Yesterday (Tuesday) was a travel day from Fano to La Val in Alta Badia. We were sitting on the train platform, with 10 minutes until our train was supposed to arrive, when we realized that we hadn't remove our pedals from our bicycles! Damn! Nothing we could do at that point.
So, we boarded the first of three trains and spent the next 6 hours playing cribbage, talking and staring at the scenery as we moved up the coast, across a broad valley and into the mountains. A bus and a crazy car ride later, and we were at our destination for the next five nights - the Hotel Pider in La Val (https://www.pider.info/en/hotel-pider/welcome.html).
This hotel was recommended to me by a guy I'd emailed about mountain biking opportunities in the area (http://www.dolomitebiking.com/en/). This is a "bike hotel", which really caters to cyclists and was actually one of the few hotels inn the area open during the "off" season. We might have hit a home run on this one!
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| The view from our room did not disappoint |
Since we arrived late in the afternoon, we did not have time to schedule mtn bike rentals from one of the local bike shops. No worries, Markus (the owner) says, we have E-mtn bikes here that you can use. E bikes? Hmmm, kind of goes against the mantra of earning your downhill, but what were we to do?
The next morning we met with our tour guide, Mathius, as well as another rider staying at the Hotel Pider from the Netherlands (Rinus). With all the snow in the area, the "good" single track trails were closed, so this ride would be on a mix of "gravel" and pavement.
Apparently nothing is flat in the Dolomites, and we immediately hit a hill as we left the hotel (which is located halfway up a mountain!) I felt like I would be cheating if I used the electric function of the bike, so kept it switched off on this initial hill. Tamara said that with the function off, it felt like the brakes were being activated.
As we moved up, Mathius gave us some instruction on the E bike (always keep it turned on), so I obliged. What a feeling! Being able to move up a hill with minimal effort was awesome and we quickly got the hang of them.
After a quick climb and a screaming downhill on the pavement we switched over to some gravel tracks and headed through a Natural Park.
As we moved through the park, the sun played a bit of hide and seek with us. This mixed sunshine made the views outstanding, and these pictures do NOT do the views justice!
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| Dropping down into Badia |
We dropped down out of the mountains into the valley in a light rain and entered the town of Badia. The thought was to possibly stop and grab a bite, but we all decided to snack on an energy bar and to continue on.
Leaving Badia, we again headed up a steep hill. I'm sure it was much steeper for Matthias and Rinus, who were not experiencing the joy of E bikes. By this time, the sun had pretty much disappeared and it was raining more often than not. We were still a ways from the hotel when we had a decision to make - take a short cut back to the hotel or climb more away from the hotel? We chose to climb more.
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| Mathias and Rinus on one of the few single track sections |
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| Tamara getting the scoop from Mathias |
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| Just a bit muddy at this point |
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| Over looking the park area |
Now it was time for more downhill!
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| Our hotel is down there somewhere |
A few more twists, turns, and downhill sections and we were back at the hotel - 4 hours later. An awesome day!
Stats
Distance - 26 miles
Elevation: 5000 feet
Link to GPS track
Link to Dolomiti day due
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