The next morning we met our bus driver at 10 am and he drove us into Italy. We went through the Brenner Pass and in less than two hours, arrived in Bolzano. This Italian city also has a population of just more than 100,000 and is the capital of the province of South Tyrol. Bolzano is also known as Bozen, its German name. Prior to World War I this part of Italy was controlled by Austria. A large percentage – 60 percent – of the population in Bolzano speak German as their primary language.

We had been in Bolzano in 2002 when we were on a hiking trip in the Dolomites. We finished our hiking trip here and were supposed to spend a few days but we decided to leave and go into Switzerland instead. We just stayed long enough to visit Ötzi, the Iceman, in the Museum of Archeology. He’s a glacier mummy from the Copper Age, more than 5,000 years ago, discovered in 1991 whose clothes and tools survived with his body.

Upon arrival in Bolzano this time, we checked in to the Parkhotel Lauren.

The hotel’s gardens were very extensive which was impressive given its location in a busy part of the city.

After checking in, we had lunch in the outdoor terrace area.

And sampled this gelato dessert.

Lots of beautiful flowers here.

After lunch we met our guides, Stefano and Claudio, and got fitted for our bikes. They were Fuji Gran Fondo carbon road bikes. Very nice and this one would become my best friend for the next few days.

Next, we did our warmup ride of nine miles. We started out from the hotel and wandered through the Piazza Walther in the city center before reaching a bike path that took us through parks and along the Talfer River.

It’s a busy bike path with lots of fast-riding commuters, as well as walkers with dogs and baby strollers. So, many things to watch out for and we got good practice with our brakes. The path crossed bridges, crossed streets where we had to wait for the bicycle green light, and crossed other bike paths.

A little further out of town, we reached the medieval Runkelstein Castle up on the hill. At this point we crossed the river, turned around, and headed back the way we came.

After partially retracing our steps, we crossed a street and went on to a different section of the bike path that took us along the Isarco River with the Rosengarten Mountain range in the distance. We passed by vineyards and apple orchards, a sight that would become familiar in the next few days.

Our route directions are now all available on our phones. We downloaded them to Ride with GPS before we left home. This made finding our way so much easier than the written directions we used in past years although I do miss the camaraderie that ensued when we would gather on the road to try and interpret some particularly intricate set of directions. And we would also have to stop to turn the page. For this trip, I just taped my AirPod in my ear – taking no chances on it falling out on a downhill ride – and took off.

We finished our ride back to the hotel, again traversing the busy city plaza on foot and then riding along a cobblestone street to reach our hotel parking area. But, we were both pleased with our bikes and looking forward to tomorrow’s ride.

Dinner that night was at the hotel and on an outdoor terrace. It was a private function for our bicycling group of fourteen plus our two guides. This is a somewhat fewer number of riders than usual on these trips. Most take a maximum of twenty and again, Covid has had an impact.

We later discovered that of the people in our group of fourteen, nine were in their 70s. Good for us septuagenarians! Three were using e-bikes including two of those in their 70s. Something to think about when I find myself walking up a hill pushing my bike in the upcoming week.