This morning before we took off from our hotel, I took 1 last photo of Lake Garda. Notice the perfectly blue sky!
As we were leaving town, we went through a very long tunnel. There was no indication it was going to be so long tunnel so I did not check the distance but it must have been 3 or 4 miles long. Wow!
One of the early roads on today's ride was at the bottom of a river ravine. These roads are usually really good because they are always changing directions, just like the river. The mountain walls where towering several hundred feet straight up on either side of the river. Another great road.
In Italy, we have seen signs along some of the best roads with a photo of a guy dressed in motorcycle gear holding a baby. We don't know for sure what the sign says but we believe it has something to do with driving responsibly. Our translation is "Great Road Ahead!" The river ravine road mentioned above had one of these signs!
The first couple of passes we did were mostly 1 lane narrow roads. I don't think I have ever driven so much in first gear! It takes a lot of concentration while driving on this type of road. Also, due to the very tight switchbacks, one must always be in full control of the motorcycle between keeping it moving forward (either uphill or downhill) and keeping it balanced while turning very sharply at very low speeds. We all had lots of practice today! Here are a couple of views from the passes today.
Unfortunately, we had our first minor crash of the trip today. Patrick, with Alex as passenger, went down today as they crossed some railroad tracks that were slippery due to rain. Alex hurt her ankle; she thinks it is only a sprain. It happened in a small town where the tracks were in the right lane of the road where we were driving. Most of us stayed to the left of the tracks. Patrick crossed the tracks at one point and then had to cross them again and that is when the crash happened. The rider in front of them saw them go down so he stopped immediately to help. It took a little while for the others in front to realize we were missing the last 2 riders. We stopped and then Charlie went back and provided assistance. They were able to get the bike upright and lift Alex onto the bike. We then finished riding to our hotel for the evening. At the hotel, we helped lift Alex off the bike and helped her get into the hotel. As we are staying here for 2 nights, I am guessing Alex will take the day off tomorrow and then hopefully can finish the last few days of the trip. We will know more tomorrow.
Here is a picture of our hotel for the next 2 nights in Pontresina Switzerland. My room is on the top floor, 3rd window from the left.
Below is the view from my room. Hoping for more sunshine in the morning!
Tomorrow we should be riding Stelvio Pass. It is the most famous pass in the Alps. Stelvio pass is 9,045 feet which is the second highest in the Alps. It is only 43 feet shorter than Col de l'lseran in France which is the tallest pass. A few days ago, Charlie saw on the web cam that there was about 6 - 8 inches of fresh snow at the top! Right now the weather looks like there is a chance of rain tomorrow so we will see how it goes. I am so looking forward to this. Another bucket list item! Check back tomorrow so see how it went.
Comments
Post a Comment