A loop past Lago di Carezza

For our third and final ride out of Canazei, I thought it would be nice to go back to a lake we'd seen from the car.  It would have been a 50km out-and-back ride, but instead I scoped out a loop using Strava's route builder.  

Mum joined us for breakfast, and then it was time to suit up and get out amongst it.  We took a back road through the village, and I left Sarah briefly to go fill up bottles down by a roundabout which sports a handsome Giro d'Italia trophy replica.

We were headed for Passo Sella, which shared the bottom half of the Passo Pordoi climb we'd done the previous day.  Sarah was labouring a wee bit, but luckily the gradients were pretty mellow, and the views again were sublime.

I rode the two halves alone, waiting for a few minutes at the Pordoi turn off and then again at the pass.  The latter was busy with motorcyclists, cars and campervans, and cyclists.

After a short break in the sun, we began a long descent into the Gardena Valley, where we stopped for a coffee each and a donut shared.  We were forced off the main road by a tunnel, and found a cycle path along a river which was most enjoyable.  It ended abruptly just shy of our turnoff to a relatively low saddle which nonetheless was a bit of a grind to reach.  

We stopped for a pizza at Castelrotto, which was served with lashings of disdain - I got the distinct impression that ordering a single pizza for two people was frowned upon!  Aside from the fact that it was plenty of food for the two of us, we've been pretty shocked by the prices here - all of a sudden, NZ's cost of living doesn't seem so bad.

After a few hours riding with our backs to the mountains, we swung around and were once again treated to impressive views of towering peaks.

Our route had a cycle path parallel with it, and we jumped onto it, despite long sections of gravel.  Much of it was in a forest, and the shade was nice, not to mention the absence of cars!  

Not a bad spot to camp - we'd passed through the saddle in the background some time earlier

I made a small navigational error at a roundabout, and rather than backtrack all of 20 metres, I scanned the next part of the map, and decided we could reconnect with our route in a few kilometres.  The next few minutes were all downhill, and I hoped like hell our original route was doing the same.  When we turned into the connector road, the gradient was signposted as 28% which I hoped like hell was going to be brief...!

The gradient did indeed soon ease, and we were treated to a lovely climb through a forest.  What's more, we found ourselves passing a castle which even had some sort of jousting arena with grandstands and all (a large banner just past the castle didn't have any jousting images, but horses and riders were involved...).   

By now, the day had well and truly warmed up, and so to be staring down the barrel of a 1000m climb wasn't great.  We were running low on water, but after 30 minutes or so of mellow climbing, we finally were able to fill bottles at a fountain, and a minute later, grab a couple of gelati.  A brief descent took us through a village at the base of a chair lift, and then onto some sterner slopes.

Sarah wasn't enjoying herself much, which was a shame, as the surroundings were stunning.  I waited for a while in the shade only to find that someone had subtly defaced a sign there.  A male, no doubt...

The higher we got, the more the gradients eased, which was just as well.  We crossed a few bridges with crystal clear cool water running below them, but none had good walking access.  I've been admiring both residential and commercial woodpiles - it is clear that everyone takes pride in being orderly.  I particularly enjoyed a couple waiting for collection by trucks, with some nice design elements to prevent the logs rolling down the hill. 

We reached Passo Nigra, and then had a few basically flat kilometres which passed beneath a few chairlifts - it wasn't lost on me that there are easier ways to get up these hills than by bicycle.  

We needed to descend to the lake, and I took a back road through a village before joining the main road for a few minutes.  I was relieved and delighted that Sarah hadn't balked at the extra climb we'd need to do once we left the lake.  We spent a few minutes admiring the stunning water with the mountainous backdrop.  Well worth the trip, I reckon!

It was a bit of a grovel to get up to Passo Costalunga, but at least we weren't doing the full climb from Bolzano!  From the pass, it was a nice descent into the valley, and then we had 10km up-valley to Canazei, luckily at an average gradient of only 1% - just enough to keep the water moving in the right direction...!

On the outskirts of Canazei was a bicycle sculpture with "Bikeasy" written in front of it.  I'm not sure it was meant to be ironic, but after a hard but beautiful day in the saddle it certainly seemed so.

We "celebrated" our arrival with a disappointing panzerotto - a doughnut filled with mozzarella and tomato.  I will continue the search for a decent one...!!!!

We move on tomorrow!

Stats:  110km ridden, and a modest 2800 metres ascended!  One very beautiful lake seen, and plenty of dramatic mountain vistas.  Temperature range 13 to 36 degrees.