Day 2 - Bormio-Mazzo-Mortirolo-Ponte di Legno-Gavia-Bormio (76 miles)
Profiles: Passo Mortirolo | Passo Gavia
We'd been chatting to various people at the hotel (mainly
cyclists) and everyone was interested in what the others were doing.
We started to get a bit anxious when we mentioned what our plans
were for today, and the responses we were getting. The Mortirolo, yes, the Gavia, yes, but then
'in the same day??' There were a few raised eyebrows, a few
'good lucks' and a few more 'that will be tough'. Had we
underestimated this route we began to wonder?
We were all up early, I think most had trouble sleeping thinking about today. Breakfast was pretty quiet as we all ate as much as we possibly could. Mauro had arranged to meet us in the car park at 9am, so after cleaning out the breakfast buffet (Brian tried to do that single-handedly ;-) we all changed, picked up the bikes and congregated in the car park.
It was a perfect morning. Blue sky, sunshine and no wind to speak of. Someone must like us I thought. We all rolled out of the hotel car park, and set off down the valley to Mazzo. For those interested in doing this route, there is a nice road down the valley through Capina on the SP78 which keeps you off the main SS38 road and those awful tunnels. Just when you think you're heading for the tunnel, there's a road off to the right which runs alongside it for a while. We all expected this to be downhill all the way to Mazzo, so were surprised by a short climb mid-way of about 300m, but it wasn't anything to worry about. It is in fact quite a downhill run. You start at Bormio at around 1,200m and end at Mazzo at 550m.
We almost took a wrong turn at Grosio which does indeed take you up the Mortirolo, but that is not the 'legendary' route. For that you need to head to Mazzo. We all congregated at Mazzo, posed for a few pictures and then it was off up the Passo di Foppa (Mortirolo). The climb to the summit from Mazzo is 12.5kms, with 1,300m of climbing and an average gradient of 10.6%, topping out at 1,852m, and there are a couple of places where the gradient reaches a maximum of 20%. It's also a pretty relentless climb.
My first impression was what a wonderful road surface for such a small (tiny!) road. But then of course the Giro d'Italia comes over this way, and they look after their cyclists over there. It really is a lovely climb. At times I felt like I was riding up someone's drive. On a couple of occasions you come out of the trees and get wonderful views down to the valley below. It was amazing how high we seemed to be getting so quickly. By this time of course the rest of the guys were long gone, save for Mauro who kindly agreed to chaperone me to the top. It was good to be in the shade of the trees most of the time. This climb certainly has a different feel to your usual Italian climbs, and some of the sections are certainly steep. After 8km of climbing, at a height of 1,470m, we came to the hairpin which houses the memorial to Marco Pantani. It's in a very dark sombre place and that somehow seems quite fitting. Lots of cycle caps, banners, bottles etc and of course the simple but impressive monument to the man himself, looking over his shoulder to see the look on the faces of the following riders. It was just after the monument that I felt was the hardest part of the climb, possibly another reason why the spot was chosen, but I certainly wasn't feeling like Marco Pantani by then ;-)
At last I heard the cow-bells. Now, this either meant a vast crowd was waiting at the summit for me, or there were indeed cows in the pasture near the top. I'm afraid it was the latter, but as we came out of the trees, we could see the road bending around and finally, the summit sign appeared where Stu and Richard were waiting for us. The ultra-modern summit sign looked horrendously out of place up there, I much preferred the small wooden sign on the opposite side of the road. It had been a great climb, and in all that time and distance I think we saw 3 cars. A few photo's at the summit and, although it was sunny, it was on with the windproofs and we started the descent off the Mortirolo. Unfortunately, the fast descent didn't last long as we came up behind a large herd of cows being taken down to lower pastures. This cost us a bit of time, but it was nice being in the sunshine listening to the cow-bells clinking with the farmer and his dog ambling down the road behind them, and they weren't going to be rushed by anybody. We didn't have to wait too long and then we continued the descent down to Monno where we met the rest of the guys congregated around the town fountain. With bottles re-filled and windproofs off, we headed off up the drag to Ponte di Legno. I found this stretch quite draining. It's only about a 200m difference between Monno and Ponte di Legno, with nothing steep at all, but I just found it leg sapping.
We entered Ponte di Legno and Mauro found us a restaurant which at first glance appeared to be closed, but the owner agreed to rustle up some spaghetti and tomato for us (Mauro's Italian charm I guess ;-). Mauro generously paid for the meal for us. Whether Mauro knew what was coming or not I don't know, but he suddenly said 'we must go - now'. I took this to mean that if we don't go - now, we won't get home tonight (and I wasn't far wrong!). We all rode together out of Ponte di Legno, climbed a bit of the Passo Tonale then reached a crossroads, where we headed on to the start of the Gavia. With hindsight we could probably have saved ourselves that little effort and used a back road from the restaurant.
Before we knew it, the road started to gently rise, and this was it - the Passo Gavia. It wasn't long before the road narrowed and we were on the climb proper - not much wider than the road up the Mortirolo, and billiard ball smooth. To get ahead of myself, this just has to be one of the most beautiful climbs I have ever ridden. It's a 1,363m climb from Ponte di Legno over a distance of 17km's, and average gradient of 7.9% which, having done it just doesn't seem right to me. Once again, the road surface was immaculate, and once again traffic was almost nil. Mauro courteously did his chaperone job with me while we let the others get on with it.
There were some fantastic views as we climbed. As we zig-zagged around the hairpins in the trees, we caught wonderful glimpses of the high mountains, particularly the Presanella and Adamello mountain ranges to the south. Occasionally the hairpins would open out and the trees would give way to let you take in the view, and appreciate just how high you'd already climbed! The km markers counted down the distance to the summit, and I swear there were two markers that both said 8km. This did not do my morale any good at all - maybe I was hallucinating. By far the hardest section is when you come to the tunnel around 4km from the summit, though I have to say I was feeling pretty cooked from about 6km from the top. There were some huge boulders on top of the tunnel which is obviously being extended a bit (either that or repaired!). The tunnel is unlit and is possibly the steepest part of the climb - a good 15% I reckon. Still, only 4km to go I thought. That can't take long surely? Wrong again. I found myself quite disorientated in the blackness of the tunnel. I only had my 'be seen' light on the front but had cleverly hung my helmet over it further down the climb, so that was next to useless. I could see Mauro's rear light in front, and tried to follow that, but occasionally found myself right over the other side of the road. Luckily, there was no traffic at all. As we came out of the tunnel, the road appeared to level off a bit, but again, hallucinating I think, as it was just as hard as the tunnel itself. It was then I saw the hairpins up to the summit and must admit my heart sank as it seemed MUCH further away than it should have been. I was in real grovel mode now, and the road surface deteriorated rapidly the closer we got to the top. It was getting cold up here. The sun was just beginning to sink behind the mountain on our left, but it was casting a lovely pink glow on the snow higher up. On I plodded and after what seemed an age, the last hairpin was taken and the wonderful 'Passo Gavia 2621m' sign appeared.
There was no one to meet us at the summit and I don't blame them, it was absolutely baltic up there. I can't begin to describe how cold it was. Icicles hung from the pass sign and the buildings at the summit. Mauro was now very cold, and having trouble fastening zips etc (he needs to eat more I thought to myself - 56kg doesn't leave much room for a fat layer! ;-) After a couple of photos it was on with the windproofs, gloves, balaclavas, and anything else we could find in our pockets, and we began the most amazing descent I have ever done. There was now no sun on us at all as we rounded the top of the mountain, and the start of the descent was purgatory. Cold hands, cold feet, cold everything. The descent starts off quite twisty and technical, but the further you descend, the better the road surface becomes and the bends are more and more shallow. I reached 45mph on this stretch and before we knew it we were descending down to San Antonio. It was just after here that we recognised the van. Stu and Sadiq had very kindly driven out to see if we were OK (which we were now ;-) So, we zoomed on past and on down to Bormio.
What a day. I've never been so glad to get into a hot shower. For me, this was an absolutely magical day. I'm no climber and I really have to put a lot of effort in to get over climbs like these, so I was absolutely over the moon that I'd managed both these legendary climbs in one run. On top of that, they are simply stunning climbs. The Gavia in particular. It has to be one of the finest climbs in the Alps. At the time, I thought it couldn't possibly be beaten, but a couple of days later I was having to reassess that statement.
At dinner that night Mauro amused us with typical Italian behaviour. The waitress asked him what he ordered. He replied in Italian, she laughed and went off to the kitchen. We asked him what he said to her and he'd said " When I looked in your eyes I forgot what food I had ordered". You've got to hand it to them - they never stop trying ;-)