Perfect Alps
02 Jul 2016
On the final day of a tour which had it all.....118,000,000 trillion curves... hard riding...monster passes...great views .......cruising twisties......late night shananagins... a stop at one of the tour guides local pizzeria in Arzl!!......boiling sun and torrential rain....(nothing like ducking out of a storm under a bus stop) .......we did not have many photo stops due to the rain today... but we rocketed over passes in Switzerland, Italy and Austria...... a week ago strangers meet for the first time.....over the week new friends were made........ it is not just the ride..it is the unity of a common bond that the road ties us together.... and this my friends is why we say.."Screw it, let's ride"........ "we all got time for dat" P E R F E C T.
Today was a very long day. These guys want to ride, and they ride long distances and hard. The more turns the better. Since day one, they were determined to do Stelvio Pass through the switchback side, even if it meant leaving early and arriving late, no matter the distance; and there was some of that.
Before we reached Stelvio (going round the long side) we had already done 200 Kms (120 miles) through the curvy roads of Weinstrasse. We flew up it and had lunch at Brunno's and continued to Gavia, and Mortirolo and round up to Livigno.... 425 Kms (265 miles) of Alp roads lead us to the hotel with a long smile.
Rest day in Riva del Garda and a short and intense ride up Passo della Forra for lunch at Hotel Paradiso. Whata beautiful day, and a great night for dinner in the old town!
Day three of this PERFECT Alps tour. Perfect weather, perfect asphalt, perfect bikes and perfect riders!!
Due to these guys being so keen to ride EVERY single road, that we had to find stuff to ride and not repeat on any day!!!! What a blast of a day. We left Collalbo and aimed for mendola, but since that was closed.... we had to lenghthen it by 60 kms towards the north to go around.... such a shame.... NOT!!
Kals to Klobenstein.................one word PERFECT.....as in PERFECT ALPS.........No!!! let me spell it for you P E R F E C T...because this tour is,,,and today was not a cloud in the sky............. we rode miles and miles and extra miles...this group on this tour is ALL ABOUT hammering out big miles....so we did....we added miles. we rode the Stallersattel....... we rode through Cortina....... and threw in a ride down to Longarone to ride the Stualanza...then the Passo Giau,,,which ROCKS LIKE NO OTHER.........and the Stella and a few more......I think we rode 118,0o0 million ( wink wink ) switch backs today...the reward..........HUGE smiles and a beer at the end of the day courtesy of "The Best Ride There is Edelweiss Bike Travel"............................................ tomorrow.....Riva Del Garda baby!!! THIS is WHY we ride!!!!!
Started with five eager riders on a cool morning out of Seefeld, none minded the cool temperatures as the anticipation of a great tour was on the horizon....and certainly warmed our hearts. We skirted into Germany for a few minutes. Then back into Austria and a great ride along Achen See. From there we headed our bikes towards the Krimml Falls, what a sight as 5 MILLION gallons of water tumble over the highest falls in all of Europe. The day was capped off with a marvelous ride over the Grossglockner..........................tomorrow....Italy and the Dolomites.