Alps Friuli, July 2015 − Travels − Captain Tom

Alps Friuli, July 2015

Again a great ride into the Alps with my American riding buddies. This time into Friuli, the border triangle Italy, Austria and Slovenia in the northeast of Italy. The weather was perfect, rather too hot in the beginning. We have visited the big and known must haves like Großglockner and Sella loop and we enjoyed some little unknown gems like Mangart road, Forcella die Lavardet or Monte San Simeone.

1 Day #1

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I take off in Berlin in the morning.
I go to Seefeld near Innsbruck to meet Hector, who is comming from London. At the same time Paul, Rick and Erin go from Ljubljana to our base Hotel Bellavista in Ravascletto in Italy. Even in the morning it is quite hot (35 C &equal; 95 F)
Later in the day I get the first view to the mountains
Sylvenstein reservoir
2 Day #2

I go with Hector from Seefeld. The other three meet us halfway at Wuerzjoch

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I go with Hector from Seefeld. The other three meet us halfway at Wuerzjoch First joint lunch at Wuerzjoch
Erin at Wuerzjoch
We proceed via Staller Sattel. There is an alternating one way regime in place. Every hour for 15 minutes you can go one direction
Just before light turns green
Green light
Hector and Paul on Staller Sattel
3 Day #3

We do Großglockner. Thomas, Andreas and Ulli have joined us.

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But the day starts with a heavy fine for Paul. Not nice and not really comprehensible. That will rather prevent you from riding in Austria.
Before we ride Großglockner we have lunch in Zell am See Ulli, Erin, Paul, Tom, Thomas, Andreas, Hector
View from the lake to Großglockner
At the bottom of Großglockner we are full of pleasant anticipation
On Edelweißspitze
Hector, Erin, Thomas, Paul, Rick, Tom
Thomas
Tom and Paul
Erin
Panoramic view from Edelweißspitze
We go downhill from Edelweißspitze
Andreas
Hector
Erin
Going to Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe where the glacier is located
Erin and Rick in front of the glacier
In the evening Hector, Erin and I do the loop of Panoramica delle Vette. Most of it is gravel road but it rewards the rider with incredible views
The video
Erin and Hector
4 Day #4

We do the Sella loop. But we start with a little hidden gem: Forcella di Lavardet. Mostly rough gravel but then a very nice and even set of hairpins.

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Paul
Erin
The hairpins from the top
We are impressed
The video
Video going through Campolongo and S. Stefano di Cadore at the bottom of Forcella Lavardet
The we go up Giau Pass
Erin
Rick
Giau Pass
We have lunch at Santa Lucia
with great views
Getting gas is tricky. I reach the gas station in Corvara with range 0
We proceed to Groedner Joch...
... Sella Joch...
5 Day #5

A loop through Slovenia. We have some rain but only short showers. And the temperatures remain comfortable.

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We follow our daily morning coffee routine
In Kranjska Gora we get lunch and we discover this "motorbike"
Vrsic-Sattel offers 24 cobblestone paved hairpins on it's northern ramp
Paul
Hector
Rick
Erin
In total there are 50 hairpins - all properly numbered
In the evening a thunderstorm colors the sky
6 Day #6

The weather has improved. So again Slovenia to go on Mangart road

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There are cows on Nassfeld pass
We have lunch on Predil pass between Italy and Slovenia
Mangart is calling
Tom
Nice view
Erin
Hector
Ich look for further view points
Monte San Simeone enchants all of us. After a difficult, narrow road with gravel sections we enjoy the brilliant view
Even the look at the map is promising
The road
A paraglider over the valley
group picture: Tom, Erin, Rick, Hector, Paul
Tom and Paul
Enjoying the view
Paul and Erin
Paul and Rick
Hector and Erin
Tom
We go downhill
7 Day #7

Our last day together. We go again towards southeast.

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Morning coffee
Riding up Monte Rest
On top of Monte Rest
Cuel di Forchia
Lunch in Slovenia
Afternoon coffee on our way over Sella Chianzutan
And again I go 5 kilometers with range 0. I get 19.18 liters of fuel into the 18 liter tank
At the end a picture of Hotel Bellavista in Ravascletto
8 Day #8

I have a long way home. Almost 1000 km (about 600 miles)

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I start with Plöckenpass
The waterfall Jungfernsprung at Großglockner shows a lot of colors in the morning sun
On Großglockner at Hochtor I get a great view
Rather by chance I see this view point onto river Salzach close to Burghausen
In the end bike and GPS report different distances but it was a long day and I had more than 3.700 kilometers (2.300 miles) of nice roads.