As mentioned the other day, Linda and I rode the "Sella Ronda" in the counter-clockwise direction on Saturday, June 26, because we knew that on Sunday, June 27, the local authorities had organized a "Bike Day" on the Sella Ronda and they called it. . . "Sella Ronda Bike Day".
We didn't know such an event had been organized until after we'd arrived in Arabba and saw signs for it. After learning of the event, I was a little worried about finding a room available for us to stay, but the concerns proved unfounded. There's another event in the area called the Maratona dles Dolmites (the Italians call it a Gran Fondo) that will be run on July 3rd this year. It draws upwards of 10,000 participants. I figured that if they were running a free event over parts of the same course that rooms would be taken up,but such was not the case.
Although the event was free it doesn't pack the same punch as the Maratona, I guess, and most people showed up the morning of the ride and really didn't need much in the way of overnight accommodations.
What the organizers did was close off the Sella Ronda to all but cyclists between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. All the cyclists were to take in the course in the clockwise direction--starting with the Passo Pordoi, then the Sella, Gardena, and finishing with Campolongo. There were a few ne'er-do-wells that decided to ride counter-clockwise, to make a statement, I guess.
I don't know how many participants they ended up with, but there were at least several thousand. There were cyclists of all shapes and sizes and experience levels. From the top of the Gardena pass (the third pass) you could look down at the serpentine switchbacks and the hundreds of riders snaking their way down in a long line--it looked so incredibly cool (how's that for adjectives?). I went to shoot video with my camera and my data card was full. Sorry about that. Really, though, we were there and it was amazingly cool to be amongst all these people, although we couldn't understand each other all that well. It was all in good fun, though.
The previous day, on our counter-clockwise excursion, at the top of the Pordoi, we met an Italian club from Tuscany--Team Gulliver (I have to remember to look them up: teamgulliverbike.com, I believe). I shot a bunch of pictures of them with about a dozen different cameras they handed me, while they shot pics of Linda and me (with their cameras) in front of the Fausto Coppi memorial. Linda ran into them again on Sunday and they were asking Linda, "hey, California, where's Arturo!" Super friendly group. Which is what we've found with just about every Italian we've come across. I'm not naive, I know there are good and bad Italians (this is the home of the Cosa Nostra after all, right?) but every Italian I've come across to date has been ready with a smile, and a genuine desire to try to help out, or answer a question, or share a laugh.
Linda and I had both wondered whether clockwise or counterclockwise would be more difficult. After riding the downhill portions of the counterclockwise trip, we fully expected the clockwise direction to be tougher. Turns out they were about the same. Campolongo's a little longer from the Corvara side (clockwise) but it's not difficult. Either direction gets a thumbs up from us.
When I mapped out the trip there were 5 things I wanted to accomplish: 1) Mt Ventoux from the three approaches, 2) Marmotte route in the French Alps, 3) Stelvio from both sides, 4) Mortirolo/Gavia loop, and 5) the Maratona dles Dolomites route.
I did 1. Almost did 2--I didn't make Alpe d'Huez, but I did do the two important things: the Col du Telegraph and the Col du Galibier from the opposite directions of those taken on our 2006 trip. Made 3 and 4. Sunday was the day for 5.
After finishing the Sella Ronda at about 11:30, I was able to stop at the hotel since it was at the start of the ride and I dropped off my now-useless camera, drank a coke, dropped off some extra clothing I wasn't going to need, and headed back out to run the rest of the Maratona route (after stopping at the nearby pasticceria for a piece of apple strudel! Nourishment is important on a long ride).
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/257780
The Sella Ronda was about 36 miles and four passes (to put them into some perspective, the four passes combined barely add up to either of the two approaches to the Stelvio summit). The Maratona adds about 50 miles and the Sella Sta Lucia, Passo Giau, Falzarego, and Valporola for a total of about 13.5-14k vertical feet of climbing.
As fun and as interesting as the Sella Ronda Bike Day was, what with closed roads (none of those ever-present, ever-annoying motorcyclists) and thousands of bicyclists, after I left the Sella Ronda course and headed for the remainder of the Maratona I came as close to cycling nirvana as I ever have. It was a wonderful counterpoint to my experience in the Alps with the Marmotte in the first week of this trip. I can imagine riding the Maratona on the day of the event is something to behold. I'm sure riding with thousands of other riders would be an experience, something like the Sella Ronda Bike Day.
Instead, I was out on the road almost entirely on my own with perfect temperatures, clear blue skies, gorgeous scenery, small towns--I was riding my bike in Italy. I can't imagine a better solo bicycling experience. It was the Italian equivalent of The Sound of Music (the scenery, I mean). It was something to behold.
The remainder of the ride went quite well. I was a little apprehensive as I'd heard of the passes I was going to take in, but I didn't know much about them--how steep, how long, etc. How long usually got sorted out with signage--distance to the top, then usually a count-down by kilometer. For some reason, they counted down by the half km, i.e. 8.5, 7.5, 6.5, and so on. I couldn't figure out why they didn't count down on the whole km.
They also gave a nice little sign at the bottom of the climb of how many switchbacks were coming, which is what they did with Giau. In other cases, they count up from 1. Unless they warn you ahead of time how many switchbacks are coming, I like the countdown approach better. I ran into a pass the other day that started off with 1, no warning of how many were to come. Turned out there were only 5 (hardly rated a count), but it spooks me when I don't know what to expect.
In the case of Giau there were 29 switchbacks, and about 6.2 miles of what I've read is a 9.3% average. It sure felt like 9% the whole way. It was an effort. Note to others that take the ride, if you need water at the top, the tap water in the bathrooms at the restaurant at the top has cold water that appears to be safe to consume. It's been four days and I feel fine!
After a long, winding descent towards Cortina, you take a left towards the Falzarego-Valporola combo pass. Falzarego freaked me out because it didn't have any indicaitions of length, gradient, switchbacks, nothing to gauge what to expect. It turns out it was the easiest of the passes on all counts, but it messed with my head and this 6 mile stretch was the least pleasant of the ride. At the top of Falzarego there were several restaurants to check into and get some nourishment. I had. . . any guesses?
Strudel and a coke. I also polished off the last of the cake thingys I'd bought at the grocery store (and which had been ground to a fine powder in my back pockets). I poured them into my mouth, threw away a couple of others. At this point, I was almost home. There was a sharp pitch to the top of the Valporola--it was graciously short, so pretty easy.
People riding the Maratona usually start in Corvara, this side of the Campolongo. The Valporola is the last pass for Maratona particpants. We were staying in Arabba, on the other side of the Campolongo. So I had to do Campolongo one more time. I'd already ridden it several times so knew its characteristics. Still, I was a little apprehensive whether my legs would seize.
I stopped one more time in Corvara to eat the last of these dried up little strudel things from the grocery store (these were too tough to get pulverized, I guess) and took off over the Campolongo. It was a good end to the ride. I rode it faster than I did over the morning pass--at least it felt that way. That was good enough for me.
Total time? 7 hours. Fastest times in the official ride? About 2 1/2 hours faster.
Boy, that's fast.
Still, felt good after it was all over. Didn't puke. I had an appetite. Linda was waiting for me in the church yard next door--praying for me??
We both had great days on the bike. Hanging out with the natives, working hard. Enjoying the scenery.
A great day. Here's a view from the top of Passo Giau looking towards Cortina, out there somewhere.
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