How 9 Became 8
As I was thinking what to name my blog today while we were riding, I decided I was going to use "Conquering Stelvio". As the day progressed, I realized I needed a new title. Here is what happened.
We left at 9:00 as planned. On our way, we went through a very long tunnel. It was much longer than the previous tunnel I mentioned. I would guess this tunnel was 5 or 6 miles long. Charlie mentioned the tunnel saves about 1.5 hours of driving.
It took us a little over 1 hour to drive back into Italy and get to the bottom of Stelvio pass. For many of us on the tour, this is the highlight of day and of the trip. Other than Charlie, no one else had ridden Stelvio. As I have shared before, Stelvio is the most popular pass in the Alps. It has 50+ hairpin corners on just one 1 side of the pass. People (pedal bikers, motorcyclist, car drivers) come from all over to drive Stelvio. As we approached the pass it was a mad house. People and vehicles of all sorts were everywhere! As we started up the pass, the madness continued. Some people seem to think it a race to the top. People are passing everywhere. For a moment, I thought I was in a NASCAR race; we come out of 1 corner 3 wide (4 if you count bikes). Bikers from other groups are passing and filter between the groups. At some points, it felt like the goal was survival! Fortunately, we all made it safely to the top. At the top, there are several hotels, souvenir shops, restaurants etc. We agreed to spend about 40 minutes at the top of the pass and everyone went their own way.
I have many different photos from Stelvio; here are just a few.
This photo of the road we took up the pass.
This photo is near the top on the back side looking back down. The building you see in the distance is where the above picture was taken looking up.
We then continued back down Stelvio using the same road we came up. We were most of the way down and the front of the group pulled off to the side waiting for the remainder of the group to catch up. After we waited a few minutes, one of the other rides pulled in and said, "Not good - Patrick has crashed". Charlie and I headed back up to see what was going on while the others waited. As we headed back up, we found Patrick, the crashed bike, Martin, and Allen who were waiting with Patrick. Patrick was not hurt; that was the good news. The bad news is it didn't take long to determine the bike was totaled. Now began sorting out what to do next.
We are not sure exactly what caused the crash; it may have been that he was coming into a corner faster than he should have. He did not make the right-hand corner and hit or slide into a Porsche car coming in the other direction. The car had some damaged behind the driver's door and a flat tire. The driver of the Porsche and his wife were from Germany. They also had another friend that was following them. The police were notified and said it would take at least 30 minutes to arrive; in reality, I think it was almost 1 hour. The Porsche driver is a member of some German Auto Club and they sent a truck to pick up the car because it doesn't have a spare tire. Go figure, spend that kind of money on a car and you don't even get a spare! There German couple was very friendly through it all; not a hint of anger. They were just glad Patrick was not hurt.
Eventually the police arrived. From what I hear, they said they could not do anything because the vehicles had been moved (to allow traffic through). Shortly after all the information exchange was done, the tow trucks for the Porsche and for the motorcycle arrived at nearly the same time. After the bike was loaded, we continued on. As I had 1 of the largest bikes remaining, I offered to give Patrick a ride. We took a short way back to the hotel over 2 lower passes and everyone was back at the hotel. That is how we went from 9 bikes down to 8 today.
Patrick and Alex are now trying to figure out how to get back to Thun which is where the tour will end. I believe the current plan it to drop Patrick at a car rental place in St. Moritz tomorrow morning during the first part of our ride; it is not far away. He will then drive back to our hotel to pick up Alex and then drive to Thun. Martin will drive his bike back to Thun as well to be with Patrick and Alex.
The photo below is of the bike after it was loaded on the tow truck. Bummer.
On a different note, we had dinner at the hotel again tonight. They have a very diverse menu with many types of meat. Yesterday I had veal Cordon Bleu and that was really good. Other options included rabbit, duck, and pork to name a few. Tonight, there was 1 other meat on the menu I had not had before so I had to try it; horse fillet (yes that is correct). It was actually really good. It was tender and juicy like beef but had a little mild wild flavor like venison. Martin also had it and we both enjoyed it!
Tomorrow we continue to work our way back towards Thun so we will enjoy more of the Swiss Alps. Only 2 more days of riding remain.
We left at 9:00 as planned. On our way, we went through a very long tunnel. It was much longer than the previous tunnel I mentioned. I would guess this tunnel was 5 or 6 miles long. Charlie mentioned the tunnel saves about 1.5 hours of driving.
It took us a little over 1 hour to drive back into Italy and get to the bottom of Stelvio pass. For many of us on the tour, this is the highlight of day and of the trip. Other than Charlie, no one else had ridden Stelvio. As I have shared before, Stelvio is the most popular pass in the Alps. It has 50+ hairpin corners on just one 1 side of the pass. People (pedal bikers, motorcyclist, car drivers) come from all over to drive Stelvio. As we approached the pass it was a mad house. People and vehicles of all sorts were everywhere! As we started up the pass, the madness continued. Some people seem to think it a race to the top. People are passing everywhere. For a moment, I thought I was in a NASCAR race; we come out of 1 corner 3 wide (4 if you count bikes). Bikers from other groups are passing and filter between the groups. At some points, it felt like the goal was survival! Fortunately, we all made it safely to the top. At the top, there are several hotels, souvenir shops, restaurants etc. We agreed to spend about 40 minutes at the top of the pass and everyone went their own way.
I have many different photos from Stelvio; here are just a few.
This photo of the road we took up the pass.
Here is a video I took as we stopped and got a good view on our way up the pass. All the vehicles look like ants following their trail!
Top of Stelvio Pass.
After our time at the top of the pass, we started part way down the backside. Here we stopped and took photos looking back up to the top from the back side. After taking the photos, we headed back to the top of the pass.
This photo is near the top on the back side looking back down. The building you see in the distance is where the above picture was taken looking up.
We then continued back down Stelvio using the same road we came up. We were most of the way down and the front of the group pulled off to the side waiting for the remainder of the group to catch up. After we waited a few minutes, one of the other rides pulled in and said, "Not good - Patrick has crashed". Charlie and I headed back up to see what was going on while the others waited. As we headed back up, we found Patrick, the crashed bike, Martin, and Allen who were waiting with Patrick. Patrick was not hurt; that was the good news. The bad news is it didn't take long to determine the bike was totaled. Now began sorting out what to do next.
We are not sure exactly what caused the crash; it may have been that he was coming into a corner faster than he should have. He did not make the right-hand corner and hit or slide into a Porsche car coming in the other direction. The car had some damaged behind the driver's door and a flat tire. The driver of the Porsche and his wife were from Germany. They also had another friend that was following them. The police were notified and said it would take at least 30 minutes to arrive; in reality, I think it was almost 1 hour. The Porsche driver is a member of some German Auto Club and they sent a truck to pick up the car because it doesn't have a spare tire. Go figure, spend that kind of money on a car and you don't even get a spare! There German couple was very friendly through it all; not a hint of anger. They were just glad Patrick was not hurt.
Eventually the police arrived. From what I hear, they said they could not do anything because the vehicles had been moved (to allow traffic through). Shortly after all the information exchange was done, the tow trucks for the Porsche and for the motorcycle arrived at nearly the same time. After the bike was loaded, we continued on. As I had 1 of the largest bikes remaining, I offered to give Patrick a ride. We took a short way back to the hotel over 2 lower passes and everyone was back at the hotel. That is how we went from 9 bikes down to 8 today.
Patrick and Alex are now trying to figure out how to get back to Thun which is where the tour will end. I believe the current plan it to drop Patrick at a car rental place in St. Moritz tomorrow morning during the first part of our ride; it is not far away. He will then drive back to our hotel to pick up Alex and then drive to Thun. Martin will drive his bike back to Thun as well to be with Patrick and Alex.
The photo below is of the bike after it was loaded on the tow truck. Bummer.
On a different note, we had dinner at the hotel again tonight. They have a very diverse menu with many types of meat. Yesterday I had veal Cordon Bleu and that was really good. Other options included rabbit, duck, and pork to name a few. Tonight, there was 1 other meat on the menu I had not had before so I had to try it; horse fillet (yes that is correct). It was actually really good. It was tender and juicy like beef but had a little mild wild flavor like venison. Martin also had it and we both enjoyed it!
Tomorrow we continue to work our way back towards Thun so we will enjoy more of the Swiss Alps. Only 2 more days of riding remain.
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