Cycling in Italy – Stage Three

As the week progresses, the weather improves with each passing day. The rains on Monday washed the air to a pristine crispness. This morning everything seemed to be in sharp focus. It felt warmer and vests and arm warmers, if worn at all, were quickly removed.  

Our group of cyclists ventured in the opposite direction than yesterday. Like most days, the ride started on relatively level ground as we followed the river that runs through the valley. After a couple of hours, we started to climb to the town of Fazo. It was at the base of the climb that I touched wheels with another rider and basically laid down my bike. My new bike. I was close to a small stone wall and used it to brace the fall. It all happened very fast, but I was able to unclip and throw my body under my bike. She came out unharmed. I think an extra chain rub down is in order.

The climb to Fazo was divided into two stages. The first stage was long, but not a sharp incline. The distance between the switchbacks was manageable and the curves themselves pretty wide allowing oncoming cars and trucks to pass.

I’ve run out of adjectives to describe the vistas in this part of Italy. For today’s climb I’ll use majestic, stunning and glorious. Northern Italy does not have a Mediterranean climate like the southern part of the country, so the landscape is very green. 

We stop for coffee about half way up. After coffee, the real climbing begins. We begin to pass through a pine forest, but the trees become fewer and fewer as we near the summit. In the distance, we can see the rugged Dolomite Mountains; their bare sharp granite peaks sticking up like fingers pointing toward heaven.

It was near the summit top that the second crash occurred. We were going through a construction zone and the road was down to one lane. The lane open was closest to the cliff. A car came by and brushed one of our riders. She went down hard, but luckily was able to continue and finish the ride. Her right hand, however, will need some TLC and lots of ice tonight.

We could not climb forever and so the descent had to begin. To put it in perspective, the descent on Monday was nothing compared with today’s. It was over 17 km long with 18 sharp hairpin turns. These don’t include the usual turns and curves in the road. It involved going through tunnels and riding inches from sheer rock cliffs. The hairpin turns are numbered so we could count how many there were down to the valley. At number five, my hands were cramping. After the road began to level out, I realized I was shaking. Strange I thought, it should be warmer down here. Then I realized it was from the adrenalin that I was pumping through my body. We stopped near the river to regroup and then headed back to Bassano de Grappa and then to the hotel for a warm shower, lunch and a liter of beer.