Several years ago I was approached by Andrew Conway, US Managing Director of Ciclismo Classico, asking if I would be interested in taking one of his company’s cycling tours. At the time, I was planning a tour to the French Alps with another company and therefore had to put him off.

If you’ve listened to The FredCast for any length of time you know that this first trip to ride the famous climbs of the Tour de France was a dream come true for me. On the very first episode of The FredCast, I told my listeners that I would never ride L’Alpe d’Huez, and yet there I was on August 30, 2008, climbing the famed switchbacks on my faithful Colnago. And Alpe du Huez was just the icing on the cake, as we had already climbed the Col de la Madeleine, Col du Telegraphe, The Galibier and more! Most of the climbs we tackled that week were Hors Categorie climbs, complete with road graffiti, expansive vistas, punishing grades, and the wind whispering the names of famed cyclists who had suffered or succeeded on these very same roads. Did I say the trip was a dream come true?

The next time Andrew approached me, I had just taken on a new sponsor for the show with whom I had planned another tour to the French Alps, a tour which was to include famed American cyclist Tyler Hamilton (yes, that Tyler Hamilton). Once again, I had to put him off. Perhaps it was the economy, perhaps it was (at the time) the suspicions, innuendo, and suspensions surrounding Tyler, but that trip never garnered enough reservations to actually get off the ground.

Patient, optimistic and persistent, Andrew approached me again in the summer of 2010. I happened to be passing through Logan International Airport on my way to a Labor Day weekend Maine vacation with my daughter, so Andrew and I met in a pub in Boston’s South Station, had a couple of beers, and enjoyed a good meal. But what I will remember most about that evening was Andrew and his passion for Ciclismo Classico.

If you hang around bike industry people long enough, you’re bound to hear an old saw or two about the inability for anyone to make real money in the industry. Some say to make a million dollars, you need to start with two million. Others simply say that you can’t make money in the bike business. But any who have actually worked full time in the industry will tell you that having an occupation in an industry that is also your avocation (and passion), is more rewarding than so-called ‘real work.’ Andrew seems to me to be one of those people.

Now I don’t know whether those old sayings about bicycle industry jobs extend to bicycle travel companies, but it doesn’t matter. Andrew clearly loves what he does, believes in the company for which he works, and has a passion for bicycles, travel, business, and Ciclismo Classico. He’s the kind of person who not only helps ensure that his guests have the trips, née adventures, of their dreams, but he also lives the life, taking his own family on tours by bicycle right here in the United States.

During that dinner in Southie, Andrew talked at length and with great enthusiasm about Ciclismo’s dedication to providing high quality tours around the world, with an emphasis on journeys through Italy. He explained their process of creating trips, selecting guides (all of whom are local to the areas through which they guide their guests), choosing hotels, creating routes, and managing all of the details of the several dozen trips Ciclismo Classico runs each year. I was captivated by his descriptions, although my interest had already been piqued by the descriptions of Ciclismo’s tours by my good friend Carlton Reid.

At the conclusion of our meal, Andrew I agreed that his company would advertise on thefredcast.com, that I would join a Ciclismo Classico tour in 2011, and that I would report, honestly and openly (i.e. the good, the bad, and the ugly) on my experiences to FredCast listeners. I cautioned that I could I would not sugar coat my reports, and he was just fine with that.

As we went our separate ways that evening, Andrew handed me a Ciclismo Classico catalog and told me to choose a tour I’d be interested in taking. He encouraged me to consider one of the less strenuous Italian tours because, he said, this would provide a nice contrast to the difficult Alpes tour I had taken a few years previously. In retrospect, and considering the amount of time I’ve been able to devote to training this year, that is advice I should have taken. The tour I actually chose was one described as ‘Famous Alpine Passes and The Maratona dles Dolomites.’

The Maratona dles Dolomomites (literally, The Marathon of The Dolomites) is perhaps the world’s most famous (and most difficult) Grand Fondo event, a 130 km slog through the spectacular Dolomites surrounding Corvara, Italy, with over 14,000 feet of vertical gain — in one day. Coach Richard Wharton recently described The Maratona to me, as another of those cycling ‘bucket list’ items that ranks up there along with climbing Alpe du Huez, completing your first century/double century/race, and watching the Tour de France in person. And that’s why I chose it.

And if The Maratona sounds challenging (and it is), our participation in the event occurs on the final day of our 7 day tour through The Dolomites. The days leading up to the main event will take us through spectacular scenery with, as Ciclismo says, a ‘daily backdrop of soaring spires, waterfalls, and cool forests’ to ‘ride some of the world’s most spectacular mountains.’ Want an example? Day 2 of our tour takes us up the famed Stelvio Pass, the site of famed battles in the Giro d’Italia including Fausto Coppi’s 1953 victory. The summit of the Stelvio is at more than 2,700m, with an average gradient of 7.5% and a max of 13%.  My legs and lungs hurt already.

All of that brings me to today. The proof of Andrew’s persistence lies in the fact that I am writing this in a caffé bar at the Milano Centrale train station as I await my 12:05 Eurocity departure to Bolzano-Bozen, connecting through Verona (my daughters wanted me to get off and take a Shakespearean site tour). Once in Bolzano, I will stay overnight and then meet the rest of the tour group at the train station at Noon tomorrow for a bus ride to our first hotel in Glorenza and a 10 mile warm-up ride. For authenticity of experience, I have chosen to use one of Ciclismo’s loaner Bianchi bicycles, but I have brought along my own helmet, pedals, shoes, saddle and a set of alloy PowerTap wheels graciously loaned to me by the kind folks at Saris.

I am looking forward to the tour, albeit with some trepidation about my fitness (or lack thereof), but optimistic about my abilities, the ability of Ciclismo’s guides, and the Italian caffé, gelato and strudel (The Dolomites are close the Swiss and Austrian borders) to get me through the suffering that I am bound to experience on Stelvio, Pinei, Sella, and Giau.

I’ll try to report each day in the blog, but you can also expect photos, videos and at least one audio wrap-up at the end of the trip. Meanwhile, enjoy the 2011 Tour de France, the Fourth of July holiday (if you’re in the US), and get out on your bike to enjoy the good weather, good roads, and good camaraderie that summer brings to all cyclists.

Ciao!