Over the summer, my Dad and I headed off to Italy to ride through the Dolomites in celebration of his 65th birthday. Lead by the expert guides at Wildrock Adventures of Peterborough, we began our 9 day adventure. The toughest of these climbs was a Mountain known as Zoncolon.   Although it was relatively a short climb,it was as steep a climb as you will find anywhere in the world at nearly 13% average grade with sections hitting 22%. For those of you that don’t ride, this is about as close to straight up on a bike as you can get. This climb was our first day, and a rude introduction to the mountains leaving many of us questioning if we would get through the next 8 days. The highlight of the trip was the second last day where we attempted the famous 26 switchbacks of the Stelvio. This is the 2nd highest paved road in Europe,with temperature swings of close to 30 degrees at the bottom and only a fraction above 0 degrees at the top with snow. This is hallowed ground for cyclists where many famous battles have taken place in the annual Giro D’Italia bike race. The picture of us at the summit, was taken shortly after my dad blew past many younger riders and checked a major achievement off his bucket list. It was sad to come home but had an amazing time!