Posts Tagged ‘Castelcucco’
|Benvenuto, Fred!
Monday, January 4th, 2010
We have some very exciting news to announce today. Federico “Fred” Morini will be joining us in Castelcucco this year! Fred moved quickly through the junior ranks in Italy, eventually leading to everyone’s dream, a pro contract! Signing with Gerolsteiner in 2000, Fred was an immediate success, winning a stage of the Tour of Austria as a neo-pro. Unfortunately, a horrible training accident in 2001 nearly paralyzed Fred and eventually ended his pro career in 2003.
Rather than feel bad about his situation, Fred worked hard to first walk, and then to ride his bike again. He loves to share his boundless energy with everyone he rides with, and our initial good feelings about Fred were supported by fellow Velo Venetians (that is grammatically correct, right?) who have ridden with Fred before. Though he is committed to be elsewhere during il Giro and le Tour, throughout the rest of the season, he will join us every other week for riding, coaching, meals, and I’m sure storytelling! Still friends with many current Italian pros, he has insights and connections that will prove interesting and useful, whether it be on our next ride, an UDACE race, a Gran Fondo, or the Master’s World Championships. If you’re not able to make it to Castelcucco in 2010, Fred will likely make a US appearance at the Gran Fondo Colnago San Diego, the Solvang Cycling Clinic, and the Solvang Century.
If you want to know more about Fred, you can visit his website, follow his Twitter account, or stay tuned here or on our Facebook fan page, where he will occasionally pop in to say Ciao!, and tell us about goings-on in the world of pro cycling.
Staying in Castelcucco
Monday, December 21st, 2009
We’ve just got off the phone with the Hotel Monte Grappa, and it sounds like a congratulations is in order for Luca Bolzon and family. It appears that business at Hotel Monte Grappa will be booming in 2010, and they will often be full up! Velo Veneto will no longer have full run of the place, but as always, he has found ways to accommodate us. So, what does this mean for us?
- We will have access to what we’re calling Villa II – the Bolzon family home just behind the Hotel Monte Grappa. For everyone, this means a secure place to leave your bike and bike case, a laundry facility, and where we will have the rack, workstand, and a small toolset. It also means that at particularly busy times, we will have access to bedrooms in Villa II!
- Luca has asked that we give him rooming lists as early as possible this year, so he can make sure that everybody has a bed, and every bed has a body. For the Giro trip, this means we’d like to have our list to him by the end of January. You can put your name and dates in on our Registration page, and we’re finally taking PayPal deposits.
We’re happy and excited for Luca, and the more we plan for and talk about next year, the more excited we get about heading back! If you have any thoughts, or suggestions, leave a comment below or give us a shout.
2010 Giro d’Italia
Saturday, October 24th, 2009
Wow, the 2010 Giro d’Italia passes right through our backyard and finishes just down the road with a TT in Verona! Stage 14 will cover many of the roads we regularly ride, finishing a few minutes away in Asolo, and passing near Castelcucco on its way up and over the Monte Grappa. Whether you’re there in May, or come later in the summer, it’s going to be great fun riding on the same roads day-in and day-out. The overall map of il Giro is below (click to download as PDF), or you can visit the English-language website.
The route map of the 2010 Giro d'Italia
