2007 in Sardinia

You can read the official report on the PMVC website.
Below the version from my chronicle.

The next morning [May 19, after the near-epic Steven Rooks Classic--95 miles through between Maastricht and Remouchamps, Belgium] it was on to Brussels, where I hooked up with Steve and Dusty. After arriving in San Vero, we manged to do a version of the Cuglieri ride (46). I didn’t feel very good at first. Legs wouldn’t move and my shoes hurt my feet, a problem that would return frequently. But on the fast downhill sections, starting in downtown Cuglieri, I began to improve, and the three of us rode quite hard at times going home. One gelato stop. First full ride on Sardinia was the Ghilarza ride, which I had missed three years ago and which we didn’t get to last year. A nice ride with several medium long, not very hard climbs, and the weather was beautiful also. At 77 it would turn out to be the longest ride of the whole week. Monday we went to the East Coast to do a new ride from Nuoro. A bit busy going through Oliena toward Dorgali, but pretty also. From Dorgali we went up the hill, through the tunnel, and down the hill into Cala Conone, the first time I had truly reached the East Coast. Leaving after lunch, I lost the others and rode back alone, following, it turned out, a different route from the others who rode back the same way we had come. I instead took the steep, little road going north and then back into Dorgali through the backdoor. It was quite steep and I had to work hard to get up it in the 25, in part because the pavement was concrete plates, not asphalt. After the first pass, the road turned into asphalt for a little bit of downhill before more climbing. It was a cool road, even though the climb back to the tunnel would have been nice too (but more like other climbs we do on Sardinia). Getting to Dorgali, the water bottles we hadn’t quite finished on the way out were still outside at the supermarket, and I drank some and filled my bottles from them before continuing. Climb back into Nuoro—again I took a different route from the way out, this time inadvertently—was trafficy but also fairly steep (57 miles). Tuesday we went to Bosa where in the first town a few miles out Oscar asked for the keys to the van because he was feeling terrible. Couldn’t breathe, and later that night he ended up in the hospital for three nights. The rest of us rode on to Villanova Monteleone, seeing maybe two cars the entire way. Dusty, Michele, and I reached Alghero first, and we rode right through it (it really was too early to stop again). The three of us rode most of what is probably the most beautiful stretch of the entire trip together, causing me to take it easy, but I really wasn’t that eager to go hard or far all week (the Steven Rooks Classic definitely had taken the edge off). This way, I was able to enjoy the ride along the coast even more (68). Back in Bosa I had very little interest in riding back to San Vero, and unlike Steve (who was o.k. with it then) I still have no regrets. [o.k., now, October 2008, I do] Driving home, we took a different hill out of Bosa, toward Macoma, the one the Giro must have taken after arriving in Bosa. Wednesday was a rest day, in part because of visits to Oscar in the hospital. After accompanying Michele to the hospital in the morning I rode an easy, flat loop past Putzu Idu and Riola in the afternoon (26). Thursday we also stayed close to home because it appeared that at 2 pm we could take Oscar home from the hospital. We did the Paulolatino-Ula Tirso-Solarussa loop quickly. Michele and I hammered home from Fordongianus to get panini. I pulled the whole way, getting a little tired at the end, but we did get to the store just before closing time. (57). Friday was the actual day Oscar was released, but we did a full ride nonetheless, Teti-Desulo. I was getting tired—although riding with what now was just Dusty, Steve, and Michele really wasn’t hard. Enjoyed the Desulo climb the most that day. Just rode a steady pace in the 21. I had dropped Michele already before Desulo. Decided to stay out of the 23 all the way to the top, which wasn’t too difficult, so I cannot have been too tired (68). Initially we were going to do the Laconi ride on Saturday, but during breakfast it became clear that Michele wasn’t up for it. I really wasn’t eager for it either, especially because it would have meant riding pretty much the whole ride ahead of the other two, and on my own. There was also the matter of the van ride, which didn’t appeal too much to anyone. So the four of us ended up doing another Cuglieri ride, this time taking the high road all the way from Narbolia. Dense fog on the Cuglieri side of the hill. In town we ran into a wedding, with the bride leading the party on foot right through the middle of town. Things started to clear on the fast, downhill section to the little coastal villages. We stopped in the first one, and I had gelato at the same place as the first day. A very good decision to ride from “home” (50).

These are Dusty's mileage and climbing statistics from that blissful week:

monteferru 47 3440  (steve, dusty, ruud)
ghilarza 74 7500
calle gonnoni 55 5400
bosa 68 6175
tharos 46 862
paulilatino 52 3156
sarule desulo 69 6524
monteferru 48 3200

total 459
alt 36,257