Stage 29 Cortina d' Ampezzo - Canazei

If the rain comes
They run and hide their heads
They might as well be dead
If the rain comes
If the rain comes

Rain, I don't mind

Shine, the weather's fine

 This is the day we are not looking forward too, rain is forecast, we had a slight sprinkle just at the start, grey skies and plenty of climbing, and cool conditions. We can't really complain as this is the first day in five weeks since we have seen rain. Toughen up Princess!

 A group of us wandered into town last night for a lovely meal near Basilica Minore in the town centre.

Trina & David Pole position 

Chris Richards (USA) is ready to roll, I got my rain jacket on.

 We are also ready says Garry and Paul, I see Peter Bremner (AUS) and Bob Liles (USA) who joined us at Rome at the crossing.

Soon head out deeper into the Dolomite's which were formed 60 million years ago when the African & European plates collided, for those interested in geology this is the Cretaceous Period.
Formation of these mountains are due to wind, rain, glaciers and rivers, such as the Biote River which runs through Cortina.

A number of well known films were shot in Cortina such as The Pink Panther, For Your Eyes Only and the Cliffhanger.

A fairly long steady climb up towards Falzrego Pass. We had a choice today for two slightly different routes and Falzarego Pass is the junction, the right fork is approx. 10 klm longer with a little more climbing. We look at the skies and the forecast and decide to take the left fork which immediately is descending.

Falzarego Pass at 2100 mtr

This region refers to the King of Fanes, (Falza Rego) which means false kings. He was supposedly turned to stone for betraying his people, oh there he is on the right, I recognize him from his photos.

 This is what I like, now we are descending through open sided snow tunnels, it's cold so we want to head down the valley to warmer temperatures. A beautiful valley as well.

 We stop at Pezzei for some hot drinks as the weather is closing in. The view above is across the valley from our hot chocolate stop. Ross is not with us today still recovering, and Peter decides to take the longer route. Tom seeing our bikes also stops by. We order a round of hot drinks, then another, then another, some pit stop this is. The warmth has seduced us and we do not want to venture out into the cold. Tom orders big, the Full Monty, Spaghetti Bolognese, wow Tom we are only 30 mins away from lunch.

Make some WhatsApp calls home, introduce Sarah to the lady behind the counter, then time to head for lunch. No real rain yet but very threatening.

Arrive in Arabba, a lovely ski town with lifts heading in all directions.

Lunch Stop

This is also the where the two different routes meet again for lunch. Hearing the stories from those that took the slightly longer route, they all got soaked on the way through. We are lucky so far, no rain. 
We know that there is a  10klm climb to the top of Passo Pordoi. We have only continued the ride after lunch for five minutes and the rains start falling, and it is heavy, cold and persistent as we progress up the mountain in open grasslands, with many switchbacks. 
I keep a steady tempo in  these conditions, conversation is minimal, we are all riding solo, spread out on the slopes of the South Tyrol.
I reach the top of the pass at 2239 mtr, freezing and soaked. Steve Rogers (USA) is sheltering from the wind and rain. We stop for a few minutes and decide not to linger as it will only delay the agony, so we descend together towards Canazei.

Passo Pordoi where I stopped with Steve in good weather (not today)

This is also the climb up the pass in fine weather

The weather being totally closed in, does not enable us to see this spectacular scenery, so I have included a few photos from Wikipedia. The descent is bone chilling and teeth chattering, I am shaking all over, is the bike shaking not it's me alright, when will it end, zig zag, all the way down chairlifts over head, slippery conditions, and at last Canazei after 30 mins of descending.

Arrive at the camp to find only Dion (crew) to welcome us, the camp is deserted. Dion says that people are booking into the hotel up the road. As I make my way upto the hotel, Paul and Garry arrive and say Ross has booked us into a room for the night. I locate Ross and without collecting any change of clothes take at hot hot shower in full riding gear. A shower never felt soooh good. Ross can you please pick up my clothes from the camp? Pleeease!

The roundabout outside the hotel where the finish of the Giro 2017 (Giro monument above) was won by Pierre Rolland on the 24th May two weeks earlier.
We have tea at the camp, lovely too as conditions are very cool. Only three brave souls camping tonight, everyone else is in hotels. We had back to the hotel a short walk from camp. A few drinks with Martin, James, Cathy and Jim before retiring. Buona note!