Tutti Dolomiti Stage 8

Klausen to Vipiteno

Strava (halfway): 47.3 km, 1,541m, 3:10, 179 shifts, max speed 70.9 kph

After a great breakfast we left Klausen at 8:20 for another pretty big stage. I was hoping to ride the whole way, but didn’t feel 100% as the first climb started. The route was mostly up in the morning, with a few short level or downhill sections. Finally we had gorgeous weather; I didn’t need to carry my rain jacket – but did, just in case. It was sunny and relatively warm. It seemed steeper than advertised with lots of 13-15% sections and Garmin even telling me 17% a couple of times. I remembered to eat and drink and just kept at it. Finally, after a nice fast descent, the final climb of the day started, up to Passo di Pennes. Lunch was 7.5 km along on this 36 km climb.

I had a good lunch and then had to access: could I do another 1,200m and 45 km? Should I? The answers were, Yes and No. So again I joined the crowd in the van. After lunch was over we drove slowly up toward the pass, stopping a few times to look at the view and cheer on our riders. At the top, it was very windy and quite cold. I was not fine wearing two bike jerseys and shorts and retreated to the van after a couple of shots.

1,300m lower in Vipiteno (German name Sterzing) it was much warmer. After checking in and a beautiful shower I sat outside in short sleeves enjoying Wijnand’s vegetable soup and some other snacks. I left my laundry drying in the sun on our balcony. I read a bit, had a one hour nap, then we had the standard (excellent) mass dinner in the hotel’s dining room. This one had a really good salad bar and the veggie second course option was breaded asparagus with other veggies. Wilbert gave the usual talk about tomorrow’s ride, a bit longer than today, of course with lots and lots of climbing. We’ll be going back up and over the Passo di Monte Giovo that I unicycled in the other direction in 2012. I hope I can ride the whole thing.