Adige Bike Route – lonely no more

Heading towards the mountains along the Adige bike trail

What a contrast! After writing about the loneliness of the long distance cyclist along the Po river in Italy, things changed. But for the better? That’s the question. 

 

Crossing the Adige river  in Verona

Heading northwards. Leaving the flat Po plains and heading for the mountains. Riding up the Adige river from Verona. The cycle trail is excellent. Smooth, clearly signposted, free of traffic and rising so gently you’d hardly notice it – apart from one nasty hill.

It is so good, it is attracting business. Tour companies who provide bikes, helmets, guide, book hotels and arrange just about everything, are attracting cyclists who like having all but the pedalling done for them. Some hardly need to pedal as they have hired e-bikes.

 

Cooling spray for the apple orchards - a bit of a shower would be welcome on a hot ride

They ride downstream and we are riding up. It’s like swimming against the tide. Groups of 20 or more on rattly bikes but with little “road sense“ are riding two abreast, concentrating on pedalling and focussed on the wheel of the guy in front. Never mind the idiot going in the opposite direction. 

It is good to see so many people experiencing the pleasure of bike touring. It is, as I say, bringing business. Hotels are full, group organisers are busy, delivery drivers are buzzing from hotel to hotel with the luggage, bike sales must be booming. Cynics might say this has nothing to do with adventure but is creating the illusion without the joy of chance encounters.

 

Neumarkt, one of the attractive towns along the Adige

Meanwhile, approaching Bolzano, the traffic thickens. It's Saturday and the local racing clubs are out in force. And moving fast. The locals are out for a gentle spin, riding to the shops, taking the children for a ride. Occasionally old school bike tourists thread their way through the stream. 

 

Old school bike tourist?
Who is this guy, seen riding along the Pustertal in June?

The old school are the purists. Simple bikes, modest load of luggage. No fixed plan, flexible. Quietly cruising along. Free as a bird.  A nod towards like–minded on-comers. It’s regrettable that with the greatly increased traffic, the spirit of cameraderie decreases and mutual co-operation wanes. In 1000km covered, we had few discussions with on-comers about what lies ahead for each of us. Far fewer than in the past.

There are plenty of castles along the way 

Contrast these with the juggernaut drivers. Huge upright black e–bikes. The command centre fitted with Garmin gear preloaded with the detailed route which must be followed. Mobile phone and maps attached to the handlebar along with the e-bike controller to monitor progress. Then, as well as the battery, there is a backup, a supplementary power source for the Garmin and phone etc. On the back is half a ton of essential luggage. Cynics might say this has nothing to do with adventure but a work out for gadget geeks.

Breakfast conversation in German in the hotel:

Him: do you speak German?

Me: yes

Him: are you German?

Me: no

Him: where are you going?

Me: North. You?

Him: South. We rode 125km yesterday

Me: mmmm... (thinks: on an e-bike, downhill, no big deal)

I think he only struck up the conversation to tell me this.

The handlebars on this guy's bike came up to my chest. The „cockpit“ looked like something from star wars. Our simple, steel Roberts touring bikes looked like toys beside it.

 

Riding on former rail tracks is a treat - even up hill.
This is heading north towards the Brenner Pass from Bolzano

Bolzano is a maelstrom of two wheel traffic going at very different speeds, with different objectives on bikes as different as Italy’s plains behind us are from the Alps ahead.  But it works. Sadly, amid so much activity there is no time or inclination for greetings. Whereas once a raised hand, a „hi“ or even a smile was the norm, here not a twitch or a grunt of recognition.

Riding towards the Brenner Pass

 At least, when we were riding along the Po almost every rider had a greeting: salve, buon giorno, even a forza!

Once past Bolzano, heading towards the Brenner Pass, the traffic thins to a trickle. Racers out training. A few tourists heading south. Maybe loneliness is not so bad after all. 

Counting the cycle traffic -
here, near Brixen, only 17 had passed by 9am and 25,425 in the year to date

Po Bike Route 3 – reflections

Even small towns have lovely piazzas

The ink was hardly dry on the new edition of Bikeline’s Po river cycling guide as we set off. Perversely we rode upriver from Venice rather than down from the Turin end. Reckoning on it being exceedingly flat, it didn’t matter which way we went. The guide, however, is written for downriver riders.

Once we found the raised dike which keeps the river from flooding too large an area, navigation was easy. Keep riding along the raised dam – asphalt surface, not a hill in sight.

 

Easy riding, not a hill in sight

Not much else in sight either. After an hour you have seen it all. Fields of corn and wheat. A few houses. The river, fat, dark and seemingly motionless. This is how it will be for the next few days. Tomato and rice fields come later as a welcome diversion.

 

Tomatoes - a welcome change from the maize fields

It’s rare to find a village without a bar. A good espresso costs just €1 everywhere. The bar serves as the meeting point for the village men loudly discussing politics. Their bikes are parked around the bar. Ours come in for scrutiny. “How do you change the gears?” “Campagnolo!  Bene!” “Questo?” What’s this for? One guy explains that on his first bike, the gear changer was located down near the back axle on the seat stay – it must have been a long time ago.

 

Detailed examination of our bikes at a bar:
"Questo?" "Campagnolo, Bene"

For a week the scenery hardly changes. Days go by, each with just 50 vertical meters of climbing. More bars, more coffee. Reasonable prices in hotels. Good food. Hardly a touring cyclist to be seen. Just the local racers who, at least, give a welcome call, “Salve, Forza!”.

 

Every village has a bar. Every bar has good coffee,
Every bar is the place for political discussion

So why ride the length of the river Po?  You will know the answer as you arrive in one of the historic cities along its length. Ferrara, Cremona, Piacenza, Pavia, Casale Monferrato. Bumping along terrible cobbled streets you are riding back into another age.

Beautiful classical buildings, narrow lanes you just have to stroll down, tall houses in warm earthy colours hiding the gardens and courtyards glimpsed through gateways. Cathedrals, castles and civic buildings in a grand and opulent scale face huge piazzas of perfect proportions.

 

Cremona, beautiful buildings, large piazzas, relaxed atmosphere

And the piazzas are lined with bars and cafes offering classic surroundings for people-watching, relaxing and nibbling on the extras that come with the drinks.

 

Cremona, the piazzas are lined with bars and cafés

Even in the smaller towns there are delights to savour. In Ostiglia is a b&b in a magnificent, recently restored fifteenth century palace, right in the town centre. Elsewhere, even in small villages, there are huge, perfectly proportioned piazzas…and of course a bar.

 

Ostiglia, the breakfast room in a fifteenth century palace

The river rolls along like molten sticky toffee. There’s not much activity. Few boats or landing stages. The countryside sweats under a hot sun and villages and towns are linked by some shocking roads and, sometimes, bike routes which are surprisingly smooth. 

 

Cremona is the home of the violin makers

The Po Bike trail, part of Eurovelo 8 crossing Europe from Spain to Greece, is a work in progress. Signage is sometimes good but often patchy, the trail is sometimes hard to lose and at others hard to find. Ride the Po? Yes, you won’t gather many altitude meters but you will have a cultural feast.

Casale Monferrato, narrow lanes, warm colours, bumpy cobbles

Po Bike Route 2 - headgear

Riding on the pavement - anything to avoid those cobbles - and nothing seems to be against the rules

Are we getting soft in the head? These days we hardly push the bike out of the shed without putting on a helmet.

Spend a couple of days in the north Italian city of Ferrara and you will see bikes buzzing in all directions like swarming bees. There are no rules. No bike lanes. And you won’t see a single helmet among them.

The ancient town with is huge castle and classic piazzas has some terrible cobbled streets. Stones are spread out but without any attempt at smoothing them to a single height. It’s like riding a bike on a pebble beach.

So the bikes whizzing about the town aren’t only buzzing but they are rattling. Most are old boneshakers and if they aren’t already they soon will be.

Aboard is every variant of mankind. Young, old and ancient, fat, thin, tall and short. Businessmen in suits and ties, furled umbrellas attached to the crossbar, women speeding about their daily tasks with aplomb with a basket attached to the handlebars, mothers with a child in front and another behind, police patrolling on official cycles, teenage girls in cut off cut-offs chatting on their phones as they weave among the crowds, students, schoolchildren, young dudes withe reversed baseball caps...and not a helmet to be seen.

Sweltering along in 30C heat we had already removed ours. It was like riding in the days when even the Tour de France racers wore nothing more than a cap. Wind in the hair. What a difference! Feel the freedom.

Pundits say wearing a helmet encourages risk taking, discourages bike use, makes car drivers give less clearance when passing.  

So what is the death rate among cyclists in Ferrara compared with, say, Sydney where helmets are compulsory? And how does the use of bikes for short journeys compare? It isn’t easy to find comparable results but according to Forbes Business, the more cyclists there are, the fewer the proportional number of fatalities. As Australia has demonstrated, helmet wearing discourages cycling. So…work it out from there.

One thing for sure is that everyone in the Italian town uses a bike for every local trip. Hop on in everyday clothes, high heels, evening dress, whatever, hop off at the destination. No parking worries. No unnecessary protective clothing. Just the simplest, most convenient method of transport.

It’s not surprising there aren't many cars about.