Hello friends! We made it to Germany! The last few months have been a whirlwind but after a LOT of ups and downs, Toby and I finally arrived in mid-February. Where are we? Stuttgart, Germany!
For the next few years, I’ll be working here and of course, doing as much riding as I can! In 2021, I set up the framework for this blog, knowing that Europe has an incredible bike infrastructure and that I would be taking as much advantage of that as I can.
That being said, I’ve been here for about 30 days and won’t have my household goods (my bikes!) for another 30-60 days (or possibly more). I’ve been eating a LOT of pretzels without very much physical activity. So, it’s time to change that!
Back in 2017, I rode across Italy and had an amazing time. I rode from Rome to Porto San Giorgio to present a donation on behalf of Bike the US for MS to my dear Aunt Alba.
So, I’ve decided to ride (virtually) from my new home in Stuttgart to Porto San Giorgio and to get there as fast as possible. I am hoping this will jump start my fitness and shed some of those pretzel pounds that have been adding up!

The ride will be 612 miles in total. If I was doing the ACTUAL ride it would have a lot of elevation (over 10,000 ft). The plan is to tackle the ride with double days on the indoor bike. Weekends will be as many miles as I can get in and weekdays will have a minimum of 50 miles a day (25/25) or two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening.
Since I’ve been super lazy, I’ll need to taper in, which I’ll do over the first weekend. Once I get a few days in, I’ll readjust. Here’s a tentative schedule, like I’d make for any other ride.
Day 1 | Kirchheim (21 miles) | 21 | |
Day 2 | Blaustein (33 miles) | Obergunzburg (55 miles) | 109 |
Day 3 | Farchant (25 miles) | Statz (34 miles) *AUSTRIA* | 168 |
Day 4 | Barbian (50 miles) *ITALY* | Trento (55 miles) | 273 |
Day 5 | Ala (54 miles) | Chievo (27 miles) | 354 |
Day 6 | Cerea (26 miles) | 380 | |
Day 7 | Ferrara (40 miles) | Ravenna (47 miles) | 467 |
Day 8 | Rimini (50 miles) | Pesaro (23 miles) | 540 |
Day 9 | Ancona (39 miles) | Porto San Giorgio (33 miles) | 612 |
That’s the plan! This is *MUCH* easier to plan than an actual ride. I would have had to plan rest stops with food options, overnight stops with lodging stops and take elevation under consideration in deciding how many miles to ride each day. For a virtual ride, it’s all about the miles and all I have to do is consider my work and personal schedule.
Now it’s time to ride!! Let’s go!