Mortirolo and Stelvio on Granfondo Stelvio
Comments
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Yup, I had a great day too. The start was a blast - and I achieved a new high speed on a bike on the early stages of the descent towards the Teglio. I had feared that there would be some crazy riders around, but it seemed fairly safe - and in fact I didn't see any crashes at all (although a fellow Brit did veer into me and nearly knock me off along the river path towards the bottom of the Mortirolo! No harm done, and a nice chance to chat with another English speaker)
Teglio was great - really enjoyed that climb. It was helped by having to ride at the pace of those around me, so it felt a bit easier than I might have done if left to my own devices, but this was clearly a good investment for the future climbs.
And then the Mortirolo - blimey! Never before have I got to a 10% section and thought "Phew that's a chance for a rest!" It just seemed to be unrelenting at 12 to 14%, even though the official profiles I've read don't have it as sticking at that gradient for long. Full respect to you Pete Madoc
- I had planned to see if I could ride the broken road, but when I saw it coming and saw how many people were walking, I decided to join them. You can see why the Mortirolo has been described as the "Queen climb of Europe".I'm pleased with myself for not unclipping and making it to the top
The food stop at the top was very welcome - I stuffed a roll in my back pocket and then decided there would never be a good time to eat it, so ended up carrying it up the Stelvio - when I ate it, it tasted like the best roll I had ever had in my life.
Mortirolo descent wasn't as sketchy as I had heard, and offered a good recovery, and then the drag up the valley to Bormio, again a welcome feed stop. I couldn't find a group to work with up the valley, so this was a bit tougher than I had hoped.
I had, naively, been quite looking forward to the Stelvio as we'd done it both sides on the Friday as a scout - that day was probably my favourite ever on the bike, perhaps because there was no pressure and I had been deliberately soft pedalling to try to save energy. So it didn't particularly scare me at the bottom on Sunday. But blimey it was hard - as PeteMadoc says, the lack of fresh legs really told here. I never thought I wouldn't make it up, but it was just interminable. Interminable and beautiful. It was helped by the fact that the temperature dropped as you climbed - it would have been horrible if too much hotter.
I loved the last 500 metres - somewhere, buried deep within my legs, there was the hint of a sprint finish. Always good to go out on a high.
As a whole event, it was superb. Closed roads, or if not closed, then fully marshalled. The only cars that went past were official cars. As I climbed the Stelvio, there was the odd convey coming down, but total peace otherwise - none of those pesky motorbikes that infested the Stelvio on the other day I climbed.
Food stops were great, helpers were chirpy, keen to fill your bottle etc. And the pasta party at the end with free beer - what a way to finish. And a "free" quality cycling top and an "Imadeit" cap at the top of the Stelvio. Wiggle could learn a lot....
Absolutely thoroughly recommended to anyone.0 -
topcattim wrote:Food stops were great, helpers were chirpy, keen to fill your bottle etc. And the pasta party at the end with free beer - what a way to finish. And a "free" quality cycling top and an "Imadeit" cap at the top of the Stelvio. Wiggle could learn a lot....
Absolutely thoroughly recommended to anyone.
I find having done a number of continental events that UK sportives are hard to summon any enthusiasm for, and not just because of the obvious lack of mountains.0 -
Hi folks,
Sorry for resurrecting but the GF has just became my club's favourite for our 2016 trip.
I've had some great info from Term1te but as he lives in Switzerland, I was hoping to hear from anyone that went over from the UK and if they arranged everything themselves or went on an organised trip.
I see there are companies that will do everything for you but we're guessing it would be cheaper with us all in a chalet. Just need to find out about transfers from Milan airport to Bormio.
Term1te tells me that there should be plenty of empty ski chalets to pick from in the summer and actually getting a place should be ok as it's not as heavily attended as Letape etc.
Cheers,
Richie0 -
Hi folks,
Sorry for resurrecting but the GF has just became my club's favourite for our 2016 trip.
I've had some great info from Term1te but as he lives in Switzerland, I was hoping to hear from anyone that went over from the UK and if they arranged everything themselves or went on an organised trip.
I see there are companies that will do everything for you but we're guessing it would be cheaper with us all in a chalet. Just need to find out about transfers from Milan airport to Bormio.
Term1te tells me that there should be plenty of empty ski chalets to pick from in the summer and actually getting a place should be ok as it's not as heavily attended as Letape etc.
Cheers,
Richie
We found it easier to fly to Innsbruck, it's a good bit closer. We hired a car, not sure about transferring a large no. and bikes but I did see plenty of mini vans with trailers full of bikes on the motorway between Innsbruck and Bozen0
