Disappointingly I have very few photos today, despite taking heaps. My camera memory card seems to have had a myocardial infarction!

It was to be a reasonably long day..about 135 km to get from Cortina, in the Dolomites, to Asolo, in the Veneto.  This was the route followed.

I was told by Geoff we HAD to be on the road by 8 am. Breakfast, get changed, pack gear, attach to bike and ready! But first I wanted to say farewell to John, the Irishman. I found him in the breakfast room. He told me he set his alarm for 6 am as he wanted to say farewell but then fell asleep. He thought he had missed me to,say goodbye.  Very sweet and witty man, but I have promised to email him upon my return to Australia.

It was only 2 degrees and we had a descent to start with so all clothes  were on. We retraced some of the previous day route in reverse. Traffic was not light.

We had coffee at the 45 km mark and then did not stop until 107 km. We rode on a variety of surfaces, roads , unsealed cycle tracks.  The latter included pinches of up to 20 percent and were unrideable, for me anyway.

The two biggest laughs of the day….The first one was at the end of one of those unrideable bike tracks. It was horrid…steep, rocky and I was pushing my bike. It looked like a construction site…at the end there was a sign…in Italian it said that the site was a mine site, and any trespassers would be shot! Next to it was this sign….

The second funny thing is this picture taken by my riding companion Geoff. I was not that hungry and I was not really enjoying this dish…too many carbs 😂😂😂

The last few km into Asolo were up a nasty hill of around ten percent. The old town looks really interesting.

I have now met a couple of our Giro touring team ( Italy Bike Tours) looking after us including Alberto, Daniele and Georgio. Daniele is a former professional rider, having won a stage of the Vuelta. He was also a team mate of my favourite cyclist Peter Sagan for many years. He had many stories to share over dinner.

Also met two other guys doing the same tour. Luke from London ( expat Aussie) and Peter ( Sydney)

So tomorrow the plan is to check out Asolo better in the morning. We then ride in the afternoon to watch the Giro stage finish.

Back at our accomodation, here is the scene is the shared bathroom aka laundry….

Those are NOT my clothes soaking in the bidet! My riding companion is using the bidet to wash his clothes!!! 😩

Until tomorrow, 😊💪🚴