Photos

Richards Photos:

Day 16 - Swiss national cycle route sign post, which way next?......

Day 18 - top of the Ofen pass ( pass del Fuorn)....

Day 18 - top of the Ofen pass ( pass del Fuorn) now which way down do we go?

Day 19 - Stelvio pass south side to Bormio, almost as impressive as the north side....

Day 20 - Struggling up the Passo di Gavia, pretty steep at this point and gets steeper sooner after.

Brendan's Photos...

The infamous Stelvio climb from the north side....

Lost in Orchard near Mollaro.......

Big bottom lip on the train to Trento...

Brendan, Bill and Jurgen having a small cake in the Black Forest......

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Day 23 - Cortina to Pordone

Blimey! what a difference a day makes, my legs came back, and all is right with the world after a fab day's cycling.

I left at 9.45 on yet another scorcher, the climbing started straight away on my last "Big Pass" of the Alps the 2233m Passo di Giau, this is one of the toughest climbs in the Alps...........from the South side but I was climbing it on the slightly easier north side. The first half was pretty steady then there were a couple of steep sections at 10 - 12% before an easier finish. I'm not sure if I have mentioned before that climbs up to 8% I find ok, anything steeper, and you are searching for a lower gear that doesn't exist, and end up really struggling, pulling the handlebars, and it is these climbs that take it out of you at the end of the day. My best advice is to plan to do the hard climb in the morning when you are fresher, I think this is why I struggled yesterday afternoon.

View from the top of Passo di Giau showing the road and yet more spectacular scenery

Anyhow the views from the top were superb (PHOTO to be added), also the climb was quite quiet, and more importantly I felt good. The desent was, as expected, really steep and full of hairpins, the road had a good surface apart from places which had been snow and ice damaged resulting in mini trenches in the road! I was on the brakes the whole time, desending well, but it is really tiring on your arms 14ks of braking. There were also loads of cyclists climbing the classic side. For once outnumbering the motorbikes (Martin you really do need to get out here on your motorbike)

After the desent to Selva di Cadore there was an easy (400m) climb to the top of Forcella Staulanza (1773m) I had lunch here and chatted to 5 English cyclists who were out here doing some "Etape" training, and who I had briefly met on the Passo di Gaiu. One of them  remarked how quick I desended it. I must admit my desending has improved and I flew down the Forcella Staulanza, overtaking cars and really enjoying an easy desent. After 30k of downhill I came to road works traffic lights, straight after that there was another tunnel (I hate tunnels) and even though this was well lit, I just shot through it as fast as I could and got over 60kph and dropped all the cars that were behind me.

Feeling rather good with myself I started my 12th, last, and smallest Alpine climb. Just 400m climb up to Passo San Osvaldo at 827m. I thought this would just be an ordainary road but it was spectacular gorge which had recently being damned. As a result it had being resurfaced but was quiet and superb cycling country. The gradual desent was even better just following the river valley down another wondeful gorge. I stopped in Barcis by a turquiose coloured lake had an ice cream (I was too early for pasta) and relaxed. I left Barcis and tried to follow the old road to avoid the tunnels I managed to get around the first one, but then got stuck, and had one more beast to get through, a 3954m tunnel. I was amazed that they allow cyclists through these (some they dont, but on this one there was no "cycling forbidden" sign). I had no option but to go for it. The first part was slightly up hill but the last 3k were slightly down hill and I just blasted it, the only good thing about this tunnel is that they are lovely and cool, but what I hate is the noise. In this one it was deafening. The air blowers were very noisey but these are totally drowned out by the echoing noise of lorries and motorbikes, and you can only hope in the dim light, that the drivers who probably still have their sunglasses on can see you. (One last note on tunnels then I will stop whinging - one of the cyclists I had met at lunchtime had once met a pro cyclist said that their technique on the mountain pass tunnels (which are hardly lit at all) is to close one eye for about 30secs before entering the tunnel, so when you open it as you enter the tunnel you have some night vision so you dont have to slow down much!!!)

Well I got through the tunnel ok, nearly overshot a hairpin bend, went around another corner, then looked up and all the mountains had gone, all in front of me was flat land. It was quite amazing it was like being transferred to a different world - really weird. All that was left was an easy 21k to Pordenone. This was actually gradually down hill (but it looked flat) and I flew it, enjoying cycling on good, smooth, flatish roads again. I struggled to find a hotel in Pordenone and ended up in a 4 star hotel (79Euros inc Breakfast most I've spent, in the mountains were there are loads of hotels it was between 30 - 45Euros). I thought I'd better smarten myself up as I probably reeked having being on the bike for 7 hours and it was still 28C at 8pm, so I thought I would take my helmet off, that would impress them!!!

Todays stats
Distance 146.02k
Climb 2171m
Riding Time 7:02:04
Average speed 20.7kph
Total Time 10:27

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

Day 21 Trento to Canazei

I had a bit of a decision to make. If I was to complete the "Home to Rome" trip I had to take the train back to where I caught it in Mollaro and start cycling from there, however this meant another climb which would make it impossible to get to Corvara where I had hoped to get to. I decided to take the train, mad I know, but I want to make the complete trip. NOTE: This was acceptable for Mark Beaumont in his Round the world Record, after his crash with a car, so it was good enough for me.

We got up early as my train was at 8.25am and Richard had a 95k bike ride to Verona airport. Checked out at 8.00am, DISASTER, I could not find my Caxton Euro Card. I paid for the food last night in town and left the card there (must have been looking elsewhere). I paid with my UK bankcard and we headed back to the Restaurant. They could not find it, there were different staff, they suggested for me to come back after 10am when they could ring someone and ask where the card had been put, it was all a bit vague. I had to make a quick decision, and decided to cancel the card and head for the train station. Richard and I said our goodbyes and parted. It was great to have his company for the last week, we had a really good time with some tough climbing, great desents and good beer drinking especially at the tops of the Fluelapass and the Ofenpass.

I just made the train for the 50 minute journey back to Mollaro (Note on price 2.9Euros for me 1 Euro for the bike and there was room for 38 bikes. Great value). It was already quite warm as I heaed back up north along the hilly roads through the villages we cycled yesterday. At Dermula I joined the S43D and started heading East. I slowly climbed through umpteen little villages up to the Passo della Mendola (1343m), it was a boring climb and getting quite hot, but somewhere on the climb I passed the 2000k mark. A quick stop at the top and then the desent. I was hoping not to desend too far as I would have to climb all that height again. But I was wrong. The east side of the Passo della Mendola is like a cliff face and the road twists through 13 hairpins down the side of it. The road was great, but like a race track. As it was a Sunday the Italian motorbike racers were out to join the German motorbikes, add to that cars and very fit Italian cyclists all racing each other down the mountain, trying to avoid the cars and motorbikes coming up, great stuff. At one point a Merc overtook me, it was then overtaken by a cyclist and at the same time a motorbike overtaking the lot, while still trying to avoid the traffic coming uphill. Crazy.

The only downside of the desent (if you parden the pun) is that it seemed to never stop. I just keeped going down and down until I reached Ora at an EL of just 250m. This valley, just south of Bolzano is absolutely lovely, but baking hot. I stopped in Ora for food and drink before the inevitable climb. I normally like the heat but this was getting too much, but I had no choice and toiled away on what was busy roads. I slowly climbed back up to 1110m and was not even rewarded with another "Passo". In some ways this was good as it meant no desent, but I felt I dseerved one. I biked onto Cavalese and stopped to watch the football. Least said about that the better, Our defending was about as bad as the Linesmans performance (Stuart, I bet you have never done a blunder like that).

After that, the road slowly climbed through the skiing villages of Predazzo, Modena  where I started to get my first views of the Dolomite peaks, before I arrived in Canazei at 8.10pm over 12 hours after checking out from the hotel, a long day.

Its looking like I am going to have to pass on my day off in Venice, I am pretty tired after 8 days in a row of cycling, but do not think I will be able to catch up on the distance I have lost today without skipping the rest day. On another point my normal cycling buddy, Dave was meant to join me from Trento to Venice, but due to work he could not come, this is a great shame for both of us. We have managed to sneak away every year for a biking trip since 2002.

Todays stats
Distance 122.04
Climb 2514m (most so far)
Riding time 6.37.51
Average speed 18.4kph
Total time 12.10

Day 20 Sta Caterina to Trento

We cheated! Like many of the top Pro cyclists we cheated. We caught a train. On a day that started so well ended up being lost in an orchard and catching the train to Trento.

It was another lovely day as we started the Passo di Gavia at 9.45am (EL 1700m). The first third was quite steady through the trees.We got above the treeline at about 2000m when the views opened up, but it is not the prettiest of climbs all a bit bleak. The roads were also narrow and quite rough. At about 2300m it became very steep for a k or so, up to 17% the steepest so far (where was my white lycra lady!), and then at last the slope eases and the last couple of k were fairly flat. The lake at the top was still frozen and there was still lots of snow. As we had a long day we did not stop for long at the top (2658m) and started our desent.

The desent was rough an very twisty at first and after dropping a couple of hundred metres we turned a corner and were straight into a tunnel. Now I knew about the tunnel as I checked the map and had rembered to put my normal glasses on and not my sunglasses, but I had forgotten to put my lights on. Ooops. What do you do. The tunnel is virtually pitch black. If you stop, the cars behind may hit you, so you just carry on. After 100m of skidding on the wet trying to slow down, I saw a motorbike coming towards me, aaah if I miss the light on the right I should be ok, and so I was. It was more hairy then yesterdays tunnel. I regrouped with Richard (who also had forgotten to put his lights on) and we carried on. The next part of the desent was incredibly narrow (much narrower than hampshire lanes) but with a huge drop on one side. Fortunately it had been resurfaced due to the Tour of Italy coming down the same desent. It was great, a bit dicey, but fun. The last part opened up into normal roads and before we new it we had dropped to 1250m and had started the Passo del Tonale.

This was a drag climb through ski resort country. We stopped for lunch at the top (1881m) and then had a fantastic 40k desent to Cles. The roads were wide, not steep, but with lovely sweeping corners. The highlight of the desent was overtaking a motorbike who was obviously keepint to th 50k speedlimit. HeHe. We stopped for an icecream in Cles and it all went wrong.

The road after Cles the S43 soon joined with the S43D and from then on cyclists were forbidden as the road was classified as an Autostrada even though it was only single lane. We followed the old road through Taio, Segno and Tora, climbing up and down the the sides of the valley, before ending up in Mollaro. Here the road seemed to stop. We saw a cyclist and asked him the way. All he said was the road was "Closed" and that we must bike back 14k to Cles and follow the hills to Trento. This was not an option, we followed our noses down the valley along gravel tracks and minor roads before ending up in an orchard. It was now well gone 6pm. We headed back to Mollaro just as a train was due, jumped on it for the last 25k to Trento arriving at about 7.15pm.

Trento is a lovely town baking hot as it is only 250m above sea level. We quickly found a fab 3 star hotel that gives a 10% discount for cyclists only 45Euros each inc breakfast (pretty damn good I reckon). After a quick wash headed into town. And what a town it was, it was packed. It must have been some festival as the were fireworks, loads of bands playing in the streets and packed with young and beautiful Italian girlies. Even at midnight all the bars were full, a good way to spend Richards last night.

I dont even think the white lycra lady would have got a second glance!

Todays stats
Distance 106.57k
Climb 1715m
Riding Time 5.28.24
Average Speed 19.4kph
Total time 10.08

Day 19 Prato to Sta Caterina (Passo del Stelvio)

The infamous Stelvio climb from the north side

This was to be one of my highlights of the trip. When planning the route lots of things changed but never the route over the Passo del Stelvio probably the best Alpine climb there is and it did not disappoint.

We started on a warm and sunny morning at 9.15 from the bike shop in the centre if town having bought energy drinks and bars. The climb started straight away, it was quite easy at first as like many it followed the river valley. After a few minutes I met my first British cycling tourist of the trip and had to stop and talk. He was crazy Chris and was fully laden with a tent, hiking boots, beer, and an inflatable raft (which only weighs 2kg - only i weigh everything to a gramme) what was more impressive was that he had stopped to roll a cigarette! He had been biking for 4 weeks and had no idea where he was going or for how long. a totally relaxed guy. Back on the bike the climb remained steady and the road busy until the turn off to Solden, this was after climbing about 350m. From here on it was just people climbing the pass for fun. There were classic cars, soft top cars a few buses (many run by the appropriately named company called SAD), loads of cyclists, but outnumbering us were motorbikers.

Soon after the turnoff came the first of the 48 hairpins soon follwed by the second but then a long drag to the third, and so it went on. The climbing was steep about 8 -10 % but steady. After climbing about 900m to an elevation of 1800m there was a steep section of 12 - 14%. After that we were above the tree line and the climb stayed at a relentless 8 - 10%. The weather was perfect, warm but not too hot, that and the number of cyclists helped to keep going. With still another 700m to climb you can see the hotel at the top with maybe 25 hairpins between. You just have to count down the hairpins (which are all numbered) count down the metres left to climb and keep churning on - but I love it. Just when I was getting tired a beautiful young lady in white lycra passed and gave the comment "Respect man - with luggage". I returned the respect by  locking my eyes on her and following her through the next 6 or 7 hairpins half a bike length behind - until I finally got dropped. But by then I was nearly there, and finally after 2 hours and 53 mins of climbing I reached the top - absolutely delighted. The views all the way up are fantastic, the road surface good - it is easily the best climb I have done - well worth all the hype. Richard finished a few mins later looking very comfortable. No celebratory beer this time, just another energy drink, photos and a rest. The climb is 1857m to an EL of 2758m and at this height I often feel a bit dizzy due to the altitude. The one slight disappointment was that the top of the pass is a bit tacky with all the souvenir shops. However this did not take anything away from the climb.

The desent was quite tough, cold at first through the snow fields, loads of hairpins (I think there are 38) and then the dreaded tunnels. When you are flying down a mouintain wearing shades and you enter a tunnel you cannot see anything. In one tunnel I just heard a vehicles horn I went around a corned and a bus was coming straight towards me, and I only just managed to squeeze by.

We stopped Bormio for a short break before heading up to Sta Caterina in order to make tomorrow's Passo di Gavia shorter. We soon found ourselves in the middle of a cycle race "Race across the Alps" not too sure what it is, but it seems like all thge riders had support cars and were riding alone like a time trial - must check it out later. Just as we approached Sta Caterina another cyclist caught us upand had a chat as he recognised Richard's Wallace And Gromit cycling top from the Stelvio pass. All good fun to end another hard but great day.

Todays Stats
Distance 60.07k
Climb 2343m
Riding time 4:29:05
Average speed 13.3kph (well it was steep)
Total time 7:37

Day 19 Stelviopass Italy

Blog Updated By Paula .....

At 12.04 I received a text from Brendan to say......
"Well I made it to the top of the Stelvio. Epic Climb best ever. Waiting for Richard. Weather perfect."

About half an hour later I spoke to him. He was with Richard who had arrived 20 mins after him. He said it was the best ever cycling he had ever done and they both felt on top of the world. There were loads of cyclists out and the weather is fantastic.

When I told him where I was he said that he didn't know what Sainsburys was!!!!! Life goes on.....

WELL DONE TO YOU BOTH !!!!:):):) Enjoy the desent not too fast!!!

Paula xx