Day 20, Thursday, Bormio to Bolzano
Today was a huge day. We rode the iconic Passo Della Stelvio, the second highest paved road in the Alps. We turned left our of our hotel and immediately started to climb. Some 2.5 hours and 12.5 miles later we reached the summit. The road surface was excellent and the traffic was light.
The summit is a mega for cyclists so there are boutiques selling all sorts of STELVIO tee shirts and cycling shirts. We did our best to keep the Italian economy solvent with our purchases that cummerated our feat of reaching the summit.
What goes up usually also must go down. The ride down the back side of the climb was specacular with 30+ hairpin corners and motorcycles / fast cars and other cyclists descending a record speeeds. Our descent took less than 20 minutes with speeds reaching over 40 miles per hour (the pros reach speeds in excess of 60 miles per hour.
After the descent, we still had some 40 miles before reaching our lunch stop which was at a local Brew Pub. We'd left Italy at the top of Stelvio and entered Germanic Italy where everything had HOF at the end of the word. Lunch was at an authentic beer garden with the waiters wearing their German attire.
After lunch we still had another 25 miles to go before reaching our destination in Bolzano, Temperatures we in the high 90's now and our cycling speeds were reduced a few mph. Almost every town has a water "fountain" that sends cold weather into a stone trough. Every chance we had, we would fill our water bott;es and dunk our heads to cool down.
All in all, a good day but a long and hot day. More climbing tomorrow as we leave the Alps and head into the Dolomite mountains.
Best,
M&M
The summit is a mega for cyclists so there are boutiques selling all sorts of STELVIO tee shirts and cycling shirts. We did our best to keep the Italian economy solvent with our purchases that cummerated our feat of reaching the summit.
What goes up usually also must go down. The ride down the back side of the climb was specacular with 30+ hairpin corners and motorcycles / fast cars and other cyclists descending a record speeeds. Our descent took less than 20 minutes with speeds reaching over 40 miles per hour (the pros reach speeds in excess of 60 miles per hour.
After the descent, we still had some 40 miles before reaching our lunch stop which was at a local Brew Pub. We'd left Italy at the top of Stelvio and entered Germanic Italy where everything had HOF at the end of the word. Lunch was at an authentic beer garden with the waiters wearing their German attire.
After lunch we still had another 25 miles to go before reaching our destination in Bolzano, Temperatures we in the high 90's now and our cycling speeds were reduced a few mph. Almost every town has a water "fountain" that sends cold weather into a stone trough. Every chance we had, we would fill our water bott;es and dunk our heads to cool down.
All in all, a good day but a long and hot day. More climbing tomorrow as we leave the Alps and head into the Dolomite mountains.
Best,
M&M
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