The Mountain Diaries Day 5: August 20th

In theory it should have been an early night yesterday, plenty of recovery and a dawn patrol start ready for the big ride that we had planned. The reality was a late night getting the bikes prepped, sparse recovery and a dawn patrol start (at least we got one out of the three right).

A band of low pressure had slumped into town during the night. The clouds looked heavy and bloated with rain. Definitely not the type of sky we were hoping for considering the route from Canazei was to take in the climbs of the San Pellegrino, Duran, Staulanza, Santa Lucia and Fedaia. A hard day, one made even harder by the fact that if the weather did kick off there was no short cut back to base. It was do or die…literally.

To get to Canazei for the start it meant a 40 minute drive from the hotel over the Passo Selle. This was good as it gave us a chance to see how bad the weather was at the top of a mountain. Confirmation came through quick and clear, it’s bad!

With the bikes unloaded from our beautiful Seat Altea (and no, of course we didn’t put it into the red on the mountain passes in frustration due to its small size….honestly!) we decided that it made more sense to start the ride by climbing the Passo Pordoi, dropping down to Arabba for the Passo Campolongo and then on to the Passo Gardena. This meant that we’d always be relatively close to home should things turn nasty out on the road. The easy way out? Maybe. You’ve got to be sensible about these things sometimes and remember “don’t start something you can’t finish”.

It was amazing to be tracking our way over some of the climbs that make the Giro d’Italia such a beautiful race. By the Gardena we’d even managed to stay dry, which was a serious result. We joined the Passo Selle and ascended to the summit, during which I was mapping out a route in my mind for the rest of the day. By the top I needed a second opinion from a regular to these mountain roads. I couldn’t work out if my ride plan was (a) so far fetched that the passo pooch that I’d confided in was sent into a coma like sleep, exhausted with the prospect of the road ahead, (b) whether he was bored ‘cos he’d seen it, done it and got the dog lead to prove it or (c) if he was in fact dead. Fear not, I trod on his tail with my Time cleat just to make sure of the latter (joke!)

We retraced our steps after descending the Selle, over the Pordoi for a second time (loved it the first time so much!) then through Arabba and on to the foot of the Passo Falzarego, which I hadn’t done from this side before. A fantastic climb with a steady gradient and cool little tunnel approaching the summit. By this stage, Paul had well and truly cottoned on to what was going through my mountain enriched mind. We swung left and took the summit of the Valporola at 2,192m. That’s seven summits in the legs and now no easy way back to Canazei. So this ride was all about ‘the easy way out’ eh? Come on, that’s not my style, you know that.

The fast descent of the Falzarego gave the legs some recovery before taking on the Passo Giau. Descending the Giau to Selva di Cadore is pure heaven. Technical, steep, insanely fast and incredibly fun, it was smiles all the way down its 10km slope.

The thick, heavy, clouds had been continually dodged all day and as we sliced our way down to Caprile the sky was brightening, but there was only one way back to the beloved Altea. The final climb of the day, a climb that is known in the cycling world as ‘a beast’, a climb that has been known to rip the thighs off even experienced, highly trained riders. That climb was the mighty Passo Fedaia. 14km in length with sections up to 18% gradient. To put the ride into perspective so far, the Queen stage of the Giro is normally around 120km with a handful of these mythical mountains strategically placed along the route to break the peloton one by one. The Fedaia didn’t care that we had over 150k’s in the legs and eight mountain passes! All it wanted to do was stand there and break a couple more riders as it has done to many before.

With insider intelligence gained before the trip we knew that there was a right hand turn that branches off of the main road close to the bottom of the climb. At first, not sure if we’d found the right road as it looked like it led to a dead end car park, it eventually turned into a cobbled street closed to vehicles where all would be revealed. Were we dreaming? One of the most beautiful, if not surreal, roads I’ve ever ridden. Slicing its way up the lower slopes of the mountain, through gorges, glacier water running freely, so pure and clear I’m sure you could have filled a water bottle with it. Rider's names in paint still visible on the road from the Giro. After the hard day of riding this was a moment that needed to be savoured. The sheer beauty helped energise body and mind, after all there was no getting away from the steep serpentine road that we would shortly join. Don’t underestimate the Fedaia, it’s incredibly tough and relentless to the point where you’ll be grinding your teeth by the top. Amazing in every sense. Exactly the climb I wanted to end the day on.

Cresting the summit at 2,057m, in dwindling daylight, gave an immense sense of well being. The final 14km would be the descent of the Fedaia back to Canazei. It was now time to get our revenge from the pain that it had inflicted on us, punching our way through the gears until the legs could turn no faster. What a ride. Sometimes you just don’t know what’s in store at the beginning of the day. Sometimes it’s best not to know. As it happens the day turned out to be over 170km with 9 mountain passes and 5000m of climbing. If I’d realised that I could have taken in the Santa Lucia climb as well then we’d have hit double figures! Next time….and you know what, I’m already excited at the thought.

If only the day was as simple as fresh cookies from an Arabba bakery, we’d have had nothing to worry about...




Day 5 col count: 9
Pordoi, Campolongo, Gardena, Selle, Pordoi, Falzarego, Valparola, Giau, Fedaia

Cumulative col count: 19

For GPS information on today's route click here