Fargo and Away

Sunday was get away day from Alleghe. The plan was to ride to Bolzano over Passo Fedaia, one of the toughest climbs in the Dolomites. What makes this route particularly tough is that the climb starts at just 3% but gets steeper the higher you get, until you’re riding over 12% for the last 3 miles or so. There are even some points near the end of the climb where it spikes up over 15%.

The website Epic Road Guides describes this climb as follows:

Whilst it’s not usually talked about in the revered terms associated with the Passo Giau or Pordoi, the climb to the summit of the Passo Fedaia from Caprile is thought by many cycling aficionados to be the best climb in the entire Dolomites range. It’s also one of, perhaps THE, hardest and has striking scenery.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, it can be easy to forget important things when starting a big ride. I forgot something very important for this ride: I forgot to start my GPS until after the Fedaia climb. Non-cyclists may not understand how grave an error that is. While I never got lost, the climb was not recorded, and because it wasn’t recorded, it did not happen. I may have felt like it was an hour or half of torture, but I cannot prove it. The usual corrective for this situation is to go do the ride again. Unfortunately, that was not going to happen. So, here are some pictures of the climb that, according to the accepted rules of cycling, I did not complete.

While at the top, two cool things happened:

1. A motorcyclist told Ken that we were “warriors” for powering up the hill on our super light road bikes.
2. A charming old Frenchman came up the hill at the same time on his heavy steel touring bike. (We suddenly felt a little less like warriors, and humbly gave the Frenchman some well-deserved “Bravos!”)

After taking our photos, we pedaled over to a lake at the foot of Marmolada, the tallest peak in the Dolomites.

Marmolada has its own glacier which was, we learned, used as the military base for the Austrian army in WWI in their battles with the Italians.

Ken, Graham, and Beata looking up at the Marmolada.

We filled up water, grabbed snacks, and then made for the descent to the next climb. Along the way we found ourselves on a rail trail for a few miles/

Eventually, the climb up to Passo Costalunga began. The Austrian influences in this area became more obvious, as exemplified by the sign showing the other name of the pass, Karerpasse.

The restaurant served pizza and schnitzel, but it was not time for lunch yet.

Unfortunately our actual lunch spot for the day was not so picturesque. We ate fast and left.

From lunch we started a many-miles descent through valleys, fields, and towns. It just…kept…going.

We stopped occasionally to rest our forearms and cool the brakes. These were great opportunities for practicing our “we are serious cyclists” poses.

We made it Bolzano, picked up our day packs because the support van was not allowed into the city center, and cycled 10k along the river into cobbled streets.

We celebrated with a beer at the hotel before heading out to a German restaurant for dinner.

A few of us strolled and found our way to Biergarten before calling it a night. We had a full day off ahead of us, and were thankful for a great day.