Cortina - Passo Giao and Passo Falzarego

The Dolomites. Stunningly beautiful even with our ugly mugs improving the place. Everywhere we look there are views, we have been lucky with the weather today.

We click in at our James Bond garage and roll through town. Several Poseurs get told off by the cops. For riding along the Corso. I didn't. Some times its good to be at the front of the group.

Ride uphil, there is no other choice.  Four of us today, KK has a pesky and potentially lethal man flu and cleverly decides to recover at the chalet and not click in.

 

From Passso Giau we descend, then regroup and find a cafe seemingly bolted to the side of the hill, interstitial!

a vision

Coffees and croissants abound, and then we climb again and after a short while we stop to take in the remarkable view.

which one is the Vegetarian?

We are a bit slower to get moving knowing we have the Passo Falzarego to negotiate.  SuperModel is off. Smashing it with good legs that say 'Yes". I am happy to tempo ride and enjoy how the landscape is so quiet.

Bullshit. It's Sunday, motorbikes abound, and I would definitely ride one here as well, but they are all, without exception, incredibly loud in my left ear. They celebrate getting to the top of a hill by punching the air, lighting a cigarette and taking all the available seats at the hilltop cafes. 

I seriously cannot see the self achievment in twisting a throttle, racing other bikes on public roads, not killing members of the public, or themselves, and going "FUCK YEAH!" Give us a drag on that coffin nail Helmut.

I know middle aged men in lycra are only a small shift away from that perception, but seriously you have to have a narcissistic streak a continent wide not to understand the impact the noise has on the area you travel through.  I love engine noise - in the right space, and racing belongs on a track, not in UNESCO biohabitat zones.

Next time pack earplugs. And a shotgun.

Keeps ya young

But it is a magic climb. Solid 8% for ten kilometres, without smashing you with above 12% gradients. Maybe I am turning into a climber?

Donating blood a month ago and now doing high intensity altitude training I should be smashing any sea level time trials when I get back to Perth. Except for two weeks in Venice and Bologna and Florence with my love.

Pollo a Curry

Tomorrow we are proposing to do the Selle Ronde, another classic 2000m+ of climbing. We will need fuel. Chicken curry should do.