{"id":604,"date":"2013-09-12T16:39:47","date_gmt":"2013-09-12T16:39:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sayjack.net\/?p=604"},"modified":"2014-07-27T21:13:49","modified_gmt":"2014-07-27T21:13:49","slug":"day-5-passo-stelvio-to-bormio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sayjack.net\/?p=604","title":{"rendered":"DAY 5–Passo Stelvio to Bormio"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Clouds, sky and snow kept the van transfer fasinating<\/p><\/div>\n

Today we were set to climb the legendary Stelvio. But<\/span> first, we had to get there and that involved a 75 km van transfer from Bolzano. We left near 9 AM, and what should have been a sleepy, boring highway drive became fascinating as we watched the clouds, snow and sky against the surrounding mountaintops. Before long, we turned off the expressway and found ourselves driving up a river valley surrounded by apple orchards–miles and miles of apple orchards, lush with apples, green and red.<\/span><\/p>\n

After an hour, we pulled off the road, unloaded our bikes and rode up the river along a bike path for 12 km, arriving at Plata del Stelvio which is a little town that officially marks the start of the Stelvio climb from the east.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Apple orchards, with tidily tied up apple trees, line the river valley<\/p><\/div>\n

Passo Stelvio is the Godfather of the Dolomite climbs. It has determined winners and losers of the Giro d’Italia several times on the 10 occasions it’s been included, beginning in 1953 with Fausto Coppi’s win atop the pass. It’s also been one of the most canceled stages in the Giro–3 times–due to snow in late May. At 24.3 km (15 mi.) long with the final 14.5 km (9 mi.) averaging 8.5%, it grinds down riders of all abilities. It is the highest pass in the eastern Alps at 2758 m (8,964 ft) and boasts outrageous views of surrounding peaks and glaciers. It also attracts sports cars enthusiasts and motorcyclists, and has been named the “greatest driving road in the world” by a British car show.<\/p>\n

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Apples begging to be eaten were everywhere….<\/p><\/div>\n

Climbing Stelvio was the main event–the only event–on our agenda today. That’s 6,000 ft. in a single climb. And, no, it was not Race Day, by action of the Ride Commissioner, Todd, who declared tomorrow’s climb up the Gavia to be Race Day. That didn’t keep Markham from racing against the clock, and he set an all-time Andiamo record of 1:56 to the top. Ben of Andiamo checked Markham’s time against Strava records and found out it was only 5 min. slower than the fastest woman’s time.<\/p>\n

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including along the bike path to Plata<\/p><\/div>\n

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Markham has experience racing fast women. In an incident previously unreported, but kept alive through many retellings by the Boyz, Markham chased a woman–who turned out to be a pro–up the last half mile of Col d’Aubisque in the Pyrenees after she passed him lower on the slope. He just managed to nip her at the top and proceeded to flop over on the ground, exhausted, except that she didn’t realize they were racing.Now Todd and Rick have awarded Markham the title, which he’s accepting, of “Second Fastest Woman” up the Stelvio. It’s more impressive than “140th Man.” But seriously, none of us can hold a candle to Markham and we no longer feel compelled to try. The ride was a lot of pain, according to Markham, but he really wanted to finish in less than 2 hours.<\/p>\n

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My knee and legs felt good again today, helped by yesterday’s easy pedal, and I cruised to the top without any major discomfort and without any time goals. I stopped frequently to take pictures. The surrounding vistas are absolutely spectacular, the 48 numbered hairpins (with 1 being the last before the summit) entertaining and other riders–many on mountain bikes–motivating. The sunshine and cool temps completed a perfect day. Everyone made it in good form, and we had lunch at the top and hung out for a while in the carnival atmosphere. Most of our fellow revelers at the top were motorcyclists.<\/p>\n

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It’s hard to overstate the beauty of the Stelvio climb. Here it starts up a river valley. Howie and Chis are going up the road.<\/p><\/div>\n

The descent down the other side into Bormio was frigid, however, and despite long underarmour, arm warmers, jersey, vest, wind jacket, leggings, long gloves and headband, I had to hold my speed to 25 mph because my wheel wobbled with my shivers. The descent lasted for 14 mi. and had something for everyone: the tightest hairpins we’d ever seen, tunnels with water and rough pavement, long twisty straightaways for swooping speed, and a Lamborghini and Porsche flashing past without heeding the possibility of oncoming traffic.<\/p>\n

We ended in Bormio, where we checked out a bike shop for commemorative jerseys and Jim bought some new “specially priced” wheels, before heading to our hotel. It was 4:30 in the afternoon, leaving just enough time to roam around the historic town center before dinner.<\/p>\n

Our days totals were just 34 mi., but 6300 ft. vert.<\/p>\n

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Stelvio’s 48 hairpins are famously numbered, beginning with no. 48. Here is no. 48 but the sign is missing.<\/p><\/div>\n

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No. 47’s sign is intact though. That’s Jim cruising through the hairpin.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Up the river valley amid spectacular views<\/p><\/div>\n

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Reb making hairpin 42<\/p><\/div>\n

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Construction project over the edge.<\/p><\/div>\n

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The little church in the vale<\/p><\/div>\n

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Getting to No. 28, almost halfway. The bike is the cyclist’s Kilroy was here.<\/p><\/div>\n

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A few more to go….<\/p><\/div>\n

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The view behind<\/p><\/div>\n

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Looking back<\/p><\/div>\n

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The Boyz made it to the top!<\/p><\/div>\n

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Today we were set to climb the legendary Stelvio. But first, we had to get there and that involved a 75 km van transfer from Bolzano. We left near 9 AM, and what should have been a sleepy, boring highway … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[4],"tags":[14],"class_list":["post-604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cycling","tag-dolomiti"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/sayjack.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/wpid-Photo-Sep-12-2013-636-PM.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3QqGi-9K","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sayjack.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sayjack.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sayjack.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sayjack.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sayjack.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/sayjack.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sayjack.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sayjack.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sayjack.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sayjack.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}