First, but certainly not last, trip to the Alps *now with Stelvio!* +VIDEO!

[kendenton]

I'll be posting this report over the next few days as I get everything written up and go though all the pictures.  Not much motorcycle content in the first few days, but maybe you'll find it interesting anyway.





Prologue

A dream come true, that’s what this trip is.  I’ve never even been to Europe before, let alone ridden a motorcycle on an adventure through the Alps.  I can’t believe I’m looking at 10 days of exploring Europe, 7 of those on 2 wheels.

The idea for this trip started about a year ago.  My first decision was whether to do an organized tour, like Edelweiss or Beach, or go the do-it-yourself route.  If I was doing the trip alone the organized tour sounded appealing, but expensive.  Since I’d never been there it might make sense to have someone else make the ‘right’ decisions for me, and not worry about making mistakes.

Over dinner one night with my friend Jim (trflyboy) on the way out to the MotoGP race at Indianapolis last year I casually asked if he had ever given thought to going riding in the Alps.  His response? “Only from when I go to bed at night until I wake up in the morning.” With another person along, I was much more interested in rolling our own trip, so we started to make plans.

The first big decision was where to go.  With guidance from folks on sport-touring.net and advrider.net, and from John Hermann’s excellent book “Motorcycle Journeys Through the Alps and Beyond”, we settled on the Italian Dolomites and the area around Andermatt, Switzerland as our base camps.  We didn’t want to mess with moving from hotel to hotel every night, so we figured we’d stay multiple nights in just a few locations.

When to go? This turned out to be pretty easy.  I wanted to go while my son was still in school, and I had already sort of penciled in a week of vacation for Americade in June.  Jim had also planned time off for Americade, so we made the decision to forego Americade and use that time for the Alps.  Now with the dates set, and me being a planner, I made reservations months ahead at all the hotels we’d be staying at. I kept my eye on airline ticket prices, and USAirways had a big sale the day after they landed a plane in the middle of the Hudson River. Got a nice price on a ticket from PHL to ZRH, nonstop.

For me, ½ the fun of a trip is planning and organizing.  I don’t mean that I plan all the activities, or that we have a schedule that we stick to every day, but I do want to know where I’m sleeping and a rough idea of where we’ll be going.  Once the trip is underway, I’m very flexible as to what we do.

Next decision was which bikes to rent, and where to rent them from.  Searching on the web led me to Ad-Mo Tours, who have rental bikes in many locations.  For our trip, it looked like the best selection of bikes would be a place just outside of Zurich called Oberentfelden.  Prices weren’t too bad, but this would still be the single biggest expense of the trip (with MY plane ticket coming in second).  A little further digging turned up a dealer in the same town called Moto Mader, that had a remarkably similar selection of bikes, but with prices 30% less. Turns out Ad-Mo just rents from them and charges you for the service.  I sent some e-mails to Moto Mader (dealing with Tommy Pabst, top notch all the way), and we quickly decided to cut out the middleman and just rent from Moto Mader.

We wanted bikes that were nimble, but had luggage since we had a weeks worth of stuff to haul around.  After much thought, and test-sitting at local dealerships, we settled on a BMW F650GS for Jim and a BMW F800GS for me.  Both bikes would come with hard saddlebags and top cases, and included aux outlets for plugging in a GPS or heated clothing (once I bought the BMW plug adapter).  My first choice would have been the KTM 990 SM-T, but it only came with tiny non-waterproof soft saddlebags and a tankbag.  I’d have to pack really, really light to make that work.  My other possibility was the BMW F800ST, but that bike was already sold out.

One of my other big passions, apart from motorcycling, is photography.  I knew I’d want take lots of photographs, but I didn’t want to lug around too much gear.  In the end I settled on just 2 cameras.  For serious pictures the Nikon D300 with only the Nikon 18-200 VR lens, and for casual snaps my trusty Panasonic TZ-3.  20 gigs of memory cards and I was all set.

 

[kendenton]

6/4/09, 3:15pm, PHL

Rainy tarmac at PHL

Wish it wasn’t raining.  I hate flying to begin with, and I hate it even more when the conditions aren’t perfect.  It doesn’t help that an Air France plane went down in the Atlantic a few days ago.

I still have 3 hours until departure.  I intentionally arrived very early, not sure how long check-in was going to take since I haven’t flown since pre- 9/11.  Very surprised that security was such a non-event.  It took 10 minutes from kissing my wife goodbye at the car to being cleared and checked-in, wandering around the terminal.

So far the weather for the Alps is not looking great – 40 to 50 degrees, rain, maybe even some snow.  I checked with Jim and e-mailed Tommy at Moto Mader about switching our bikes to R1200RT’s if possible.  Jim and I are of the same mind about changing our route and destinations if conditions worsen.  No fun riding around all day in the freezing rain if we can help it.

I wish I was more excited, but I think the apprehension over the flight is keeping all that at bay.  Heading to Europe for the first time, days of riding bikes in the Alps, and I’m not bouncing off the walls.  Yet.

Michael (my 8 year old son) was a little sad to see me go, but he’s getting so mature he won’t let it get to him.  Some tighter hugs than usual, and some “I’m going to miss you” while not looking me in the eye and the message was loud and clear. We all had a great day yesterday – picked him up at school, baseball catch, dinner all together at Texas Roadhouse, hanging out on the couch, etc.  I’m going to miss my family.

And away we go

 

[Goose]

 

[chimera]

 

+1  Gonna be a magazine quality story and spread right here folks.

[kendenton]

6/5/09, 6:15am (local time), somewhere over the Atlantic

I shouldn’t even pretend like I could sleep on a plane.  Perhaps I got 10 minutes of shut-eye, though I didn’t really try too hard – just too difficult to get comfy in a seat.  Surprisingly decent legroom though. Very glad I changed seats from the window to the aisle, I’d feel terrible bothering the poor girl next to me every time I wanted to get up as she slept 90% of the time. “Escape from Witch Mountain” was the in-flight movie – I bet Michael would like it.  Watched most of it, but the sound quality through the airline headphones was so bad it was giving me a headache (I had tried my own iPod earphones but they generated some kind of feedback). Skipped the airline dinner, had a roll and a muffin that I bought in the terminal.

I had come back from my muffin purchase to find the plane already boarding.  No hassles, everything as smooth as could be.

Read some Brit bike magazines I brought along, listened to some music and a little of the audiobook of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”.  Best part of the flight was hanging out in the galley with the crew and some other passengers for a while - it felt great just to stand up.  One flight attendants were talking about “Boeing keeps on going”, and how she would go back to a 737-200 before working on an Airbus.  Some turbulence sent us back to our seats, but it only lasted a few minutes.

When we finally broke through the clouds this is the first thing I saw

Descending into Zurich

 
6/5/09, 8:50pm, Swissotel, Zurich

I’m in Switzerland!  We landed on-time, with a remarkably short trip from touching down to rolling up to the gate.  Had phone service as soon as I stepped off the plane, even received an SMS text message “Welcome to Switzerland”.  No problem getting my luggage or through passport check.  No forms, no questions, no luggage checking.

This was a much cuter flight crew than what I had on USAirways

Jim arrived about ½ an hour later, and we caught the train to Oerliken station.  No one checked our train tickets, which was slightly disappointing since it had taken us some time and effort to acquire them.  Got our rooms at the Swissotel Zurich as soon as we checked in at 9:45am, figured we’d try to catch an hour or 2 of sleep to fight the jetlag before heading out.

I got a wonderful corner room high up on the 26th floor, with a nice view of the train station and surrounding countryside.  Having never been to Europe before, I didn’t understand why there was no electricity in my room.  Every outlet seemed dead, and the lights didn’t work.  I then noticed the slot by the door, so I put my key in there and tried the switch for the hall light – no go.  OK, so no electricity for me.  I’ll ask at the desk after my nap.

My corner room at the Swissotel in Zurich

My view of the Oerliken train station

Slept like a rock for an hour, and then met Jim in the lobby.  I asked about my electricity, and was told about the slot for the key (which I had tried already).  Went up and tried again, and turned out that the hallway light was out, which tricked me into thinking the slot didn’t do anything.  Lesson learned.

Got a train to Zurich HB (Hauptbanhoff, the main train station), again no one checked our tickets.  Walked around the old sections of town (Altstadt) for a while, and started to really “be in Europe”. I was taking in the sights and sounds, walking on the cobblestone streets, trying to make sense of the signs, listening to snippets of conversations around us, etc.  I noticed lots of people walking dogs, even taking them in shops and restaurants. That was pretty cool.  Can’t say I saw any police on the streets.  Saw some interesting signs for sex shows, odd to see explicit pictures on a store window next to an ice-cream shop.

30 seconds from the Zurich HB train station

Walking around Altstadt

We got lunch at the Calypso Take-Away consisting of a $4 bottle of Coke (and 0.5L at that) and some large relative of the hot dog.

My first European meal

I should mention at this point that I am a picky eater.  I wish I wasn’t, but after 40-something years it’s a hard habit to break.  I like what I like, and I’m very hesitant to try new things.  Other than the actual flying, the part of the trip I was stressing over the most was food.  Everyone I talked to about the trip was so excited about the food I was going to get to eat while I was in Europe, while secretly I was almost dreading it.  I’m not saying I was hoping to find McDonald’s on every corner, but the thought of ordering unknown food from a menu I can’t read was hanging over my head. This lunch was my first test, and I think I passed.  I looked at what was on the grill, and pointed at something I vaguely recognized and said “that”.

So far, so good.  The sausage was OK (tough casing though), and the bread excellent.

Called home for the first time and my wife said the phone sounded 10x better than it ever does in the U.S.  It was very cool to say “hi honey, I’m just sitting here by the river in Zurich having a beer.  How are your corn flakes?”

We walked around more, eventually taking the water taxi to Casino (after sailing up and down the river a bit).  Most interesting part was passing some topless sunbathers on the way – not something you see much of in the states.  Casino stop led us to an attractive park right by the water.  Took our time walking along river back to the old part of the city (which, no offense Jim, would have been even nicer with my wife).

The view from the water taxi

I loved these cool rental boats - reminded me of bumber cars

A curbside table at the Café Felix in Bellevue Plaza was a great place for a few beers (4 CHF per, but very good) and watching the cars and bikes go by the busy intersection.  I couldn’t believe the variety of cars I was seeing!  I’m a certified car nut (as well as a bike nut), so it was great to finally see all these cars I’ve only heard of and read about – Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Citroen, Renault, Skoda, etc.  The best part, by far, was watching the exotics. Aston Martins, Ferraris, Bentleys, it was like an episode of MTV’s cribs come to life. If I see one Ferrari a year it’s a big deal, so this was quite the treat.  There were also scooters by the score, and some interesting bikes. I also got to hear my first “blues and twos” in person as an ambulance sped by.  It was like living in an episode to Top Gear.

Typical small European city car

Wow, a Ferrari! Little did I know how many I would see later on

Stylin'

Not sure if he takes that palm tree with him everywhere he goes to complete "the look"

Watching the cars and bikes go by

Not your typical US Harley rider

Um, OK....

Back to Altstadt in search of food, we found a nice little Italian place with outside tables (which almost every place has).  We wanted to sit outside, so the waiter seated us at a table for four with two other gentleman.  This again was something that would almost never happen in the states. I immediately headed for the WC, leaving Jim to ingratiate himself with our tablemates.  Not to worry, I came back to find the table in full conversation. Turns out the other guys were from Detroit, and were doing a lot of travelling together.  Good conversation, more beers, and my first ever European pizza (margherita) – which sadly was just OK and not spectacular.

More wandering in Altstadt

Now THAT'S a windscreen!

The Givi delivery guy?

Don't mind us, just passing through

Mmm, pizza

Our dinner companions from Detroit

After dinner we wandered into a “Pride Week” fair (not like we weren’t already feeling self-conscious), then got lost walking through bahnhofstrasse, the main shopping area, before eventually finding our way back to the train and the hotel (again, no ticket check).

Whoops, wrong street

Pride week fair

Bahnhofstrasse

Me chilling by the river Limmat

Water taxi

No shortage of places to eat in Altstadt

Took us a few minutes to finally look up and see the giant schedule board to find our train back to the hotel

We used the hotel’s internet computer to check the weather for Arabba and Andermatt, and it wasn’t looking any better.  We decided we’d stay in Arabba the extra day, and decide whether or not to even go to Andermatt later in the week.

The short nap earlier had worked well to get me through the day, but I was definitely ready to pass out by the time I hit the bed.  Tomorrow the adventure begins!

[atypical1]

Great stuff! I'm so looking forward to this report!

james

[j1mmyj4m]

Subscribed.

[Skee]

  No fair you keepin' us in suspense.  Post up with that report.  We want more photos.

PS  Welcome back - glad to hear you had a great trip - where's the next one to?

[kendenton]

  No fair you keepin' us in suspense.  Post up with that report.  We want more photos.

PS  Welcome back - glad to hear you had a great trip - where's the next one to?

I'm guessing I know who you are!  

[Skee]

Yep.  You go cruzin' the Alps while I'm surfin a keyboard.    Where's the fairness in that?  

Glad to hear you're home safe.  Looking forward to seeing the full report.

[kendenton]

6/6/09, 10:15pm, Gasthof Pontives, St. Ulrich, Italy (part 1)

Well, we certainly didn’t miss any opportunity to screw things up today. All we had to do was get a train to Moto Mader, pick up the bikes, and ride the autostrada to Arabba, Italy. Piece of cake, right?

I met Jim downstairs at 7:30am, packed and ready for the most exciting riding adventure to finally begin. After much button pushing and head scratching at the machine we finally had train tickets for Aarau, so we headed up to platform (gleis) 2 to wait for our train. I guess platform 2 since that was a prominent number on the ticket (mistake #1). After waiting about 30 minutes, with no trains indicating they were heading in the direction of Aarau, we started to rethink our decision. Then the light bulb went off and we figured out we had to just get a train to Zurich HB first, then find the Aarau train. Oh, and that 2 on our ticket had nothing to do with what platform. We switched platforms and got the next train to Zurich HB.

Got to the main station, used the big board to find which gleis our Aarau train was departing from, and made a beeline for it. We got there to see the Aarau train waiting, even though it was 20 minutes before the scheduled departure. Cool, we can board in a few minutes and relax. As we took our time walking to it it started moving and pulled away – damn, that was the earlier train, we should have ran for it (mistake #2).

The next one arrived and we jumped right on it. Called Tommy at Moto Mader with our arrival time, since he had offered to pick us up at the station – excellent! Man, this was a nice train car. Plenty of room to stretch out, nice big table to work on, etc. Much nicer than the trains we’ve been on so far. Wait a second, maybe that 2 on the ticket means something else. Oh right, second class. A quick run outside confirmed we were on a ‘1’ train car, so off with the baggage and move down the train to ride as 2nd class citizens (mistake #3). Actually the 2nd class cars are still very nice, certainly beats the old LIRR cars I was used to as a kid.

My son would have milk coming out his nose if he saw this

The rain started as we got closer to Aarau, which didn’t exactly make us happy. We arrived and were surprised to find the station bigger than we expected. We hadn’t worked out a meeting place with Tommy, so we just followed everyone else to what looked like the main exit to the street. Not quite sure where to go, we looked around a bit and around 15 minutes later a tall guy in a bright red dealership shirt gets out of a BMW wagon and we were off. The Sugar Hill Gang was on the radio, who Tommy pointed out was from NJ (I didn’t know that, not my genre of music). A short car ride and we pulled into the lot at Moto Mader.

Moto Mader, that's the owner in the red shirt

I would have had to pack really, really light

We spent a few minutes checking the place out while Tommy got our paperwork together. They had a stand outside selling snacks (and beer, kind of odd at a dealership), a huge tent sale of gear, and lots of great bikes. KTM SM-T, Yamaha XJ1300, a bunch of bikes we’d never seen in the states. I gave Tommy a NJ license plate (number-plate in Euro-speak) I had brought along, and he got us checked out on the bikes. He only had 1 RT available, so Jim stuck with the 650GS (smart man) and I took the RT. We packed the bikes, stored our luggage, and geared up for the big ride. We were warned not to pass on the right (forbidden!) and not to speed (expensive!). Tommy gave us easy directions to the autostrada, and we pulled out of the dealership around 11am (about 90 minutes later than we had planned, mistake #4). YES! Finally, we are riding motorcycles in Europe!

We're off!

We immediately got lost. Entered the autostrada heading towards Luzerne instead of Zurich (mistake #5). Turned around at the next exit and doubled back. Our first test of European navigation, and we failed. Would it kill folks to put N/S/E/W on a sign?

Weather was not too bad, cloudy but not yet raining, about 55 degrees, as we headed East around Zurich and Winterthur toward St. Gallen. That didn’t last long. Pretty soon the rain started coming down in earnest, which Jim pointed out over the Scala Q2. In preparation for this trip, we had purchased a pair of Scala Q2 bluetooth communicators so we could chat along the way. We tested them on several rides in the U.S. (including the SS1000 we did in May) and they worked perfectly. Since I was behind the big screen of the RT when he pointed out he was getting soaked, my reply was “why, is it raining out?”

Traffic on the Swiss autostrada could put you to sleep. Speed limit is 120km/h, and today no one was speeding. No one passing on the right, no one tailgating, no one zooming across lanes to move up one car length, everyone just cruising along in near-formation. Seriously, it was almost hypnotic.

Getting sorted on the side of the autostrada

At St. Gallen we needed to start heading south, but couldn’t figure out exactly which road to take. Ended up on secondary roads, and on a roundabout with 4 exits, none of which had signs to anyplace we were looking for (mistake #6). Twice around we went (me in the lead, cursing in my helmet) before we pulled into what looked like a border or toll crossing. Big parking lot, lots of guys in uniforms eyeing cars as they drove through. Out came the map, which was no help. We didn’t get a chance to mount the Zumo before we left Moto Mader, so I put it in the tankbag of the GS (which the RT lacked) and set it for Arabba. We switched bikes at this point, Jim on the RT and me following the Zumo on the GS. We headed over the small bridge that the uniformed folks were watching in the other direction, and got to what looked like a toll gate on the other side. Which we rolled right through. Followed the Zumo’s guidance on a bunch of secondary roads, through 3 or 4 roundabouts, and found ourselves on the A14/E60 which is what we needed.

At this point the rain really started coming down, and I’m sure Jim was happy to be on the RT. We passed a tour group of bikes going the other way, which was kinda cool (hey, that’s what we didn’t do, and they’re getting just as wet as us!). I had my Gerbings jacket along with me, but the accessory plug on the GS didn’t work. We rode an hour or two in the rain, then needed to pull off and find some food. First exit we saw that had some sign of life we took, and found a McDonald’s right across from a gas station. This was easily the low point of the trip, standing in the rain, peeling off layers of wet gear, to go huddle in a McDonald’s for crappy food. The place was tiny and packed, with a line out the door and one kid taking orders. No tables to be had, I dropped our gear at the windowside counter while Jim got in line for food.

Jim: “um, due coke, una grande um…..”
McD’s kid: “You can just use English sir”

Not exactly what we had in mind for this trip

Nor was this

We switched bikes again and filled the bike up (couldn’t pay at the pump, no cards worked) and headed back to the autostrada. At this point we started to enter the land of the tunnels. Man, the Swiss must love tunnels. I think we had went through 20 or 30 of them (including one that was cooking at over 75 degrees) before we hit “the big one”. The entrance sign said 9km to the other side. Wow, a 5.5 mile tunnel. We got 8km in and came to a line of stopped cars on our side, with people milling about. Oh, this doesn’t look good. Come to think of it, not many folks were going the other way as we rode through the tunnel, and one guy did flash his lights at us. We got off the bikes, stretched a bit, happy to be at least temporarily out of the rain. Eventually Jim rode up to the front of the queue to see what was what. He came back with reports of a car flipped over, and the police saying we should turn around and go back the way we came (mistake #6). Which we did, 8km backwards and exited back out to the rain with no idea where to go. Most of the cars were heading up a side road to a pass, so we tagged along. Our first European pass, and we were doing it in the rain with no idea where we were going. There were some easy hairpins, and a small village to ride through, and eventually we merged back with the autostrada. This had definitely eaten up some time.

Time for a leg-stretch

Time to turn around

Back on the road again, rain on and off, and another tunnel closure. Fortunately this was before we entered, and fairly short to get around. By this time we were getting pretty tired. It was cold, raining, we were behind the schedule we had set for ourselves, and getting very frustrated at trying to find our way efficiently from one point to another. Then suddenly we came to a toll plaza saying “Italy” – wahoo! Jim got into a conversation with the toll taker, who turned out to have gone to college in South Carolina. Maybe 5 minutes passed, and while there were cars and trucks behind us, no one so much as tooted their horn. On the NJ Turnpike shots would have been fired by now.

Leaving the toll plaza our spirits were lifted as we saw signs for Modena, Trento, Balzano, and other Italian locations.

[SnapRoll]

Subscribed!  I did the Alps 3 times in the 90s. First time with Edelweiss, 2nd & 3rd on the fly. Italia is my favorite of all of Europe, and the Dolomites are sublime.

[kendenton]

6/6/09, 10:15pm, Gasthof Pontives, St. Ulrich, Italy (part 2)

Leaving the toll plaza our spirits were lifted as we saw signs for Modena, Trento, Balzano, and other Italian locations. It became quickly apparent that the Italian autostrada was a different animal than the Swiss one. Folks had no problem zooming past us in the left lane, often riding right up our tailpipe for a while. We didn’t know what to expect enforcement-wise, and since it was our first day riding in a new country (new continent for that matter) we were sticking pretty close to the speed limit.

After a while we exited onto a service plaza to figure out where we were and how we should proceed. Our original plan had us going over Timmelsjoch, but we had give that up a while ago. Thunder and lightning accompanied our map-reading in the little restaurant at the rest area, where Jim had his first experience with the teeny-tiny European version of the espresso. He also informed me that his new Sidi Rain boots were perhaps misnamed. You would think something with Rain in the name would be able to actually repel some. We made a plan to continue down the autostrada to Val Gardenia, thinking we’d be able to find a room on that road. If the weather cleared we could even try pushing on to Arabba.

I took the lead as we headed south, keeping my eyes open for signs for St. Ulrich or Rt 242. The weather cleared a bit, and we were treated to the best scenery of the trip so far. Pretty hillsides, castles, forests, not too shabby a view from the slab. When I saw the signs for Bolzano I feared I might have gone too far. Jim rode up and said he saw ‘val Gardena’ about 15 miles back (mistake #7). We backtracked up the autostrada, and the weather turned even nastier. Heavy rain, wind, thunder, lightning, you name it we had it. We could barely see the road as we exited onto val Gardena.

Decision time. Jim and I have been known to suffer from get-there-it is, but it didn’t look like getting to Arabba was going to happen. We had maybe 30 minutes of daylight left, and while the weather had let up a bit who knows how that might change. We were only about 45 kms from Arabba, but those kms included Passo Sella and Passo Pordoi. With the threat of lightning I had no desire to go higher up and face exposure.

Part of riding safe is minimizing your risk factors. We were already riding tired, and in a foreign country, so we had a few strikes against us. If we continued we’d be riding in the dark, up twisting narrow mountain roads, possibly in the rain, and possibly even in a lightning storm. We decided to find a hotel and call it a night.

Came around one turn and in the distance saw my first glimpse of the Dolomites.

The first town we passed through looked completely deserted, but on the outskirts of Ortesi I spotted the Gasthof Pontives on a hill behind us. I can’t tell you how inviting it looked, with lights in the all the windows, flowers on the balconies, and the promise of warm, dry rooms. We rode through the roundabout and up the hill to the hotel. Jim went in, and came back with the hotel owner, who didn’t seem to speak any English. They had rooms, no problem, and they would keep the restaurant open for us. He also insisted we park our bikes under an eave out of the way of the rain. All this was communicated with very few actual words in either direction, just lots of hand motions and nodding. 

Very warm and inviting after a long day in the rain

The owner insisted we tuck the bikes safely out of the rain

We dumped our gear in the room and headed down to the dining room for a great dinner of pasta for me, weiner schnitzel for Jim, and beer for both of us. Got a phone call from the Hotel Mesdi, where we were supposed to be staying for the night. They were wondering if he were going to show up, as they were holding dinner for us. I can’t say any hotel in the states has ever kept dinner waiting for me. 

The dining room, just for us

Mmm, pasta

Roughly our route for the day

Sleep came quickly.

[phoenix]

dayyummmm that looks awesome!! You lucky SOB!!!

[photomd]

 

Very cool: I can't wait to read more.

[kendenton]

 

Very cool: I can't wait to read more.

Great, because here it comes.  And now with some actual Alps pictures!

[kendenton]

6/7/09, 2:30pm, Hotel Mesdi, Arabba, Italy

The Real Riding Begins

I woke up at 6am, and the weather outside looked great.  When I woke up again at 8, it was very foggy but thankfully dry.  Had a nice breakfast in the dining room of various breads, and we packed up to go.

My balcony

Breakfast at the Pontives

There were 2 helicopters making low runs nearby the hotel

That's one way to travel

We gassed up during the quick ride through St. Ulrich, and then followed the sign for our first ‘official’ pass, Passo Sella.

Wow!

This was like Disneyworld for bikers.  12 hours ago we were slogging it through the cold, wet autostrada, getting lost and being generally miserable.  Now the sun was shining, it was a pleasant 50 degrees, and we were bending the bikes through glorious curves on perfect pavement with spectacular scenery.  What a difference a few miles make!

Our first real look at the Dolomites

Bikes were everywhere.  Solo riders, groups of 2 or 3, packs of 10 or 20, everyone heading up and down the pass.  I found no shame in letting a large group of sport riders zip past us as we started to get our Alpine sea legs.  We stopped for some pictures on the way up, and I could hardly get my helmet off over my ear-to-ear grin.

Cool, our first Rifugio!

The Dolomites are just gorgeous

A very happy Jim

The RT's bars cradled my helmet perfectly

It was great having bike-to-bike communication as we wound our way up the hairpins to the summit.  Whoever was in the lead would warn the guy behind of what’s coming around the often-blind hairpins. “Truck coming down”, etc. We continued a little further and got to the top of the pass, which was very easy to spot since there were about 50 bikes parked up and a couple of gift shops/restaurants.  There were all kinds of bikes up there – old Guzzis, a new Griso, a Rocket III, Ducati 998, and BMW GS’s by the dozen.

Passo Sella

These guys were just off the road

Quite a view

Who needs a kickstand? It only adds weight.

Stunning Dolomites

Eye candy

This guy sounded great

Griso!

Me at the summit of Passo Sella

From Sella we continued to Passo Pordoi, which instantly became our favorite (and we hadn’t even done the best part of it yet).  Big views, perfect pavement, everything from fast sweepers to super-tight hairpins (or tornantes), this road had it all.  Passed lots of bicyclists going up and down the pass, I have enormous respect for those guys.

The summit of our favorite pass (so far)

When we got to the top of the pass there was a Porsche car club just pulling in.  About 15 911’s of various type, with most of the owners and their wives wearing matching yellow jackets.  A quick glance down the line of cars and then something caught my eye – wait a second, that’s not a 911!

The Porsche club

  Holy crap! Never seen a Carrera GT in person before

We picked up a Passo Pordoi pin at the gift shop, something we would try to do at each pass.  We walked around for a while, taking it all in.

Belgarda Bulldog? Anyone know more about these?

The road we had just come up

Couple of very happy guys

Finishing the ride down to Arabba on Passo Pordoi, we found motorcycling heaven.  Perfect pavement (this was becoming a trend), 29 tornantes (hairpins), incredible views, and bikes, bikes, and more bikes.

At one point on the way down I heard a loud snarl through the headset, and looked ahead to see a train of Ferrari’s coming up the pass at speed.  Like the Porsche club at the summit, I assume this was another car club out for a Sunday ride. At the tail end was a Lamborghini Gallardo.  I’ve seen Ferraris before, but never really seen them being driven in anger.  These guys were racing through the gearbox on the straights, and sliding the back end around the tornantes.  Which sounds really cool, except when you’re making the downhill left-hander around the outside and there’s the ass-end of a 360 Modena sliding around the inside, a foot or two from your knee.  Sounded great though.  A Porsche following them up went wide on a tornante and really got my attention.

Had no problem finding the Hotel Mesdi, as they’re situated on the last tornante of Passo Pordoi.  Fantastic location for a hotel!  There was some confusion as to our rooms – when I booked them I got 2 double rooms, so they were expecting 4 people.  They tacked on 15 euro to our room rate and we kept our double rooms.  The woman at the desk, who I believe is part of the family that owns/runs the hotel, could not have been nicer.  We unpacked our bikes and get settled in the rooms before heading out for lunch.

The Hotel Mesdi, with it's very own tornante

Tornantes are fun when bikes are coming the other way....

...not so much when busses are

A short ride into town (less than 1 minute) and we passed a café with a dozen or so bikes parked outside – looks like our kind of place.  Got a curbside table and looked at the menu.  Hmm, nothing I recognized as something I normally eat.  After some agonizing, I settled on a “speck and cheese on baguette”, which turned out to be delicious.  Speck is sort of a south Tyrolean smoked bacon. The weather turned nasty during lunch, alternating between clouds, wind, rain and hail.  After a dessert of chocolate gelato we headed back to the hotel to wait an hour and see what the weather brings.

Caffe Peter, our stop for lunch

My Speck and Cheese sandwich

The view from my room

A very nice room with a great view

My very own alarm clock

[Paul II]

Wow. Excellent photos and story. Thanx for taking the time. Subscribed.

Paul

[Greyhound]

Awesome --- much more please  

[kendenton]

Sorry it's taking so long folks.  Lots of pictures to go through, and pages and pages of notes.