Day 18 Zernez to Pratto allo Stelvio

After yesterdays decision to split the long stage in 2 and abandon the rest day, today was now a short and easyish day with just the one major pass The Ofenpass.

It was a relaxed start at 10.50 on a warm and sunny morning. The climbing started straight away, quite steep at first, before easing off to a mini top at 1900m. After a short desent of 150m the climb started again. It was pretty easy until the last 1k where it ramped up to 11 percent and we reached the top of the Ofenpass (2147m) at about 1.15. It was a beautifull climb in what is the only national pass. There are loads of walking paths from the side of the roads. The road had few cars, quite a few cyclists and hundreds of motorcyclists. I have always found the relationship between cyclists and motobikers a good one. They always give us plenty of room when they overtake, and we are both basically doing the same thing- touring on bikes. They think we are mad and we think they are cheating- but there is one difference and that is we can drink beer during a ride!

This is precisely what we did. A couple of large beers at the restaurant on the top of the pass. We were joined by a swiss couple of cycling tourists (Chris and Doreen) and swapped tales while enjoying the views - this is the life. One bit of info we discovered was the little town of Trubbach where we stayed is famous for Martina Hingus falling off her horse, I also think she came from there. The other bit of local news is that we were in bear country there is at least one roaming around killing sheep but not yet cyclists!

After a long liquid lunch it was time for a long desent to Pratto (900m). The desent was superb with a new high speed of 72.5kph for me and 72.4kph for Richard - that's what our computers said - HeHe!

We stopped to view a UNESCO Convent as recommended by Chris and Doreen and then continued the desent into Italy and onto Pratto arriving at about 5.45pm to complete an easy and very enjoyable day. One point to note is that we may be in Italy but in this region the locals all still speak German.

Todays Stats
Distance: 59.32k
Climb: 902m
Riding Time: 2:53:32
Average Speed 20.4kph
Total Time 7.06