Cold, Wet, Sleet

MOENA, ITALY

After yesterday's big effort on Pellegrino the prudent thing would be to go easy, possibly even taking the day off. Some did. But I didn't.

We rolled out at 9:00 a.m. Well, they rolled out at 9:00. I had to go back to my room to get my Garmin. I left and chased for 2km before I got back on.

We had a quick rest stop in Canazei. James Shanahan, our guide, encouraged us to ride (as opposed to standing around "resting"). The weather did not look good. Unlike yesterday when I was first to go, I was last to roll out from the rest stop. I was going to take it slow. I rode for a while with Colin Giffney, a New Zealander.

Like the roads we climb, this waterfall down in the mountain
is much steeper than the camera captures

We chatted about biking on the "wrong side" of the road. About his grandsons. About the Sydney Zoo (he took his grandsons). I asked if they have all American animals. (See, in our zoos we have koalas, and dingos, and duckbill platypusses/platypi*.) Colin had a new camera which kept giving him a disc error so when he stopped to take pictures he always had to reboot.

At the base of the first climb

I caught up to Nick and Caitlyn Steel from California. Nick is a beast of a rider but we rode at Caitlin's pace and really enjoyed the climb. Reaching passo Sella, the winds kicked up and it began to rain. Caitlyn decided to turn back, which was a prudent decision. Colin did too. Prudent.

We did not stay long at the top. Just long enough to grab a jacket and put on some wamr clothes.

Source: http://www.thomsonbiketours.com/
We did not see gorgeous views because of the weather

We descended off the Sella and the rain turned to sleet. At the bottom we began our second climb. I saw a Team BMC car followed about five minutes later by a BMC rider. I don't know who that was but was probably Daniel Oss or Manuel Quinziato, both of whom are from the Dolomiti region in Italy. (Unbeknownst to me, Tejay Van Garderen passed our group yesterday on Passo Fedaia. But it didn't look like Tejay.)

The second climb was over passo Gardena, a pretty easy climb except for the cold blowing rain. At the pass Bud Hoffacker and Anne Marie Redmond took seats in the SAG wagon. Prudent. It was a nasty bitter day.

That meant I was last on the road. Well, I was along with Sonja Schmidt, our guide. I took off first on the descent although I stopped for a photo op. In the pouring rain. She passed me and had two switchbacks on me. Not sure what she thought when I caught her.

Sonja and I reached the bottom and began another climb with switchbacks. We caught Jennifer Gands. The three of us rode to the summit together where the most serious decision of the day would be made. Trek Travel had lunches for everyone inside a restaurant. I was cold and wet and did not want to sit down for an extended period. At all really. James gave me directions and off I went on the descent before the final climb.

James had said if I turn onto a road full of switchbacks, I'd know I was on the right road. He didn't say 32 switchbacks. The rain stopped about halfway up but the wind picked up. Each switchback meant a different direction for the wind. The head wind was almost impossible to pedal through. But the tailwind was almost strong enough to coast up the 6% grade.

Helicopter Landing Stop Lights

It was a long climb and I feared I would be brought back by Nick. I don't know if my psyche could handle being caught two days straight after being spotted one hour.

Passing a fenced field of cows, there was one poor cow standing out on the road by herself. She was probably scared, not knowing how to get back in the field. And I was scared go go past her. I crept over to the far left, never making eye contact (challenge), and got by.

Photo Credit: Trek Travel

Those switchbacks seemingly went on forever. Eventually I could see a building that looked like a hotel at a pass. It was a hotel, but it wasn't at the pass. There was another three km to ride after that but I could see the summit. The real one.

Photo Credit: Trek Travel

After going over the summit of pass Pordoi, I had a pretty fast descent down 28 switchbacks, the first 12 of which we rode this morning before turning up to Sella. I was cold. Freezing. Soaked. Showing signs of hypothermia. But I would make it down safely.

Once back to Canazei it was a matter of retracing our morning route. There were some sweet descents on the road. I didn't realize how much climbing we had done. Arriving back at Moena, I was two kilometers short of 100 so rode out and made it a metric century. Then hit the shower. Rarely have I enjoyed a hot shower so much.

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*There is no universally agreed plural of "platypus" in the English language. Scientists generally use "platypuses" or simply "platypus". Colloquially, the term "platypi" is also used for the plural, although this is technically incorrect and a form of Pseudo-Latin, the correct Greek plural would be "platypodes". Source: Wikipedia 2014
 

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