Tutti Dolomiti Stage 3

Asiago to Fiera di Primiero

Strava (to Cima Grappa summit): 67.83 km, 1,849m, 4:50, 113 shifts

I woke up maybe feeling a little better and popped another Mucinex. I didn’t feel like riding but at least it was not supposed to rain much today. After breakfast I made my decision and got on the bike; it is a cycling trip after all. We rolled out of Asiago at 8:15, wet roads but no rain. We were up at 1,000m and had to descend back down to the Po plain again, at around 100m. The descent was nice and it was quite a bit warmer down below.

We stopped in Bassano del Grappa at 40 km on a nice bridge, then started the main climb of the stage. The Cime Grappa climb is famous but the only thing hard about it is the length. You climb for 26 km, ascending 1,600m. It lets off for a little while halfway up, but is pretty continuous. We don’t have this size climb in the Santa Cruz Mountains at home. It will be interesting to watch the Giro when they do this climb in two days. I am still pretty stuffed up and was feeling maybe half power for the climb. Lots of people passed me but I just kept at it and eventually, the lunch trucks appeared out of the fog on the summit.

While climbing I wore shorts and a normal jersey plus a warm one unzipped all the way. On top, not riding, you needed way more. Lunch was tasty and I thought about how fun blasting down the descent would be but I honestly didn’t think it was the right move. I had a look at the WWI Military Shrine that has over 12,000 graves, mostly unknown. It was a foggy white-out, hard to see anything (and I had to carefully remember how to go back down to return to the vans!) When lunch was finished for everyone, I got in Dion’s van and rode down to town, sleeping the whole way.

When I woke up we were pulling in and it was much warmer and super scenic. Wijnand made a big batch of curry soup and we had snacks, then got our room, spacious and nice. The shower felt fantastic. I fell asleep but remembered to set the alarm so went down for dinner at 7. It was nice chatting with guys who have done so many of the crazy rides in this area. The ride for tomorrow is much stiffer, over 3,000m of climbing and 98 km of distance. I’ll have to see if that’s in the cards for me in the morning.