The Dolomite Giants:Tre Cime and Gruppo di Sella
June 23, 1999

Distance: 112 miles/180 kilometers
Elevation: 12,045 feet/3,670 meters
Difficulty: 8/10
Scenery: 10/10;
Route: Dobbiaco-Schluderbach-Lago Antorno-Cortina d'Ampezzo-
Pocol-Arraba-Sta. Christina-Ponte Gardena-Bolzano

Passes Covered:
Tre Cime de Lavaredo (2,320m)
Passo Tre Croci, (1,809m)
Passo di Falzarego (2,105m)
Passo Pordoi (2,239 m)
Passo de Sella (2,244m)
Passo di Val di Gardena (2,137m)

Prologue

As I finally manage to write this account, six months after the ride, I can’t help but look back wistfully at the wonderful week I had spent in the Dolomites in June 1999. I look out of my window; it is dark and dreary outside. It is literally freezing (0C, 32F) in London on this, the day before the 1999 winter solstice. Perhaps subsconsciously, I waited until the weather was seemingly at its bleakest to write about the time I spent amidst verdant mountains and brilliant sunshine. To everything there is a season. Sigh…

(Above: Lago Antorno on the way to Tre Cime de Lavaredo)

I have been off my bike for a full four months, and expect to be so for another two or so. Much like the lengthening and the shortening of the days, my cycling fitness ebbs and flows and I’ve often wondered why I make it so much harder on myself by "letting myself go" in the offseason. I suppose it’s the only way I know to keep myself from getting bored with cycling, to keep the motivation and challenge that stem from uncertainty about one’s form when tackling a mountain pass. My cycling interest seems to rejuvenate in rhythm with nature’s rebirth.

But what prompted me to write this account after having sat on it for so long was the poor form I noticed when I mounted the trainer at Cannon’s Gym two evenings ago. I needed to convince myself that my form, though even at its peak is average at best, was once there and could be again. I need the vicarious thrill that comes from reliving some of my personal finest cycling moments of the year. I dust off my notes…The days are once more at their longest…and off I go riding to the sun-drenched roads of Tre Cime de Lavaredo and the Gruppo di Sella….

*******

Having gotten used to the habit of basing myself in one place and doing cloverleaf-pattern bike rides from this base, I was stumped as to how I could ride up Tre Cime de Lavaredo with Bolzano as the starting and ending points. The problem was that Tre Cime and Bolzano were at the opposite ends of the Dolomites and a circuit ride would have been a 200-plus mile monster. So I scratched the Bolzano-to-Bolzano loop option. I studied the minimal Dolomite rail network and train schedule and concluded that a point-to-point from Dobbiaco (12 kms west of the Austrian border, elevation 1,243 meters) to Bolzano (262 meters) was the most feasible route. This would be something of a novelty for me—as far as I could recall, it would be my first time riding a route with a net elevation loss. Which was not to say that the ride was not hilly (sorry about the profusion of negatives there…).

I took the morning train that left Bolzano at half-seven and chugged north/northeast to the Tyrolean towns of Bressanone, Brunico and, two hours later, to Dobbiaco. Ever the pensive type, I was afforded ample opportunities by the long ride to ponder some of humankind’s enduring mysteries. The purpose of life was revealed to me. I found the proof to Fermat’s Last Theorem. I understood Jung’s acousal principle. I found a solution to the square root of a negative number. Alas, I couldn’t crack the question of who buys those gaudy Versace shirts. The mystery remains….

I was chilled by the mid-morning mountain air as I got off the train at the small, quiet station at Dobbiaco just before 10AM. Though the day remained sunny, the air temperature remained on the cool side through most of the day.

One other guy with a red, late-model Cannondale mountain bike also got off. We were both wearing neon-yellow windbreakers. His goggles were Briko’s; mine, Oakley’s. It’s clear that the town was not big enough for both of us. We eyed each other surreptitiously. Suddenly, he pulled some metallic item out of his jersey and purposefully headed towards me. I tightened my grip on the reassuringly sharp object I always kept in my pocket precisely for this situation….

But alas, my hex wrench was too small to fit the collar of his loose seatpost. He was dejected. (Sorry, readers, I’m just introducing a little levity to lift my spirits—it’s so miserable outside right now. Thanks for your indulgence. I promise I’ll recount the ride with minimal interruptions from now on….)

(Above: Getting underway on the Val di Landro, S51)

Since Dobbiaco was such a small town, I had no trouble finding the S51 from the station. This road, following Val di Landro, was to take me to Auronzo and the turn off to Tre Cime de Lavaredo. This stretch was, for the most part, easy, gaining only 200 meters in its 14 kilometers. Traffic was light to moderate. I rode with Mr. Cippolini (the guy in the Cannondale) for several miles (I was only kidding about the rivalry alluded to above—mountain bikers are humans too…). He was a local from Brunico and was more German than Italian. He was going to ride the trails around Monte Cristallo. We carried on a good conversation as we moved briskly through a lovely forest of pine. Up ahead were good views of Monte Cristallo, its slanted striations made obvious by dusting of snow.

(Above: On the S51 going south, Gruppo di Cristallo in the background)

After I told him that I’m headed to Bolzano via Tre Cime and the Sella group, he predictably shook his head, but did give me a tip as to the best vantage point from which to view the distinctive peaks, or cime, of Lavaredo (it’s by a small road-side chapel on the S51).

(Above: Two of the three Lavaredo peaks as seen from the S51)

(Below: Lago di Landro just north of Schluderbach, with Monte Cristallo more prominent)

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