By Bike

Canazei to Bolzano

Dawn is my favourite riding time. The roads are quiet, I can smell and taste the full fragrance of the forest, and I’m carried along with a symphony of birdsong.

Two passes before breakfast – Pordoi and Sella. On Sella, I meet a couple of the locals.A pleasant scenic ride over P. Costalunga and P. Nigra on my way back to Bolzano to complete my round trip. A favourite cycling poem of mine is The Man With Rubber Pedals (by McG, http://auspoetry-production.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/35/transparency_original_original.gif)

Written more than 80 years ago, it’s a send up of young guy on the latest rig being humbled by an old jock on an equally antiquated bike by not being able to shake him off his wheel.

I was reminded of this story on the descent from P. Nigra, when a young man in rubber sand shoes flew past me on one of the tight bends. He had no helmet, no toe straps. How audacious I thought, and he was gone.
For the rest of the descent I wondered how did he do it – go that fast? I figured out I wasn’t leaning enough into the curves.

And so I have learned from the man with rubber sand shoes to let go and trust the rubber more.

According to Garmin

Total distance: 100.1km

Max speed: 75.5km/hr

Calories burned:3620

Ascent: 1835m

Descent: 2969m