Tutti Dolomiti Stage 12 to Lake Garda

Mezzana to Torbole

Strava: 107.37 km, 1,949m, 5:37, 208 shifts, max speed 74.8 kph

I slept well but for some reason wasn’t psyched for riding in the morning. Maybe it was the rain outside. I perked up a little when our 8:30 departure was rescheduled for 9, and then I got to talk to Katie. In the end, the rain basically stopped as we left but we got plenty wet blasting down the valley at full speed on the very wet road.

We turned up a somewhat less busy road to Passo di Campo Carlo Magna and started our first climb, 950m in 14.5 km. The grade wasn’t too bad and the temperature was good, and I was feeling a little stronger for once. The rain did start up when I was half way up, so I did the second half with a jacket. It felt great to finish that climb. The sun peaked out for a minute, right after Serge said, “The sun should come out now.” Then it went away and I asked him to do it again. He sang some Beatles songs with the lyrics all changed to asking for sun, but it didn’t work a second time.

Down we went, fast and a bit wet, soon stuck behind the proverbial truck for many km; luckily he went reasonably fast. It dried out a bit more, then we stopped for food and clothes reduction just below our second big climb. It was a beautiful little spot with a fountain and tables. The second climb was on a tiny paved path, 6 km, averaging 10%. I just stuck it in my lowest gear and churned it out. Lunch was on top, and it turned out the road we were on was impassable for cars so there was no traffic at all. Refueling was great thanks to our awesome lunch crew.

After lunch, the next big descent started, fast switchbacks, very high speed though some little villages, so fun. The sun was out now and it was warming up nicely. There was about 40 km more to do but it was mostly downhill or level, the only difficulty was a headwind that was constant. Soon we were on a series of bike paths that went all the way to the lake, fun and varied. I rode the whole way with Nick and we stopped a few times for photos and had a great time.

The group is split in two hotels, and by luck soup was at ours in the beautiful back garden. Only Bike Dreams is staying here so it’s pretty nice. After a round of delicious soup and snacks, I washed a lot of dirt off myself and did laundry. It’s warm and breezy so laundry dries very fast on our balcony. We cleaned our bikes from so much rainy riding.

We were on our own for dinner tonight so Mike and I found a place by the lake and had a lovely meal. Keith joined once I texted him a picture of the menu featuring his favorite drink: IPA. And Lex joined for a beer too. Upon asking for il conto we were presented with glasses of limoncello. Amo l’Italia.

After dinner a gelateria was just across the street so we had to. Tonight’s flavors: yogurt con maracujá e limone. Then we walked down to the lake shore and WOW, what a place! People were swimming so I waded in to my knees and it felt great. I would love to come back to this part of Lake Garda and spend more time someday.