Wanderer Travels Giro d'Italia

Wanderer relay veteran Susan Branson and her husband Mark retraced the route of the Giro d'Italia in June shortly after the completion of the 2006 bike race. The Alps of northern Italy made for stunning scenery but would have been murderous to climb. Luckily, Susan and Mark were traveling by car and not on a bike.

While on the trip, Susan visited the Gavia Pass, a site which has virtually become a shrine to the Wanderer bicycling corps. It was on the Gavia Pass in 1988 that American Andy Hampsten cycled through a blizzard to win the Giro d'Italia and become the only American to earn the Maglia Rosa. To the Wanderers, "The Hampster's" victory was the greatest bicycling feat ever (Sorry, Lance, none of the seven Tour wins can match this one). Susan followed in the Hampster's footsteps and the last 10 photos below show the ascent up the Gavia Pass.

Rosie Carnage tried to visit the Gavia Pass in March of 2005 to pay homage, but was stopped at the foot of the pass by several feet of snow.

Susan's trip ended up bittersweet. A devoted fan of Italian cycler Ivan Basso, Susan learned during her trip that Ivan had been a bad boy and have been implicated in the doping scan dal and might lose the Maglia Rosa he won this past spring. Sorry to hear about Ivan, Susan, but thanks for the photos and for paying Wanderer respects to the Gavia Pass.

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