This was to be one tough day as we headed off to climb Passo Gardena in the Dolomites.

Our Air BnB did not offer any breakfast or coffee, so we put on our still damp clothes and headed off in search of food.

As we dropped down towards Bolzano what an amazing view. This is looking towards Austria and the Brenner Pass, which we have been through before on bikes.

We were predominantly on bike paths to the turn off to Passo Gardena. It was a slight incline of 1-2% .

Things started going astray at this point with the three roads you can see. We stopped to take this photo and my left foot would not uncleat.

After much fiddling I removed my feet from my shoe and Tony had to remove a screw from the peddle, as I had lost a screw out of the cleats and the plate was mobile.

So Tony was able to replace the missing screw on my shoe cleats, but the peddle was not quite right and super fiddly.

This well meaning German stopped to try and help Tony but more frustrated Tony further.

At this time I realised I had an upset stomach. Maybe that seafood paella had one dodgy shellfish in it, but I needed scrub, quickly!!

We rode on with Tony taking the dodgy pedal meaning he had one foot cleated, the other on the flat side. Not ideal for the big climb ahead.

Then it started. The signs said 31 km Passo Gardena, although we would be using a mixture of road and path thereby making it longer.

Passo Gardena is at 2100 metres above sea level. You can see from the graph it is a considerable climb, let alone bike packing.

The start of the climb is the start of this tunnel which climbs inside.

As we climbed, the Giro d’Italia team buses were descending along with the plethora of UCI, broadcaster and team cars.

There were signs of the Giro everywhere…including the Giro stage start at this village we rode through.

With my gastro and Tony’s one pedal we kept moving

17 km into the 31 km climb, we found this bike shops and stopped. We purchased a set of new pedals.

Up we went, interspersed with my sudden stops for my gastro.

With only 1.5 km to go, the thunderstorm started, along with some rain. It was getting cold but because the legs were working hard, that generates body heat. The thunder was scary and being at that altitude was not ideal.

The skies were getting quite dark.

I was delighted to get to the top in one piece. We took shelter under the eaves of a shop that was closed.

There were about 8 other cyclists there who gave me a cheer and thumbs up as I arrived, pointing at my luggage with looks of ‘ you’ve ridden up here with THAT?’

Yes we did. Do I recommend this climb for other cycle touring riders ? No way! Without luggage sure! It’s amazing scenery.

The cyclists were from the Czech Republic and were doing Sella Ronda ( a circuit ride of 4 peaks). I did not envy them as they started their descent.

We got out all of our warmest gear. I put my long legged bibs on over what I was wearing as there was no way I was stripping down in such cold weather.

This is the view at the start of the descent towards Covara. The sun is shining to the eastern Dolomites.

We froze our everything’s off on the descent. We had about 16 km to descend to our accomodation. Our fingers were cold, it was raining and as I followed Tony I could see his bike wobbling.

He stopped to check his wheels, as it looked like a spoke had popped, but no, it was his shivering. I was shivering too as the legs do not work descending so we are not generating body heat.

I encouraged him to keep moving slowly descending as we needed to get down to a lower altitude where it would not be quite as cold.

The road is wet as it is raining lightly, and there are many hair pin bends, so it is a very slow descent too to avoid slipping.

Covara looked nice, but we kept moving down the valley.

Arriving at our accomodation we were truly thankful. It is an amazing place with a fantastic bike room full of high end bikes, great cleaning and maintenance gear.

I had half board here. It cost us $415 to stay including dinner.

It was a delightful 5 course meal. Our room has an amazing view.

We are tired tonight. I think that is the hardest day we have done touring. Climbing 2000 metres on a climb that included over 14% sections, in weather that was not always supportive, me with gastro, Tony with one pedal for a chunk.

We did good! 😊❣️