June 15th: Misurina to Selva di Cadore

Jobst describes the Giau from this direction as a mere bump in the road, but two things would make it harder for us. First, none of us were Jobst. Second, we would be coming from Misurina, which meant that the first 200m from Cortina of vertical gain would be full of traffic and unshaded. Fortunately, the storm the night before had no just cleared the air of the Canadian wildfire smoke, but also cooled down the atmosphere considerably. At breakfast, I ordered Cappuchino not only for myself, but also for Bowen, drugging my firstborn with his first taste of performance enhancing drugs. His brother, having heard that Bowen was to be drug-enhanced, insisted on getting a Cappuchicno for himself as well! 

We loaded up the tandem with luggage from all 4 of us and rode to the campground to drop off the luggage and pick up Stephan and Otto, giving Bowen and Xiaoqin a headstart with instructions to wait at the bottom of Tre Croci pass in Cortina. Stephan and Otto had acquired their tandem in April just in time for the Pigeon Point qualifying ride. The irony of an Asian-American guy showing a German native the cycling roads in the Alps was not lost on me, but I was very happy that Stephan and Otto were coming along. Otto, being 7, looked up to Boen, who was acting as big brother to him for the first time in his life. Both kids got a lot out of the interaction, with Otto getting his cues from Boen and backing Boen up on everything. It was funny to watch Otto pick up Boen’s attitude, including dissing Bowen every chance they got. 

Riding the Tre Croci road under clear skies, Boen’s caffeine kicked in and we rapidly distanced the group, catching up to Bowen even before the first traffic control gating access to Cortina’s outer suburbs. We spotted the house where I’d had to beg for water from a pitying resident last year after neglecting to fill up at the water fountain at the bottom of the pass. This time, I saw why I’d missed that water fountain. Rather than being at the side of the road, it was at the side of the Cima Bianche bike path, leading from the train station away from Misurina. The day was warm enough that we filled everyone’s bottles and started using the first of our electrolyte tablets. 

Guiding everyone through the city of Cortina, we crossed the bridge spanning the river and started the climb. I’d established a signal group to get everyone in sync. Upon starting the climb I realized that route I’d laid out on Garmin connect tried to take diversions away from the main road in an effort to avoid traffic. I stopped and sent a message to everyone to ignore the GPS route and stick to the main road for the entirety of the climb. In cycling as in driving there is no substituting for using your brain rather than automated navigation systems. 

Mark and Arturo were clearly stronger, and Boen and I brought up the middle. The traffic was annoying so rather than stick together, we spread out and climbed at our own pace. Xiaoqin stayed with Bowen --- this was his first big ride with a lot of traffic, and we knew there was a tunnel en route. When we got to the tunnel even though there was a clear view to the rest area to our left we did not wish to deal the traffic and went straight through the tunnel, in one case riding pat an overloaded cyclist who was walking his bike. 

At the Pocul intersection we regrouped to make sure nobody went up the Falzerago instead. When Bowen and Xiaoqin arrived they had already stopped at the hotel before the intersection to pick up water so did not stop but kept going. That got me overly excited and Boen and I remounted our bike to chase and in the process I completely forgot about my precious CamelBak insulated water bottle sitting in the shade at the intersection. By the time I remembered we were a couple of hundred vertical meters up the road. Mark offered to go back to fetch it but I told him to leave it. In the grand scheme of things we’d be able to replace that bottle later on. 

Once past the intersection at Pocul the traffic was light and Boen and I switched to cycling caps instead of helmet. We were still fresh and hammered along up the climb at a good clip. At 12% grade even a 900m climb doesn’t last very long and in 90 minutes we were at the summit at the pass where we found Arturo and Mark waiting for us. Giau is an impressive summit with a long Dolomitic spire of a peak standing right in front of the summit restaurant. Crowds of people were there --- cyclists, motorists, hikers, all getting photos of the beautiful views. 

When Bowen, Stephan and Otto finally arrived we all had lunch at the resturant, followed by a hike to the spire for more photos. Looking at the available lodging, we found Orso Grigios, a highly rated hotel with a half pension. We booked it through the hotel website rather than booking.com for a better price. Otto wanted to get a headstart on us down the mountain and of course once a tandem gets going there’s no hope of chasing it down if a head started was granted of more than a few seconds. The descent was fast and furious as both sides of the Giau are at 12%. At that grade you have to use the best of techniques on a tandem. Rather than dragging the brakes, what you have to do is to let the bike roll and then brake hard down to walking speed for each corner before letting the brakes go completely. To do otherwise is to invite brake fade on disc brakes or overheating the rims to the point of a tire blowoff on a rim brake. 

We arrived at the bottom just in time to see Stephan, Otto, Arturo, and Mark ride off. We chose to wait for Bowen and Xiaoqin and then rode up to the hotel, where Otto Senior had already offloaded the RV with our baggage. Checking into the hotel, we quickly made use of the advertised swimming pool only to discover to our disappointment that it was a typical ski-resort swimming pool, more for wading and bathing than for satisfying swimming. 

After that, it was laundry and then dinner, which delighted everyone after 4 nights o Miralago. Every dish (including the goulash soup) was made with care and the presentation was outstanding. We ate a satisfying meal. The skies had gone from clear to threatening, and it actually started raining in the middle of our evening walk, whereupon we had to cut it short and retire to an early evening.