Like to Climb? How About 50,600 Feet in 6 Days?

That's the plan for Thomson Bike Tours' (http://www.thompsonbiketours.com/) "The Tour of the Dolomites and Italian Alps." Labeled as a "performace trip" the tour involves climbing 12 passes in 6 days, over 380 miles, totaling 50,600 feet of climbing. Details:

"For June 2009, Thomson Bike Tours have designed an amazing route through the Dolomites and Italian Alps with a total of 380 miles of cycling and 50,600 feet of elevation gain. The route we take runs roughly east to west taking in the spectacular climbs of the Dolomites before heading over to the Italian Alps for the infamous climbs of the Mortirolo, Gavia and Stelvio. This month we feature our impressive Tour of the Dolomites and Italian Alps.

Tour Highlights After the warm-up ride on the first day around Alleghe, the tour immediately will go into performance mode and take you into the Dolomites and over the Ronde Sella which goes over the Pordoi, Sella, Gardena and Valparola passes - at total of 70 miles and 9,850 feet of climbing.

With legs acclimatised to the efforts in the mountains the Thomson Bike Tours' team have planned a perfect follow-up day with climbs over the Passo Fedaia, Passo San Pellegrino, Passo Duran and Passo Staulanza another challenging day with 85 miles of cycling and 13,100 feet of climbing. You will be in the heart of Giro d'Italia country and following every inch of the roads that the cycling greats have climbed through the years from Coppi and Merckx through to Pantani and Armstrong.

The last 2 days take you out of the Dolomites and into the heart of the Italian Alps and over the legendary climbs of the Passo Stelvio, the Passo Mortirolo and the Passo Gavia - a total for the last two days of 135 miles of cycling and 19,650 feet of climbing.

An epic end to probably the most challenging cycling tour in this region - this will be sure to give you fantastic sense of achievment and raise the bar on your cycling performance."

Summary of daily rides:
day 1 Warm-up ride around Alleghe 20miles 1,950 feet of elevation gain

day 2 Alleghe › Passo Pordoi › Passo Sella › Passo Gardena › Passo Valparola › Alleghe
70miles 9,850 feet of elevation gain

day 3 Alleghe › Passo Fedaia › Passo San Pellegrino › Passo Duran › Passo Staulanza › Alleghe
85miles 13,100 feet of elevation gain

day 4 Alleghe › Passo San Pellegrino › Passo Costalunga › Lana 70miles 6,050feet of elevation gain

day 5 Lana › Passo Stelvio › Bormio 65miles 9,500 feet of elevation gain

day 6 Bormio › Passo Mortirolo › Passo Gavia › Bormio 70miles 10,150 feet of elevation gain

Ride totals:
RIDE Total: 380 miles, 50,600 feet of elevation gain
RIDE Daily Average: 63 miles, 8,433 feet of elevation gain

This might be a good time to revisit "5 Ways to become a better climber":

http://italiancyclingjournal.blogspot.com/2009/04/5-ways-to-become-better-climber.html

Stories, including cycling trip stories, for the Italian Cycling Journal welcome; contact veronaman@gmail.com