Blog readers may remember our enthusiasm for Fondo Leopardiana last year. So it was an element of some discussion among the Boyz this year when we discovered that the Dolomiti Classic Fondo would occur this weekend near Cortina but was left off the itinerary. Apparently, some of us are still traumatized by the wild start of Fondo Leopardiana and this year’s Ride Commissioner decided to elevate judgment over valor. Not all of us agreed.

So it looked a lot like serendipity when today’s route coincided with a small piece of the Dolomiti Classic route. Mike, our tour guide, was intent on getting us over Passo Falzarego before the Fondo riders came through, largely for fear authorities would close the road for the Fondo and our SAG vehicles wouldn’t get through. We promised a prompt 8:30 AM start.

Luckily, we left Cortina at 8:45 AM–just enough delayed so that official Fondo vehicles began passing us as we neared the top of Falzarego. A smattering of “tifosi” were gathered at the top, awaiting the Fondo riders, and sure enough, here came the medio Fondo leaders just as we were about to begin our descent.

We shouted “Andiamo!”, which luckily is more than just our tour outfitter’s name and is an appropriate cheer in Italian. Then, in a break between Fondo riders, we began our descent. As we knew from last year, casual riders often join the official riders for part of the route. The road was closed to cars, a beautiful thing for us cyclists.

I was just getting into a nice rhythm, arriving at my limit of speed and caution, diving through hairpins, when whoosh whoosh whoosh–five Fondo riders hurtled past me as if I were Mr. Rogers pedaling through the neighborhood. Before long, several more sped on by intent on finding the finish in Arabba some 12 km down the mountain. Clearly, it’s time to re-evaluate my descending skills. It was an experience shared by the rest of the Boyz.

We arrived at the finish line in Arabba well out-of-the-money, despite merging among the leaders and only riding the last 12 km–mostly down a mountain! Rick and Todd were our best-placed finishers, having started the descent before the leaders came across Falzarego. They missed Top 10. Markham found someone to chase, of course, and had an exhilarating ride down to Arabba, even if he was back in the pack.

Afterwards, we agreed it was the perfect way to participate in a fondo. We saved ourselves 60 euros, an early AM start, lots of hard climbing–and still got the thrill of the race.