Dolomites!

Anyone been? Staying in Canazei next week, and looking at a few mildly intimidating routes - there's a few nice looking loops of 70-150km, with a whole lotta climbing.
Sello Ronda seems to be a famous loop, and the Passo Giau is apparently unmissable. Any more around there? It looks rather fantastically scenic. And also steeper than the Alps. Eeep.

It's a bit of a drive but Zoncolan is about the most fearsome climb in pro-cycling....

If you have time I suggest to give a go to Misurina Lake > Rifugio Auronzo, a 7km climb that takes you at the feet of Tre Cime di Lavaredo.

Here's a picture from the lake with Tre Cime on the background.

Ha, yeah I'd almost be tempted to do that, but luckily I won't have the car during the day. Mind you, 15% average for 12km, and what, 20-25% sections - fuck. Not sure I'd be able to do it in one go.

Tre Cime di Lavaredo
That looks incredible, but a bit too far to get there and back.

Deploy the compact! A group on here did it a few years ago I think. It's made for some great racing in the Giro ...

I did the Mortirolo which is similarly horrible on 38/27 and it was diabolical. Definitely Compact next time.

Ok, so I'm here now and it's fucking magical. I'm three days in and utterly fucked...
Some things I have learned:

1. OH MY GOD it's stunningly beautifully majestically spectacular out here. Round every mountain there is another mountain that somehow managed to look even more incredible than the last.
   
2. It's steep. So steep. Deploy the compact indeed - those 7-8% gradients on the Alpine HCs are a mere bagatelle by comparison.
   
3. The roads go up, and the roads go down, but nothing else. Assuming you bang it down the descents like a grinning loon, the only place to recover is stopping for an espresso and gelato.
   
4. You must stop for espresso and gelato regularly, for both are wonderful things.
   
5. But probably don't go for three in a row mid-afternoon, because sleep is then hard.
   
6. It's really touristy. Guess it's peak Italian/Austrian holiday time, but this means there's a lot of traffic on the roads, especially mid to late afternoon. Annoying.
   
7. The drivers aren't great. Don't leave you much room, overtake when there's oncoming traffic, and oncoming traffic overtakes in your path, ignoring you. Motorbikes and coaches cut apexes even if you're halfway round the bend.
   
8. You can fill your bidons from pretty much every water fountain that exists. It's ace, and I know this is a bit pathetic but the whole asking to fill your bottle in a bar thing when you don't know the language is a real anxiety. It's bad enough in England.
   
9. It's cheap! Compared to the French and Swiss Alps, eating and drinking on the road is almost free. And the coffee's so much better.
   
10. I will come back here again. And again.
    

Sella Ronda and the Passo Giau are must dos, if you can do Tre Cime then I'd recommend it. Passo Falzarego is definitely worth doing, as is the Colle Santa Lucia down to Caprile if you can fit it in. And the Passo San Pellegrino, preferably from Moena to Falcade. The climb hits 18%, and it's a beast.

Falzarego is great - barely worth saying but the Giau has to be done.

I did 6 days there and rode on a standard double with 27 on the back. Very, very foolish bit of machismo. Compact is absolutely essential. I'd go back any time. Traffic was not bad in June when we went. Although the big, famous things like the Stelvio were busy. There are lots of small roads to explore with almost no traffic. We did one climb - not even given a name other than the road number - and despite qualifying for H.C. status there wasn't a single car all the way up.

Anyone got up to date Dolomite tips? Me and @cjr are thinking of heading there at the start of September. Debating whether to stay all seven days in Corvara or drive to Bormio and stay there for half of the time. Open to other location suggestions too!

There’s plenty to ride around Corvara to fill a week’s worth of riding. Spectacular scenery too.

Bormio is worth a trip too though, but there’s much less choice in terms of riding. You can easily fill three days though.

For a first trip I’d do the split trip, you can ride some amazing roads and get to see different parts of Italy. Bormio is very definitely Italian whereas Corvara and the surrounding area is more Germanic.

Which climbs are at the top of your list?

Nice one, thanks for the insight, just what I was looking for 👍🏻

Dunno really, it’s a bit of a last minute thing as we normally go to Majorca, Girona or around Nice but they’re all out due to covid.

Any suggestions?

Any suggestions?

Do hill repeats of your local multi-storey carpark like everyone else?

Any suggestions?

The Sella ronde is the classic route from Corvara covering four passes; the Gardena, the Sella, the Pordoi and the Campolongo. Can be done either way and is a morning/afternoon ride for someone with your talents.

The Giau is a must, a stunning and hard climb from the southern side. I like the Fedaia too, which is sometimes called the Marmolada, but that’s the glacier and mountain, the actual pass is the Fedaia.

A bit further afield is the road up to the Tre Cime, that’s a real brute, but the scenery is stunning. That said, all the scenery in the area is stunning, breathtaking views at every turn.

For Bormio, there’s three epic climbs that you should do, the Stelvio from the north, the Gavia from the south and the Mortirolo.

What andyp said. All good recommendations. I'd also add Falzarego in the Dolomites. San Pellegrino is worth doing too, as is the Colle Santa Lucia. Definitely do Tre Cima. It's a dead-end, so it's a there and back ride, but it's a proper climb.

If you go to Bormio then it's worth doing Umbrail as part of Stelvio - go up from Bormio, go down Umbrail, then up Stelvio and back down again. There's a rather nice restaurant about 1/4 of the way down Umbrail on a hairpin, but watch out on the descent if you indulge at lunchtime - some of the corners on Umbrail have a tightening radius if you're descending and a friend of mine nearly ended up headbutting a Citroen Picasso while we were chasing a Ferrari 360 down to the bottom. #CSB/GolfClubThread

TBH though, I'd spend the week in Corvara. There's more than enough riding to do there for a week, and then you can save Bormio for another trip. It's worth doing Mortirolo from both directions IMO. The route from the south is the most consistently difficult (and is the classic route) but the route from the north has some properly evil little ramps of 25+ degrees. And if you're in Bormio, it's worth popping over the border to do the Albula/Fluelapass loop. Both great, albeit very different.

Ah, international travel. I miss you so much, for so many reasons...

So basically, that turns out to be the advice I gave 5 years ago ^^^^^^^^. At least I'm consistent.

Really recommend Corvara. Great place and as others have mentioned more than enough riding for a week. I wouldn’t bother going to Bormio as well.

Excellent advice all round, thanks.

I reckon sticking to one base, less driving and packing / unpacking bikes means more time for recovery and eating.

Probably do one or two days driving an hour or so to get to further afield climbs / routes but we’ve not really planned things out yet.

I wouldn’t bother going to Bormio as well.

What, ever? You crazy, man. Stelvio.

#joking

I reckon sticking to one base, less driving and packing / unpacking bikes means more time for recovery and eating.

Especially if you're travelling with bike boxes. There's nothing so depressing (well, almost nothing) as having to pack a bike in a bike box in the morning because there's not enough room in the hire car for boxes+bikes, only to have to take the bikes out and reassemble them in the afternoon. Right PITA.

Riiiight? Suggestions for rides an hour or so drive away from Corvara welcome too ✌🏻

Zoncolan , 3 hours away if its on your bucket list, killer climb

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