It was awesome, or possibly I was so exhausted and oxygen-deprived that I was just hallucinating…. And take that with the knowledge that we live in Boulder, Colorado, which is consistently rated as one of the most bike-friendly cities in the US. Each trip was about a month long and we did both trips self-supported no chase vehicle while carrying our own stuff and staying in hotels. You could try to locate a used copy, or read online bike touring forums such as Crazy Guy on a Bike , or steal an itinerary from one of the many organized bike tours that go to Italy.
You might experience a lot of rain or none at all: on our trip we had one day of rain, and on our trip it rained almost the entire first week.
But the Dolomites are truly stellar. Check out this view, from the breakfast room of our hotel in Cortina:. Coupled bikes are a bit of an ordeal to assemble and disassemble we allow most of a day for the two bikes , but they allow you to bring your own, full-size bike without paying luggage fees.
To my knowledge, British Airways is currently the only international airline that will allow you to take a bike without couplers in a standard hard case without paying an oversize luggage fee. You could buy a bike in Italy and ship it back home by mail, or try to sell it when you leave.
You could look at Italian Craigslist and try to buy a used bike when you get to Italy. Deciding whether to book ahead or wing it : For both of our trips, we reserved the majority of our hotels ahead of time.
