Bikes on a pole

Bikes on a pole

Been blessed with this sunny weather and it still continued today. Passo Manghen was a lot more worthwhile than I expected, and the downhill was even better. I also met some more singing Italian cyclists, met with more first headwind, and saw some bikes on a pole.

Was a bit slow in the getting ready stakes this morning – I struggled to sleep a bit last night. Nothing an additional coffee won’t fix though. So after getting underway if was a nice little downhill first to meet up with the road that was to take me up and over Passo Manghen. After yesterday’s zig zag plan to find accommodation I actually went over quite a few kilometres that I had already. No big deal, at least it was familiar.

Just as I was getting underway I saw a media shop. I have been looking for replacement SD cards for my photos and video for a couple of days now with no luck. Having learned my lesson in Italy, if you see something you need stop as that is probably the last one you will see. I dislike stopping just as I am getting started but needs must.

The road is a little cheeky 8% as you start out and it winds its way up out of Carzano. It is one of those climbs which I really like though where you make quick elevation gains and you have a view down from where you came. Every time with these types of climbs I look down and say to myself “wow, have I climbed that high already?” and it gives me a little boost.

Before long you are in a forest and the gradient comes down to a respectable 5-6%. The forest also gives great shade which brings the rising temperature down again a few degrees. Through this forest there are streams and waterfalls constantly by your side which also makes for great interruptions or entertainment on the way up. 

At about half way (10kms in) you pop out of the forest and are into open farmland with roaming cattle and very narrow roads, so narrow in fact that if cars are going in opposite directions then one has to find a place to get fully off the road to allow enough room for the other to pass (not easy when there is a sheer cliff on one side).

The road then begins to ramp up again to a fairly constant 9-10% and starts to perform switchbacks as it climbs up for the remaining five or so kilometres. During the switchbacks it is really hard to imagine where the road will go to pass of the mountain as you are in a kind of amphitheatre with the mountain closing you in on three sides. It is not until less than one kilometre to go that you finally see the top just as you come to the last of the visible switchbacks.

Bottom of the switchbacks on my left, top on my right

At that last switchback I met with a gentleman who suggested that the last 500m are the worst. I am unsure if they were but the road did come up to 12% for a time. Maybe I was just distracted by the singing Italians descending?

At the top there is nothing more than a scenic lookout and a sign. I used both for pictures then continued on. Just a couple of hundred metres over the other side though is a bar, but I had just started up again and so went straight past. Onward!

The descent was just unbelievable! Not too steep so you did not need to lean on your brakes the whole time, through the forest, for ages, with no traffic and great roads. I was in heaven!

There was another small pass of a few hundred metres before the road drops right down to the valley floor. It was an incredible view to see a large valley dead flat surrounded by massive mountains. The area was wine country and all you could see was vineyards everywhere!

Once in the valley I hooked into one of the Euro Bike Lanes (that criss-cross Europe). It was only for 15 or kilometres but seemed really well set up for cycle tourists with the bike lane well off the road following a river and close to amenities like food, water and accommodation. This is where the headwind started, funnelling down the valley and was quite strong. This is the first time I have actually felt any difference in my cycling effort since coming over here. Normally a headwind almost stops me dead but I noticed today that even after 2,000+ meres in my legs I had the strength to push against it – still slowly by some standards but really an improvement by mine. Was awesome to see some results!

I continued to meander through the valley before climbing out again, now through miles and miles of apple fields. Unfortunately it must be picking season and there was a lot of pickers around so was not game to try one straight off the tree. A job for tomorrow. The climb out was around 400m elevation up to a plateau, which I wanted to get to today to put me in a good starting position for tomorrow.

So another great day. Passo Manghen was a great climb as it varied in slope as well as scenery (forest, to farmland, to switchbacks), and the descent was just incredible. Tomorrow I will try and get over Monte Padrio before resting for the night, and am super excited about what lies ahead of me after that!!

Oh yeah, accommodation finding was easy today, and Rose remains unchanged with her little knocking sound so all is OK me thinks….for now anyway. Sorry about the delay with this days blog but tech difficulties have me pulling my hair out!

Highlight: The realisation I was actually pushing into a headwind!

Lowlight: Tech problems two nights in a row...do not install the free Windows 10 upgrade unless you have a super dooper computer with lots of processing power, unless you like you computer freezing while windows upgrades all the time. 

Lesson Learned:  Pasta for lunch is making it harder to pedal after lunch then needs to be I think – back to sandwiches and bananas (only do it if I have seen nothing else around).