Monday morning we left for the Dolomites Bike Days intermezzo.
With two nights in a hotel in Pozza di Fassa, I had three days to cycle, stages 3, 4 and 5.
I had planned a couple of epic rides, but I had to settle for the 100 Greatest climbs and forfeit Val Martello and some intermediate sections.
Monday – Stage 3
Despite my experience so far, I set out to ride the first stage as planned.
As I was hardly able to get the first two passes and the in between behind me, I was glad I had planned the transfer to the third pass in the car.
The distance between Passo Palade (#40) and the Passo Mendola (#41) was already more and harder than I had estimated.
The transfer to Predazzo for the Passo Valles (#48) took as long as I estimated, the distance and the elevation I saw in the route would have definitely been too much too handle.
And despite all my experience, I was once again fooled by the moderate average grade of the Valles.
As much as I hate to admit it, any (longer) stretch close to, let alone over, 8% is too much to handle.
Whether this is an age related thing or still due to my crash in the Hochsauerland, I don’t know.
I hope it is the latter, but I fear it is the former…
Garmin – Paula paced me like a pro and I enjoyed the draft as much as possible during the intermediate.
Tuesday – Stage 4
It was clear I would not be able to ride the whole stage as planned.
The Falzarego (#58) was most important, so I finished that.
The downhill of the Valparola was interrupted by a road construction red light that lasted more than 10 minutes, and one of about 5 minutes.
I got to Corvara, but as I knew a PR on the Gardena was out of the question, I got in the car.
We drove to Selva di Val Gardena for the Hero shop, where I scored new gear, the highlight of the day 😎
I then got on the bike to tackle the Sella (from Selva, not Plan de Gralba), but I should not have done that in the heat…
It took me forever, but once at the summit, I decided to get back to the hotel on the bike.
The part through the villages was not a lot of fun though, because of the heavy traffic.
Wednesday – Stage 5
Probably the best thing I could do, so I’m almost proud of myself: from the hotel, I cycled up Costalunga (#43), which I was supposed to do yesterday, added a few freebie downhill kilometers and tossed the bike in the car.
No Val Martello, no Stelvio and I’m probably still not going to be good enough to entertain Grasshopper…
