July 30, 2023
Sölden -> Merano
Viva Italia!
I woke up this morning around 7:30 in my hotel room in Soelden. I could hear it raining outside. I took my time getting packed up, and eventually hit the road around 9:00am. I stopped on my way out of town at a grocery store to get some breakfast. I felt like I hadn't been eating enough protein in the last few days, so I made a point to pick things with more protein than gummy candy, marzipan, and softpretzels. I got a cheeseburger from the deli, a package of ham, a yogurt, and a liter of grape juice instead.
As I stood outside in the cold drizzle eating my breakfast, a man with a huge Swiss Mountain Dog walked up to the front of the store. People started swarming over and petting the dog, and I joined in. I wish I had asked what the dog's name was, oh well.
After I finished eating the most mediocre cheeseburger of my life, I was eager to hop on my bike and start climbing to get warm. I had about 4500 feet to climb from Soelden to the summit of Timmelsjoch, so plenty of time to warm up. It kept raining for about an hour as I was climbing, but I was putting out enough heat to stay warm. My breath lingered in huge visible clouds, and my arms and torso were steaming in the cold, windstill air as I crept up the switchbacks.
Eventually, I made it to the motorcycle museum 8km below the pass summit. I looked through the window but decided not to go in. I wasn't really a motorcycle fanatic, and they only took the 15 Euro fee in cash. Their ATM was also out of service, and at this point I was running quite low on cash. I needed to hoard the few Euros I had left in physical cash.
I continued, descending a couple hundread feet, before crossing a bridge to the east side of Timmelsbach. This was the final stretch to the summit. The grade was a constant and mild 8% that I was still able to climb with my slightly larger 32T chainring. I am glad I went for the 32T instead of the 34T though.
At the pass summit was a sign and flag, welcoming tourists to Italia. I stopped at the sign, and a group of Italians on motorcycles offered to take a photo of me. I then offered them the same. I checked out the museum at the summit. The road was built in the 50s, after WWII. It was one of the last pass roads in the Alps to be built almost entirely by hand (and it only took 4 years!).
After reading the plaques at the museum, I headed over to the summit restaraunt to grab a warm cup of soup. The daily special was a garlic cream soup. I was a little suprised when I ordered it, and saw a bowl of garlicy broth topped with unsweetened whipped cream. It all mixed together and worked though. There were no free tables, so I walked up to a table with an empty seat and asked the people sitting there "can I sit here". One of the men replied "wie bittte?", so I repeated myself in German "Darf ich bitte hier sitzen?". He shrugged his shoulders and I took that as a yes. I wasn't about to sit outside in the cold rain and eat. I finished my soup and ordered a slice of cheesecake (Kaesesahne). It was delicious.
I then began my descent down the south side of Timmelsjoch. The grade was again mild, but very constant and long. The road descended over 7000 feet from the summit of Timmelsjoch to the town of Merano where I had booked a hostel room. I could have gone further, but I waned to see Otzi the Ice man at the South Tyrol Archaeological Museum tomorrow morning. As the Museum doesn't open until 10am, there was no point in continuing further. Otherwise I would just be wasting time in the morning.
I checked into the hostel. The receptionist handed me a set of physical keys to the bike room where I could store my bike overnight. Once again I failed the IQ test of opening European doors. For those non-Americans reading this: In the US, the key simply turns a deadbolt, and then the door can be opened or closed with the door knob or handle. However, many european doors use the key as the handle to open the door. The key is attached to the deadbolt and door latch. This door had a mixture of the two: you had to turn and hold the key, and pull the door knob. The receptionist took the key from me, opened the door on his first try, and stared at me like I was an idiot.
I got showered, washed and hung up my laundry, made my bed. You know, the standard hostel drill. By the end of my daily chores I was hungry again. I wandered a few blocks down the street to a Turkish Doerner shop and bought a kebab wrap. €7.50 got me a kebab wrap, fries, and a can of soda. It was great.
I then headed back to the hostel room where I planned my route for tomorrow and tried to book a place to stay in the Dolomites. Stay tuned for tomorrow's adventure towards Sella Pass.
Today's ride: 47 miles (76 km)
Total: 1,782 miles (2,868 km)
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9 months ago
The summit looked amazing and the cheesecake was well deserved!
9 months ago