Another Day, Another Epic Pass - Gavia

Miles from Home - 5309.75
Firsts / Highlights - Climbed Passo Gavia and Bormio 2000 (the top of the gondola at the Bormio ski resort), drank hot chocolate at Rifugio Bonetta (restaurant at top of Gavia).
Miles Ridden - 47.9 miles
Vertical Feet - 7,173 ft.
Route - View Today’s Route Here
People - Rode alone. Dinner involves cross-talk between tables of 11 Dutch, 1 Belgian and 1 Yank.



The anxiety has not been fully eliminated, but I ventured on today and increased my mileage and vertical feet. I continued to follow Andy Hampsten by riding Gavia Pass. I have mentioned a few times that Andy is the only American to ever win the Giro, and it was on Gavia in a blizzard where he clinched the win. I thought of what he must have been going through many times on today’s ride. I think Andy is the most respected American cyclist by Italians, probably even more than Lance due to the courage of that win.

At a particularly difficult part of the climb today, I looked down at my computer and saw that my heart rate was 176. I’m not sure what my true maximum is, but that is pretty darn close. That is my body exclaiming like Scotty from Star Trek, “There isn’t any more. I’m giving you all she’s got”.



On the descent back to Bormio, I passed through a little mountainside town and accidentally became part of a funeral procession. I don’t know who died, but this tiny town came out in force. At the front of the line were a flag color guard, band and a priest. Behind them, people from the town seemed to drop whatever they were doing and joined one by one until there were over 100 people walking in a silent line. Most of the men had their hands clenched behind their backs. The sounds were stricking. In addition to the band playing music, the church bells were ringing at the end of the street drawing the procession toward them. I was behind the line and didn’t think it would be appropriate to ride past, so I became part of the procession for 20 minutes. It reminded my of a New Orleans style funeral, but I never heard the part where the band broke into celebratory Dixieland.

This last picture is a good view of Bormio from the second climb of the day called Borio 2000. Bormio 2000 is actually the name of the gondola that goes to the mid-way point of the ski mountain, but the road goes by the same name because it climbs to 2,000 meters.



Tomorrow may be a very big ride, but let’s not put that into the books until it happens.