A rest day in Canazei

May 25, 2025 was the first rest day on the Tutti Dolomiti tour. It felt great, sleeping in. And I had the best sleep of the whole trip so far; climbing over 3,000m helps with that I guess. Breakfast was delicious and fun, talking to riders about their adventures yesterday. A handful had taken the “easier” option, a slightly shortened track that avoided the first two passes. It wasn’t easy at all though. A few (plus some of the staff) were planning on riding the famous Sella Ronda circuit today. It’s evidently one of those “Top 10 in the World” scenic cycling routes. Jem kindly made a track that combines tomorrow’s route to Cortina d’Ampezzo with the 3/4 of the Sella Ronda and I am thinking of taking that. It will be like yesterday but just a little shorter with a little less climbing. I’ll check the weather and my body tomorrow morning.

I felt like I wanted to get out of the bubble and just be outside a bit so I walked to Canazei on a forest track, had a look around town, and then took the river path back. What I really wanted to do was take a ride on one of the cable cars – it’s SO much fun in summer. But this is shoulder season and only one ski lift in the whole area was open, not one of the ones nearby. So I settled for a nice walk. The fresh mountain air felt great. It’s pretty quiet around here now, hard to imagine all the closed hotels and restaurants open and people everywhere.

Today was the big day when the Giro d’Italia takes on Cima Grappa that we climbed two days ago. We estimated they would hit that climb (after racing for over 100 km of a 219 km stage) around 1:30 so we gathered in the bar at the big TV to watch. It was really fun seeing just where we had been, “That’s where I had a coffee, that’s where we took off our jackets, that’s where the crazy guy waiting for the Giro gave me a salami sandwich, … etc.” They dispatched the entire climb in less than an hour, triple my pace with breaks. The descent was great to watch too. They are so smooth and fast through the turns. It looks like a pretty hard job though.

Later we went out for dinner in the village – not much was open but a number of us ended up at a restaurant that had pizza and pasta and we had a nice dinner. Nice rest day!