the saubers

If it comes to food, Nadine and I are sort of picky if not spoild.
And if it comes to Italien food our expectations are very, very high. In Zurich we found our favorite Restaurand which offers everything, from brilliant food and wine, to friendly service (grazie a Genarro and Francisco) and a unique atmosphere – la Pergola at the Kanzleistrasse 121.

Now that we went to Italy, we hoped to get a similar standard as we were used to from La Pergola. But as Riva del Garda is a touristic place, invaded by the Germans, it was not easy to find what we were looking for.

After three rather disappointing diners we tried something a bit outside the center. The place is called Osteria La Contrada and offers exactly what we were looking for: Excellent food, very friendly service and a good atmosphere! If you’re planning a trip to Riva del Garda, visit them at Via Bastione 1, it’s really worth it.

written by Philipp \\ tags: Italian food, Riva del Garda

Today I wanted to see lake Garda from the east side, so I decided to climb Monte Varagne at 1′779 meters above sea level.

You find good roads (mostly asphalt) up hill and lots of other bikers until you reach Dos Remit at app. 1′200 meters. Most of the bikers go downhill from there but if you continue, you’ll see lake Garda from a different side.

At the top I met some locals that told me to take the same route down as I came up but a real mountain biker always tries something different, so I went down the other side through Rif. Malga Campai at 1′469 meters. A fantastic downhill, which demands every thing from you, simply brilliant!
Here’s the route and if you need my GPS file, just let me know.

written by Philipp \\ tags: biking, traveling

After our warm up the day before, I planned a longer bike ride  today, up to 1′580 meters above see level.

And I had as usual my favorite gadget with me. The Suunto X9i, the world’s smallest outdoor wrist computer with GPS. A brilliant piece of equipment for cycling and mountain biking, if you like it to be small. There are other cycle computers with GPS but the are all bigger.

Beside the GPS, the X9i has the following features: altimeter, barometer, compass, watch (stopwatch, alarm, etc), water resistant up to 100 m, rechargeable battery via USB cable.

But one of the best things is, that you can explore the tours you did in Google earth (on my opinion the best Google tool). Below is an example of my today’s tour. The Suunto X9i captures a geographical point every minute and that’s how the tour is built in Google earth afterwards.

The next screen shot shows the tour in the software provided by Suunto.

That’s how I keep track of all my tours throughout the year without having to write a complicated training log book.
Are you using any other brilliant gadgets? Let me know.

written by Philipp \\ tags: biking, Lago di Garda, Riva del Garda

Lago di Garda is famous for mountain biking and surfing. I’ve been here in 1997 with a few friends, exploring the mountains around Riva del Garda. Lake Garda’s elevation is at 64 meters above sea level and the highest mountains go beyond 2′000 meters.

Today Nadine and I had our first ride up to mount Grassi at 1′056 meters with a fantastic downhill, which was not only easy.

view on Riva del Garda

written by Philipp \\ tags: biking, traveling