Day 22 - Canazei to Cortina

Without doubt my hardest day. My legs went today, completely shot.

The day started with catching up with my blogs. The first question when I checked into the hotel in Canazei was not "how much does the room cost" or "does it have ensuite" but "do you have internet". Yes was the answer, but unfortunately as I found out later it was down. Therefore the start of day 22 was to find an internet site I could use. By the time this was accomplished it was 11.30 before I set off on another hot and sunny morn.

The route I was going to follow was a classic route around the Dolomite peaks and basically follows the route of a cycling sportif called Maratona iles Dolomites. 11000 people ride this every year and it is on my "To Do List" and it seems like half the cyclists in Italy wear the white cycling top to prove they have ridden it. Todays ride started with an 800m climb to the top of the Passo Sella (2244m) it was a stunning climb, a group of roadies passed me half way up and I battled to hang on to the slower ones, which I think miffed them, only losing them in the last couple of k.

There was a great but short desent before an easyish climb to the Passo Gardena (2121m) and a long desent followed to Corvara (1426m) before the last climb to Passo Valparola (2200m), even though this climb was not that long, it was pretty steep, my legs just went, it was a real struggle I was stopping after climbing every 150m. And to cap it all near the top a nordic skier climbing the slope on special roller blades passed me while I was having yet another break, and even though SHE was the fittest girlie I have seen on the trip I could not catch her!

A long desent to Cortina followed. I found a hotel in the town centre with internet, had a massive meal, watched Brazil show the world how to play football, only one beer (one good thing about cycling on your own is that the beer intake drops dramatically) and had an early night so hopefully I will be feeling better for my last day in the Alps which is just about to start.

The Dolomites are, in my opinion, the most dramatic and picturesque mountains I have ever seen. The only problem with cycling them is that you only need 2 gears , top one and bottom one. There is no flat ground.

Todays stats
Distance 69.83k
Climb 1831m
Riding Time 4.10.38
Average speed 16.7kph
Total time 7.06