Tuesday / Wednesday

Tuesday was the big climbing day for the geris. The plan was to do both Mortirolo and the Gavia. For reference (for those of you that aren’t cycling geeks and don’t know what those are), Mortirolo is what Lance Armstrong describes as the toughest climb in all of Europe, and the Gavia is (along with Stelvio) one of the two climbs that is always in the Giro d’Italia. And these fine gentlemen decided to do them both in one day. However, because it was Craig’s first day in the saddle, along with the fact that everyone was still hurting from the previous day, they decided to drive up half of the Mortirolo before doing all of the Gavia.

A view from the Gavia pass.

The Mortirolo pass starts in a little town called “Mazza di Valtellina” which, when translated, means something like “Don’t worry, if we don’t kill the bikers riding to the top, we’ll do our best by killing anyone foolish enough to try and drive a car up by making the roads so narrow that you can barely have to bicycles pass each other, let alone a gE-v.” The road starts with 2 sets of poles that nearly took off the mirrors on the van; I’m thinking it was a test of courage (or insanity). After that, it was up up up to the top. I dropped of the geris and went to the top where there was a herd of what had to be the happiest cows on the planet. And they also had those huge bells on them, so it sounded like a big beautiful bovine symphony. I think it was Symphony #12 in E-flat… by Moozart. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

Listening to the beautiful moosic atop Mortirolo.

Anyway, after finishing the climb, we headed on down the other side to hit the Gavia. We stopped in a town so tiny that it doesn’t even show up on a map to get a bite to eat (and, let’s say, to take care of some… “official” business), only because it was a little after 2:00 everything was closed. I think that is the only thing about Italy that I really don’t like, that everything closes in the afternoon just about when I’m thinking about getting something to eat. Anyway, I walked over to a panificio (bakery), and was headed back to the car when a little old lady popped her head out of the window from across the street and told me she would come and make us some sammiches. She was really cute; she asked where we were from, and when I said the US she said “Oh my gosh, America! Giovanni (her grandson), these big guys are from America!!” Giovanni wasn’t really impressed, but she thought it was the coolest thing. After we ate, she joined us for a picture.

The cute little "nonna" that made us lunch.

So, rested, refueled (and relieved…) we headed out. Gavia, much like Stelvio and Mortirolo, is full of numerous sheer switchbacks, gorgeous views of Alpine meadows, glaciers, waterfalls, and giant mountain bunnies. Yes, there were rare giant Alpine rabbits running around at the top of the mountain. Fortunately for all of us, they didn’t have any big, sharp, pointy teeth. And there was also a lady playing the trumpet for no apparent reason. I’m guessing she had a lifelong dream of playing the trumpet at the top of the mountain, and play she did. Also, she might have been insane. But we got a cool video of it that I’ll try and post later.

Atop the Gavia pass.

We finished the night by walking through town and going to a little pizzeria in Bormio, having a great dinner, then getting gelato and strolling back to the hotel. It was, by all accounts, a great day.

It takes a very secure man to both shave his legs and wear those socks.

Fortunately, Jason is just such a man.

We said goodbye to the Alps and headed out to Castelrotto this morning early. Castelrotto is a little town near Bolzano, and it’s nestled right in the foothills of the Dolomites. It’s kind of like a storybook town. Every window has a huge cascade of flowers, the buildings have beautiful murals painted on them, and our hotel is fabulous, with meticulous attention to detail and really fine craftsmanship. It’s sitting right on the main piazza, with a beautiful church and a humongous bell tower right outside. The people at the hotel are also very considerate, as they have a room for dwarves, and so few hotels are considerate of our vertically challenged brothers and sisters.

Are you there, Frodo? Gimli??

Speaking of the hotel, I have to tell you about the highlight of the trip so far. I’d also like to take this opportunity to advise the parents of our younger readers to perhaps censor this next bit from them. The guy at the front desk of the hotel is an avid cyclist, and was very helpful in giving advice for what routes the geris should take. Because we have a long (6-7 hour) drive tomorrow, we were thinking about just doing a short ride and missing out on what is the quintessential ride of the Dolomites, a loop that goes over 4 smaller passes right in the heart of the range. When he heard this, he got an extremely pained look on his face, almost like we’d told him his kids were ugly, and said “Guys, you simply cannot come all the way here and NOT do this ride; it’s just not right. It would be like having sex and never seeing the woman naked!” Needless to say, we’re getting up early and heading out on the ride in the morning.


Anyway, since we got here relatively early, the guys went for an “easy” 50k ride through the countryside while I walked around the town, read a book for a while, talked with some people, took some pictures, and had a nice afternoon. I’ll let you decide who you think is really on vacation. We won’t have internet access for the rest of the trip, but I’ll try to sneak over to an internet café or something and keep people up to date with pictures. Below are a bunch of pictures from Castelrotto. Buona notte!

Nice view of the Dolomites.

There are 12 murals on this building, one for each of the seasons.

A little fountain outside of the hotel in the piazza.

The belltower from one of the alleys in the town center.

The inside of the church is beautiful.

Beautiful! Loving it! Wish you were here!