Cortina d’Ampezzo to Campitello

Our group photo in Campitello

Back Row: Ann Lynn, Pam Duckworth, Jane Shakman, Bruce Dewey, Tom Leever, Jan Hansen, Julie Leever

Middle Row: Karen Hoskinson, Henry Lam, Marie Tesch, Jane McGrath, Marilyn Dewey, Ron Guidotti, Claudia Spaulding, Paul Braithwaite, Barry Spaulding

Front Row: Stu Shakman, Bob Lynn, Alan Deda, Sandra Eve, Steve Kelton, Tom Keams

We said good-bye to Hotel Ankora and our upgraded suite. After an excellent breakfast buffet, I started out with Julie on our two-pass route. The weather was cloudy and cool but it wasn’t raining.

Our climb started immediately as we left Cortina. After 16km we were at the summit of Paso Flazarego. This is the same pass that we descended from three days ago. It is also the same climb that Jeff and I did three years ago. The grade seemed a bit easier with my Co-Motion that has lower gears than my old Bike Friday.

We stopped at the top to put on long-fingered gloves and wind jackets. The temperature was cool and the descent was fast so we were glad to have warmer gear.

At the bottom we had some rollers. We had to take off our warm gear to cool off. We pedaled through a narrow valley with very steeps sides until we reached Arabba. I was surprised and pleased to see Ann standing at a small cafe as we stopped for a snack. She was driving two of our group who had health issues and couldn’t ride – one had a cold, the other had food poisoning. They decided to stop at the cafe to great us. One of the guys wanted to greet his wife as she arrived.

Arabba was the start of our second climb up Paso Pordoi. This is a classic 9 km climb with 33 switchbacks (and several turns that aren’t switchbacks) with an elevation gain of around 2400 feet. I put my bike into its lowest gear and slogged up the road. Julie left the cafe before me expecting me to pass her on the climb. The only one I passed was an old gaffer about my age who was having a hard time. I really like switchbacks on Italian passes. They are either level or very gradual and lead to a short section with reduced grade. This lets me rest my legs.

At the top of the pass, I met up with Julie. We put on our warm clothes again and began the descent all of the way into Campitello. I couldn’t get much speed because of all of the switchbacks going downhill. We caught up with Claudia, Barry, Sandra, Jan and Jane and rode together to our hotel.

Here is a link to today's ride.

Ann and I had some snacks in our room. After I cleaned up, we walked around this small town. There are lots of restaurants hotels and shops that cater to skiers in the winter and hiker and mountain bikers in the summer. We seem to be between seasons because most of everything is closed and many are going through major maintenance.

We found out at dinner that there are lots of people staying at our hotel. There were long lines at the salad and antipasti buffets, lots of desserts were gone at the dessert buffet and they ran out of the fish that we ordered for our second course. I settled on a first course of crepes with asparagus in a cream sauce. Ann had the same thing and substituted chicken for her fish. My highlight dessert was a bowl of fresh fruit.