POR ONDE EU PEDALEI | ON MY TRACKS

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Cold! Very cold! Ice on the road and grass with ice. Getting out of the Dolomites (on SS51) on the shaded side on  an early morning was an adventure. But thanks to having both of my hands pratically frozen, I decided to stop on the first plot with some sunlight that could possibly sell some hot chocolate. The bad news: The Café was closed (Sunday, as I just learned, many places do not open Sunday´s in this area). The great news: The place I chose to stop is a "must ride and must stop" for those in Cortina. The Dobbiano Lake is just 25km from Cortina and it offers a great view of its crystalline green water, reflecting the Dolomites.  A really beautiful scenery.

The second part of the ride was mainly on highways that cut through Brunico and Bressanone.  It was a light descend most of the way, so it was nice to be able to ride over 20km/h for an extended time.  SS51 and then SS49 cut through the mountains, but  in some case, actually 5, there are tunnels, which are not fun.  And I thing that bike are not allowed in most of them, however, the only sign they have at the tunnels´entrance is of a Bike and a Pedestrian, with no lines crossing them as if they were not allowed.

The third and last part was my favorite, as it was entirely along a really really nice cycle path. It started just after Breassanone and ended in Bolzano and lasted for about 40km.  The cycle path goes most of the way between the Isarco River and SS12, and also very close the Autostrada A22.  It cuts through a lot of vegetation and under a few cycle tunnels. This is "must ride" if you plan a trip around this area.

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For those who love climbing, Cortina D´Ampezzo is a perfect place to spend a few days. Today´s ride was a 15km climb from Cortina (Cadin) up to Passo Falzarego and Passo Valparola. It´s a steady climb ranging from 5% do 12% gradient.  As stated in other posts, the views of the sharp edged mountains are amazing, and here you seen them from many different angles.

One of the different aspects of this ride is that is rides along and crosses many of the ski slopes, which today were very green grasses. It was neat to see all the ski lifts and imagine that in less than a month this place will be covered in snow and filled with skiers.

From Falzarego you can see the Cortina mountains, as well as the mountains towardas Arraba, some of which were completely covered with snow.  The mountains on the side of the Passo Valparola are completely different. The peaks seem to be very close together and they are not as sharp and do not reflect as many colors.  One thing that I noticed was that many hiking trails begin from the Passo Valparola, as there were many people getting ready to start hiking and trekking.

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Cortina D´Ampezzo is the best place I have ever cycled in. The contrast of the multi-colored sharp edged mountains with the blue skies (yes, I was very lucky) and green and brown nature is simply amazing. It seems that every new view is the best view. I have never ridded in a place that I had to stop so many times for photos...and I kept on taking photos while cycling. 

Today´s route was a loop, a FANTASTIC loop. It started out north/east on SS51, then South/West on SP49. About half-way there is the peaceful and beautiful Misurina Lake, with an amazing view of the mountains in the background. It´s a great place for a break, to get something to drink and eat, and enjoy one of the best places this region has to offer.  Very close to the Misurina Lake is the climb to Tre Cime di Lavoredo. It´s a national park, which means that vehicles have to pay a charge to get in, but cyclists and pedestrians don´t. It´s a 7km ride, about 6,5km climb to reach Rifugio Auronzo. From there you can hop on trails (bikes are prohibited) to meander around.  This was the hardest climb I have ever faced. Although it is not very long, it is very steep and I thought that since I wasn´t carrying the panniers, I could climb with ease. What a mistake. As you get higher, the climb gets steeper, with the last 3-4km ranging from 12%-17% gradient. But as the climb gets steeper, the view gets better, and reaching the top is an incredible feeling.  The sense of accomplishment, combined with the astounding and beautiful scenery of the Cortina and Auronzo, made this the highlight of my trip so far.  It took me a few minutes to understand and realize the place that I was visiting, cycling in...it was a very emotional moment, in a very special trip.

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WOW!!! What a fun, enjoyable and AMAZING ride this was. My entire trip to Italy was decided based on the one thing only: Riding in the Dolomites. And I couldn´t have asked for a better day. Weather was perfect, the color of the mountains and the sky were unreal and the climb is a constant climb, which was a pleasant surprise, as I was expecting to suffer pulling the panniers on steep climbs.

Overview:

Total time riding: 6:14h
Total time travelling: 7:10h
Total Ascent: 1.233 meters
Total distance: 83,4km

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Riding in Tuscany has been on my list of places to ride since I began cycle tourism in 2009, and although I had seen many photos and videos, it was still very surprising. . 

Before heading to the hills towards Siena, I decided to do a quick stop at the historic center of Siena, where I was almost ticketed for riding my bike. Apparently, in Siena if you ride the bike on a pedestrian way (although selected cars can pass through), you can be ticketed, so watch the signs and ask (the sigh I saw had a bike a bike drawing, as if it indicated bikes were allowed). But, this encounter with Siena Polizia was fun, as the only language in common was French, which I don´t speak well and haven´t spoken in a long long time.

The ride out of Siena towards Castellina in Chianti was probably the best part, and the longest and highest climb of today's ride. And here I had one of the best surprises: I was joined by Carla and Paulo. Carla is from Rio and messaged me through Strava last night that she had planned a ride with Paulo towards Castellina...so we met up on the way up, chatted and shared laughs all the way up to the top.

Ride Details:

The first of eleven days travelling with 20+ kg split into 5 bags brought up mixed feelings. On one hand I am very relieved that I was able to carry this much weight on a long ride with over 1.700 meter of combined ascent; however, this was the most demanding psychological ride of my life. At times, it seemed that I was cycling in a stationary bike, as not only there were plenty of climbs with a heavy load, but the asphalt was not good at all in more than 60% of the places; at one point my average speed was below 14km/h (which turned out to be around 17km/h, right on my projection).  I able to really notice how much of an influence the quality (poor) of the asphalt was, as  the few parts that the asphalt was smooth and it seemed that I had dropped at least one pannier...once I actually looked back because I couldn't believe that I had gone from 14-16km/h to 25-30km/h.

The entire ride took place on secondary roads, as will the rest of my bike trip in Italy, and not surprising at all, cars, buses and trucks respect cyclist a great deal here.  The most amazing part of the ride was coming down the hill on the last part and seeing Orvieto from above...I couldn't believe it was an actual city...it seemed like it was a scenery from a movie, such as one of those monasteries or kingdoms...AMAZING!  The rest of the ride was a mix of climbing (about 49km and 1.792 meters in total), passing through small towns and villages (about 10), some riding in the middle of the woods (definitely another great surprise) and lots of riding along side fields and farms. Side note: I have never seen so many farms that grow sheeps was I saw today.

- Total time riding: 8:47
- Total time travelling: 9:45h
- Total Ascent: 1.792 meters
- Total distance: 142,1km