It was clear and beautiful in the morning, perfect for our climb up from Pfunds. We rode up the road a bit and then descended to the Pfunds campground to drop off our bags. After that, it was a ride on the bike path until Voderrauth, where we rejoined the main road rather than staying on the bike path. The bike path there would take you along a series of unnecessary climbs while the road on a Friday morning had relatively little traffic.
After a few galleries, we crossed into the Swiss border and the road got appreciably smoother as it went through a series of galleries before descending down to the river at Martina. At Martina, we stopped at the water fountain to refill our water bottles and then crossed the border back into Austria to begin climbing Nobbertspass. This was my third time climbing it and it was by far the easiest, having started when fresh and on a relatively cool day.
At the top, we regrouped. Xiaoqin's power meter had drained, and with Bowen's Edge 830 broken, we just moved the battery from his power meter onto hers. My power meter battery had also drained yesterday, but I had replaced it last night. Boen's power meter battery was also drained, but I hadn't brought the charger for that power meter so it was going to stay dead the rest of the trip.
When everyone had arrived, we descended to Nauders and bought lunch at the Mpreis supermarket. We didn't eat there, however, as it was still early and I knew the perfect place for a picnic. Following the bike path towards Reschenpass, we noted big displays that indicated that there was huge cycling event soon to happen. Then I remembered that Nauders was famous for the Night Race that was happening tonight! It was a good thing we weren't planning to stay in town that evening as there was likely to be no lodging available!
Part of the bike path was closed so we backtracked a bit and then rode towards the Italian border, where we stopped to take the obligatory picture at the zero kilometer marker designating the start of the Alto Aldige bike path that could take you all the way to Lake Garda, Verona and Venice if you were so inclined.
The weird thing about the border is that the climbing doesn't stop! It keeps going uphill until just before the Reschensee. Once we hit the Reschensee, a right turn took you to a playground with a zipline, a shaded park bench, and a water fountain, ideal ingredients for a picnic lunch. Of course we had lunch there, and took turns on the zipline as well.
The ride along the Reschensee bike path is gorgeous. It's not flat, but undulates enough to grant you dramatic views of the famous half-buried church tower designating the town that was drowned when the dam was constructed, as well as the lake proper. It is truly one of the prettiest bike paths you can use and it dumps you right on top of the hydro-electric dam that created the lake. From there, it's a series of fast and furious descents starting with the Lago della Muta Haldersee and then dropping all the way to Clusio, then Laudes. The bike path has been re-routed in recent years and now there are no longer any wacky turns to unwanted places but drops you directly into Glorenza.
In Glorenza, there's a hotdog stand that Arturo has waxed lyrical about for years, having missed it last year when it was closed as we were headed down to Merano. This year it was open and he bought everyone who wanted a hotdog one! What was new to me was the fresh strawberry vending machine next to the hot dog stand, and we bought berries from there too. From here, it was a hop, skip, and a jump to get to Prato Allo Stelvio, where we filled our water bottles before starting the climb of the East side of the Stelvio in the afternoon heat.
Fortunately, this afternoon wasn't that hot, and to my surprise, since the last time we came by this way, the Italians had finished building the bike path from the bottom of the climb to the first bridge, the most annoying section of the Stelvio. This separated bike path not only granted peace and quiet to a cyclist climbing at a low speed compared with the prevailing motor traffic, but was also right next to the river, for maximum cooling effect and scenic beauty! So the climb was very pleasant, and Boen and I took advantage of it before it disappeared just before the first gallery marking the final ascent to the village of Gomogoi.
From Gomogoi to Trafoi was steep, with a short section at 12% grade, but it was also high enough that the worst of the heat was behind us. Boen and I had long gotten rid of our helmets for maximum climbing pleasure, and we arrived at Trafoi in due course at the Hotel Madatsch. At the hotel, however, we realized that Otto Senior had been riding, and wouldn't be back for a while --- it turned out that we had missed him coming the other way!
When he did arrive, we rode with him to the campground and picked up the luggage, then rode back to the hotel to check in. After we checked in, we went back just as Bowen and Xiaoqin arrived with Stephan and Otto. We got settled in. The hotel was fancy, but we'd booked cheap rooms and hence the view was better outside the hotel than from inside the room. But the room was big and the elevator worked, and there was even a balcony where we could dry our clothing!
A fancy hotel like this even had free snacks, potato chips, pop corn, etc. As we were starving, we grabbed the free stuff and sat outside to enjoy the scenery. Dinner was great, and we were starving so everything tasted good. I made multiple rounds to the salad bar, which in Italian fashion was never really refilled so the good stuff disappeared early.
After dinner, we walked up the street and discovered that the road was blocked! Arturo spoke to the manned blockade and we were told that this was the Stelvio Night event, where only bicycles, pedestrians, and so forth were allowed on the mountain until 8am! If we hadn't already paid for the hotel we might have been tempted to ride it. Well, not really, we'd already done plenty of riding that day! A glorious alpenglow surrounded us on our walk and we felt ourselves fortunate.
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