Neither Kirsten or I are roadies, and we’d never heard of the Sella Ronda until we read about it in Jacquie Gaudet’s Fibbonaci journal. Once we did though, it was something we knew we would love to ride and it became one of the main focal points for this tour.
We were not disappointed. Although we didn’t have the picture perfect weather day that Jacquie had it was pretty good after it warmed up (it was quite cold descending Gardena pass as our bundled up pictures will attest), but the upside is that we had the roads almost to ourselves, not the 20,000 (literally) other riders Jacquie shared the ride with. There were probably a couple of hundred roadies in total throughout the day and about the same number of motor bikes. Given that it was a Sunday, this would count as almost deserted. There were also a few Porsche and Ferrari convoy’s (they always seem to travel in packs) plus a few lone oddball British cars (Lotus super 7’s and one Shelby Cobra). Few enough cars that you could actually remember them.
I just reread what I wrote as the first sentence in the paragraph above. That sentence is the pinnacle of understatement, as both K and I were completely blown away by the day. Four passes, Passo Gardena 2,121 m, Passo Sella 2,240 m, Passo Pordoi 2,239 m and Passo Campolongo 1,750 m, 53 km’s and 1650 m of elevation gain/loss (although our Garmins measured 1707 m).
Each pass was unique and the surrounding mountains and valleys jaw dropping. Each one different but always stunningly beautiful.
I’ve got a lot of pictures to follow and some of them are pretty good … but they don’t come close to what we saw in person, pictures never can. Hopefully they will continue to trigger our memories of what this very unique day was like.
And regarding the ‘near isolation’ we had, at the top of Passo Sella Kirsten met Nicolla and Hermann and struck up a long conversation with them. Long because she had quite some time to wait for me to arrive. K remarked at how quiet and almost ‘ghost town’ the towns are right now, in particular Corvara. Hermann, who’s ridden his motorbike through here several times told her that we should count our blessings and appreciate the place now. Within two weeks it will be packed.
While writing this up, I checked out when the Sella Ronda Bike day is this year. This is a day where the road is reserved for bikes from 8:30 until 16:00 and around 20,000 cyclist show up. That day this year is 7 June, hence all the ‘open on 6 June signs’ we’ve been seeing. All of the towns around here, and this road, will be a circus from that day forward for the rest of the summer.
We’ll take fewer amenities in order to get a day like we had today.
Simply amazing.
Once again, sit back for Aunt Betty’s overstuffed photo album (admit it, she’s always been your favourite aunt).
Our Breakfast Lunch and Dinner place - Bar Salda to the rescue. Coffee and a panini for breakfast and they packed us a great ham and cheese baguette for lunch.
Hey Jacquie … another ‘same pic’ from your journal. This place was about 1.5 km up the pass from where we were staying. It was open, as was their very nice looking restaurant.
Looking east from Passo Gardena. First glimpse of Sassolungo, the largest mountain in the Sassolungo group, the defining mountains of the Val Gardena area. We’ll see a lot more of these today!
Kirsten KaarsooTo Rachael AndersonYes it is and Lyle fiddles around getting just the right angle etc so eventually I get ticked off. It doesn’t help if you are already chilled.. lol Reply to this comment 4 days ago
Starting to clear up about halfway on the descent from Passo Gardena. Better view of Sassolungo, straight on, and Passo Sella off to the left side of the photo.
Climbing Passo Sella. The climb was about 370 m and went by quickly, we had a bit of a tailwind … and amazing scenery with the Torre del Sella off to the left to keep your mind fully occupied!
K made some new life long friends (and finished two chapters of her current book) while waiting for me at Passo Sella. Nicolla and Herman. They live near Frankfurt and were down on this area golfing with some friends.
The second Col shot of the day. You can see Marmolada (3,343 m) in the background. It’s the highest mountain in the Dolomites and the only one with a large glacier.
A better look at Marmolada and its glacier. In July of 2022 during a heat wave in northern Italy, a large serac on the glacier collapsed and killed 11 people and injured 8 more.
I completely missed this but K got this shot looking south from Passo Sella. We couldn’t figure out what gave rise to the terracing on this slope? Mining, forestry, avalanche control … I thing we ruled out rice paddies at this latitude and altitude ;)
And now pass number 3, Passo Pordoi 2,239 m (just 1 m shy of Sella!) I’ll put a link in below to a pic from Jacquies day from 11 June, 2022 the Sella Ronda Bike day from this exact spot!
Here’s a link to a pic from Jacquie Gaudet’s day on 11 June 2022, Sella Ronda Bke Day. This year’s Bike day is 7 June, two weeks from today! Although it would be fun to have the experience of that type of ride, I think we’re happy with the relative solitude we had today
There was a VERY heavily loaded guy with a locked up touring bike. Had a brief chat but didn’t catch his name. He was from South Korea and had started his trip in Spain a couple of months ago. He had his bike chained to a bus stop post and it looked like he was checking out bus schedules. He didn’t need any help and looked perfectly happy. He said he rode slow and motioned towards his bike
Warmed up during the day and in particular on the climbs. Me reaching the top of Passo Pordoi. Most of this climb was in trees with relatively limited views. It went by quickly - fewer picture stops - but K still was waiting at the top for a while
K bundled up at the ‘descent side’ Col sign. This was the longest and probably the most fun descent down to the town of Arraba. There was a large cable car station at the pass and you can see the top station on the peak just above the sign.
A zoom in on the top station of the Pordoi gondola. It was running today, one of the few lifts we’ve seen working. Most are scheduled to start up for the summer on … you guessed it - 6 June
Now on the last and lowest climb, Passo Campolongo 1,875 m. Ran across these guys giving us some encouragement on this fun but tough day. Thanks to Bob Koreis for identifying these fine horses as Haflingers (Bob, spell check is trying to insist your last name is Korea)
Kirsten KaarsooTo Karin KaarsooI was! We went back to the apartment and I went to bed. We both could feel our legs the next morning when we went up the stairs. Reply to this comment 1 week ago
Slept in, wandered down to Bar Salda for our morning coffee and croissant, wandered back to the apartment and worked on the journal, found a new spot for lunch - the ‘bistro’ at the ski school about 0.5 km out of town, and the highlight - went to a grocery store when it opened at 3:30!
Actually a pretty nice day. We picked up food for dinner tonight (simple home cooked pasta meal in order) and for breakfast and lunch tomorrow. We’re hitting the road bound for Bolzano via Val Gardiner and Alpe di Siusi (a very large alpine meadow plateau west of Val Gardena). Once again we can thank Jacquie G for showing us this route.
Although I started this post with “Kirsten and I are not roadies” … look what we bought for dinner! Official Giro ravioli … this must what powers the guy in the pic (courtesy of Susan Carpenter - Col de Leschaux day in her current Circling the Hexagon Journal)
Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd - recent live version by David Gilmour
So many levels … an early morning thought that became an ear worm ‘two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl’ as we seemed to be the only people around in Colfasco; Syd Barrett analogy as many of our friends continually tell us that we’re insane for doing what we do; and it was such a phenomenal day (not easy, but that’s part of it) that we truly “wished you were here’ with us.
Today's ride: 53 km (33 miles) Total: 2,084 km (1,294 miles)
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Betsy EvansI did the Sellaronda in my pre-cycleblaze days. Simply amazing!! I do think it's interesting that even though I live surrounded by beautiful mountain scenery (as you do), I can still be amazed again and again. Reply to this comment 1 week ago
Kirsten KaarsooTo Rachael AndersonIt was a lot of climbing and both Lyle and I felt our legs the next day but it was worth it. Who knows if and when we will have the opportunity and or the stamina to do it again. Reply to this comment 4 days ago
but the upside is the we had the roads....that
1 week ago