A Weekend in the Alto Adige

This trip had its beginnings on Christmas Day. Henry, my son and I were leafing through a book of Alpine Cols that I had been given as a Christmas present and we commented that we had never ridden the Stelvio. Christmas festivities overtook the thought, but a few days later I got an email from Henry's office address which said 'I can do the Stelvio on the 17th July'.

So that was that.

Last Saturday, we flew out to Verona and drove up to Bormio, which is a good base for the Stelvio and a few other passes. On the Sunday morning - the 17th - we set out, and this turned out to be an extraordinarily good choice of time. An Italian building materials supplier, Mapei, that ran a successful cycling team in the '90s, was holding a race up the Stelvio. The road was closed to vehicles, there were food and drink stations and the Alpini had set up generators to light the tunnels. There was also a slightly worrying number of ambulances ...

Starting early, ahead of the main field, we were allowed to ride the course. Quite a number of other cyclists were taking advantage of the opportunity. Henry got to the top before the first racers, I was up with the leading bunch, which is a novelty for me. It was a great ride. We had a cup of coffee in the Stilfserjoch Hotel and, as it was still early, thought that we would ride down the other side to make a double crossing. There are 48 hairpins on that side - Henry would do the lot, and I said I'd do 20 or so as he is quicker than I am. That way we would arrive at the top at about the same time and could reward our efforts with lunch.

So Henry shot off and I busied myself with photography for a few minutes, before heading downhill until I got into the clouds - yes, they were far below us. That was cold and wet, so I turned back without regret and rode back up to the summit. Henry turned up a bit later and we enjoyed a good lunch, before setting off back to Bormio in picking rain. It was a fast run on almost empty roads, which was just as well. A few minutes after arriving at our Hotel the heavens opened.

On Monday morning it was sunny, so we set off to do the Mortirolo. This is the hardest of the climbs on any of the Grand Tours, narrow, winding gloomily through woods and unremittingly steep. Despite this generally poor reputation we found it to be a most enjoyable ride - perhaps the best of the classic passes that we have done. On turn 11 (of 33) is the Pantani memorial - a bit of a mess, to be frank - and, perhaps of greater significance to us at the time was the writing on the road at turn 15. 'Bar Mortirolo Mazzo', it said. Which was where we went when we came down. Just the job.

So, some excellent riding tucked into a short space of time. What about next year? Well, Henry hasn't done Ventoux, so riding the three routes in a weekend would be good. About the 15th July, I think.

Mark