Passeios e Viagens

Details:

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.

Details:

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.

Details:

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

Details:

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.

Details:

What a day! Filled with surprises and adventures.  I have been using Google (especially street view) and Bikemap.net to create my routes, which have worked out quite well...up to today.  I wasn´t able to fully check the BikeMap routes on Street View, so I figured I would adapt during the trip, if necessary...what a mistake. 

Leaving Orvieto is a shame...but, for a good cause: 130km towards Siena were on the way.  The first adventure came around 20km into the ride, I knew there was a part that consisted of trail...about 8-10km, so I told my self: If the terrain is not too bumpy, I would rather go slow on the trail than have to climb a really steep mountain (the alternative). What a mistake. for about 7km the trail isn´t too bad...for a MTB, eheheh.  But for about 1km, it´s a really steep uphill climb full of big rocks, which made it really hard and long (45 minutes) to push the bike and all of it´s 35+kg.  Once I hit the asphalt again I was so happy I didn´t complain for the rest of the day that most of the asphalt on the secondary roads are in terrible condition, especially the right side, where the bikes have to go.  Although the scenery during the trail was really really nice.

Once the trail experience was over, my main concern was: Not to go on another trail for the rest of the Bike Trip in Italy. With that said, I still tried to follow BikeMap´s route, but near Chiusi I was once again headed to trail land...so I decied to use the Google Maps routing feature, which was almost perfect. Google Maps sent me on a great route...with a really nice scenery and rolling hills.  But it sent me to the "Autostrada", which bikes aren´t allowed, even though on the map it listed the road as "SS", which I had taken before and it wasn´t the "A" nomenclature. So, instead of being 40km from Siena, I now had to rerout and found myself 60km from Siena with about 3,5 hours of sunlight...so I figured that if there were much climbing I was going to get to Siena after it was dark.

The last par of the trip was the best. I decided to pick up the pace and push hard on the hills and on the flats.  I rode through several small towns that were very charming, but the riding on the Tuscany hills was amazing, both climbing and descending.  The last part consisted of riding from Sinalunga to Trequanda, Asciano (muuuito charmosa) e Monteroni D´Arbia, antes de chegar em Siena.  I loved the ride and felt really good about riding back to back long rides with lots of weight for the first time.  Ciao :)