Today we are welcoming 10 guys from Costa Rica to Mieming and preparing ourselves for an Alps Extreme tour. Bikes are ready and already handed over and the guys cannot wait to get started. There were some small problems with flights but Richard arrived in time for dinner and Orlando arrived later in the evening, so we are ready to go.......

After a very warm night in Mieming we awoke to rain early in the morning. But it was soon over and by the time we left the roads were starting to dry out. A quick run along the vallry bottom and then we start climbing up towards Kuhtai where we stop for a quick coffee and Apfelstrudel.Then we are on our way again towards Imst but arrive far too early for lunch, so take a quick ride up the Hahntenjoch and stop up there for lunch, where it was much cooler than in the valley. We head down and across the valley to head up to Piller and then stop to admire the view at Gacher Blick, then we wind our way down the vally and head along the Kaunertal Gletscherstrasse where we eventually climb up the the end of the road at 2750m - it was nice and cool up there. After a quck refreshment stop we head down and back along the valley until we reach our destination for the night at Fiss. It has been a great first day and everyone is excited for tomorrow as we are heading up to Stelvio.

Today was the day of the famous passes. After passing lake Reschen with the church tower, we started to go up the 48 switchbacks of Passo Stelvio, the second highest paved pass road in the Alps. After arriving in Bormio we continued with Passo Gavia, which was even nicer because of the scenery and less traffic.

In the afternoon Passo Tonale brought us close to Bozen, where we had to put our rain gear on for the last 20 minute of the day, before we arrived at Monte Penegal, the mountain top hotel with the wonderful view.

Today was the day of the famous passes. After passing lake Reschen with the church tower, we started to go up the 48 switchbacks of Passo Stelvio, the second highest paved pass road in the Alps. After arriving in Bormio we continued with Passo Gavia, which was even nicer because of the scenery and less traffic.

In the afternoon Passo Tonale brought us close to Bozen, where we had to put our rain gear on for the last 20 minute of the day, before we arrived at Monte Penegal, the mountain top hotel with the wonderful view.

After the rainstorms of yesterday afternoon we awake to a fairly misty morning which unfortunatley obscures the great view from Penegal. Nevertheless the forecast is good so we head down towards Bolzano and have a great run down Mendelpass to warm us up for the day. Throught Bolzano and we start to head up towards Jenesien and in the direction of Meran before looping around to the south again. The sun is shining and theres little traffic and we can make good progress, but as we head down towards Lana there are ominous grey clouds and as we head up Gampenpass it starts to rain and all of a sudden "boom" and its torrential. We make it to the cafe at the top of Gampen and stay inside for a while drinking coffee and drying out. 30 minutes later the sun is shining and we can head off again and within a short time its 25 degrees and we are peeling off our raingear. We stop for a great lunch just south of Molveno and then head towards Arco before turning off towards Monte Bondone. Again there is no traffic and we blast up to the top and there are big grins all around Most of us need gas by now so we head down into Trentop, make a quick gas stop and then race to the Hotel, arriving with just enough time for a quick dip in the pool before dinner. It's been a typically awesome day in Italy - great riding, great food and a little bit of inclement weather

Today the weather was perfect. We started with the Kaiserjägerroad in the morning and rode further south to lake Garda. After filtering through Riva, we followed the coast to a little canyon which lead us up to our lunch stop, overlooking the lake. In the afternoon some of us went swimming in the Lago Levico before we had a nice dinner at Fabbrica in Pedavena.

Today we made our way through the dolomites. We started with the narrow but beautiful Passo Mangen. As the rain started we stopped at Passo Rolle and had our lunch there. Luckily the rain eased up in the afternoon, so we could continue on Passo Giau.