on the bike and gave us insight detail to the hotel. now the hotel had 4 levels with bar resteraunt , internet , sauna , steem room , jaquzi , plus a large rest room.. once we drank our free beverage we where then greated by the other cycling tourists who where all german bar 2. the hotel laid on a large introduction all in german which left a few us concerned as ten minutes went by without a sinlge word in english. i understand german to a degree but looked just as confused as the others. moments later the bloke who was giving the introduction shouted “are zer any inglish peeeeple in ze tour?†so scott put up his hand but the rest of us did not , next thing i see all the german tourists looking so curious to find out who all the english was as they had arrived in battle force. a moment later another german bloke stood up and shouted to the group “ aaaa zeee zer iz only ze won inglish man ha ha ha ha “ what a £$%^ i thought! anyway we killed him off in the mountains hehehe.(climbing that is) finaly it was our turn to listen to the introduction in english - they inform you of the type rides we had , they have different terain for levels of fitness. what a good start: that night we got more free drink from the cheff plus a traditional type of cuisine: a pancake with some ham / cheese salad squashed together. must say tasted better than a deep fried mars bar and a tad healthier. after that we was placed to our seats in restraunt , we where allocated at the same table each night which had the party’s captains name on it which happened to be mine “captain blom†as i was to be addressed as for the week. food each night was glorious all served in buffet style - real cyclists grub and would suit the type of bloke that eats for scotland. you could fill up your plate as much as you wanted and nothing said. type of food: plenty of starter to choose from - ranging from salad’s to various cheeses and cold meats. main course fish steak sorted pasta dishes pizza it goes on for ever and all prepared in high standards. put it this way not a single person thought about eating out in a restraunt at any time of the week. best news we was told that we where to have free unlimited wine per table which was obtained from the wine machine each evening. restraunt hours: breakfast 0730 - 0930 lunch 1500 - 1630 evening meals 1930 - 2130 breakfast was unlimited grub too ranging from english to continent. again eat as much as you like. before your tour begun the cheff would prepare plenty of apples and bananas with cheese rolls for your trip. after each trip the cheff would have a prepared lunch for each person at 15:00 to refill your carbs - eat as much as yo like. god i think im putting weight onL hotel rooms: each room had either a balcany or retracting windows on the hotel roof which you can open inside. a bowl of fruit each morning with a free colnago water bottle. nice tiled floor with a very clean toilet with shower. all rooms have t.v.’s with access to satelite. the hotel even cleans your cycling kit for free!!!!!! bike storage the hotel had even a section for bike storage! this included bike maintainance if required with the aod of a guide. at the back of the hotel they had a wash bay with degreaser and other type oils to keep your machine in top condition. tours: ok all the tours are split into sorted groups and each group has a selected fitness level. team 1 normally the long fast group with 1500 - 2000 meters climbing. ditance 120 - 155 km team 2 this is for medium fitness with slower pace a bit less km and no where near as much climbing. team 3 strictly for beginners only probably the pace as close to a snail with a heart attack! well so i was told. tour guides: every tour guide had a shot at a long run 2 or 3 times per week. these guys where not to be messed with as some of them are professional couriers: this is 24 hr team time trialing but only 1 person of the team working at 1 time - target is to gain the most amount of km in 24hrs between 4 of you. something not heard of in the uk - maybe we should try it?? so the majority of our guides had 10,000 km in the legs by the time we even got in the joint. guides names: chris: - very fit lad who has been in 43 cycling tours in total martin: pro courier can ride for ever till he drops iris: took care of the beginners group giovanni :- the mountain man - gave him a doin only the once J but he can climb all day and all night pure strength and stamina most trips where up and down all day and had some 10 - 20 km climbs. some of the scenery was amazing and probably the best italy has to offer. cycling by houses on top of mountian tops in about san marino with 18 % climbs. just pure class for a bike rider nothing could be better in nice comfrtable heat. mostly weather was 24 - 25 degree’s if someone was to ask me where i a was each day could not tell you as you passed many historical building and small villages. after 50 km of each trip we would stop at a cafee for 30 minutes in some great moutain villages. scott donaldson will have more routes with heights and altitudes for all you who would like to see it. people: most people respected you as a bike rider even the car driver would beep the horn just to let you know they would be passing so no angry drivers. beach: very nice and 1 of italy’s top tourists areas - the hotel would have a volley ball game set up for any 1 inrested. most days me and scott would attack all the climbs and do them hard. every now and then some guides would be on your wheel to test your power so we took them to the end. mostly we would give them a doin as we would be fresh but nearer the end of the trip we would be the one’s getting hard time but all in high spirits. one of the german riders who was on holiday asked me and scott if we came form the highlands J i told him that we lived on an island called cumbrea which he later informed his other german mates . armstong: well well i know that somebody on this world is your double ! we thought it was him but not to be - a german bloke who looked identical to the great man himself. we teased him but kept on replying : i am not ze lance arsmtrong: non cyclists: the hotel caters for non cyclists too! most riders had family members with them and they either did a beginners run or just enjoyed the beach and shopping centre. the hotel mini - bus gave people a lift to other shopping areas down the coast line. generaly visit catolica or pessaro. the owner even has her own cooking classes for anyone interested. finaly: this has to be best touring holiday i have been on - well france had the real climbs - but food and the price of beverage was cheap. we did not have to pay for our bar bills till the day we departed and my bill was a total of 40 pounds. next we will book up this holiday next year direct with the hotel which means we could save money by not using hooked on cycling. plus the more people go next year the better the deal!!!!! hotel will be 4 star next year so price might go up by small amount due to a swimming pool being added! hope i have not bored anyone but i have much more to tell but that’s for you to find out next time. any questions please ask… ciau stevie B. p.s. started this report on sunday night and spend a few hours doing it but when i hit the submit button i was redirected into the loggin screen which meant all my stuff has been deleted my fault and should have known better so do not make that mistake!! 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2024 Subscriptions Darryl Gunson Posted May 6, 2004 2024 Subscriptions Report Share Posted May 6, 2004 You sure you haven't missed anything out Stevie? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevie Blom Posted May 6, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2004 Yeah a few things But when you are on ltd time you just batter the keyboard as fast as you can so no time for any extra's Just wait till Scott Donaldson gets his report in with photo's etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
declan Posted May 10, 2004 Report Share Posted May 10, 2004 Hi Stevie, Nice to talk to you at photo-shoot. Read your Italy report. A well spent 10 min. read.!!! Declan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2023 Subscriptions martin Posted March 24, 2006 2023 Subscriptions Report Share Posted March 24, 2006 You sure you haven't missed anything out Stevie? now that i'm here with stevie i'd just like to put you all out of you're misery. after all these months of waiting I can now confirm that the belvedere has pink soap. of course, stevie doesn't use it, that's why he didn't report it last year. bella bella ù, birra BIRRA ciao martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dougie Da Rosa Posted April 2, 2006 Report Share Posted April 2, 2006 Guys,just a tip,don't ride the King till the last hour of your holiday as everything else after pales into insignifficance!!!!,be good and enjoy,I promise to be back out with you all soon,Dougie Da King. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ward Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 Just new here and got to know The Bunch after meeting Stevie and Martin in Riccione. The Belvedere is indeed superb, great cycling, delicious food and you get to meet some strange Scottish guys @Dougie, you're quite right. I've "only" been riding on a Merak, but my steel bike at home feels like noodles right now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dougie Da Rosa Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 Hey Ward,welcome along.You look kinda bored there waiting on the boys to come up the hill behind you!!,now if they too were riding De Rosa's they would have been standing alongside you eh?.!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevie Blom Posted April 3, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 Hoi Ward, Glad you logged on!! DOugie , the Head Tour Guide whom is an X PRO got his new bike from Da Rosa !! Its retailing at 12,000 Euro.......Its above the King Frame - you know much about it? Stevie B.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dougie Da Rosa Posted April 4, 2006 Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 I will let you se it when it arrives mate. Special viewing time to you Stevie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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