Ok, so call me a liar. I know that with each post I have said that the mountains get more beautiful, or that “this place” or “that place” is my favorite, but all of that was before I came to the Dolomites. The landscape and scenery in this area is more spectacular than anything I have ever seen in my life. All day I have been baffled by how to make a proper comparison to other places I have been and I have yet to come up with anything. If the Alps are the perfect mountains, the sort I drew in grade school by just making a series of ever larger upside down V’s, than the Dolomites are the complete antithesis of that. They are solid rock giants that look as if they were the remains of a great war between the Gods. Never do they seem to rest in an orderly range, but rather stand alone as craggy individual monoliths. It is that they are so not what I expected that makes them so glorious.
After another long day on the bike yesterday, I slept like a rock in my very comfortable room at the Pension La Fontana in Corvara. The bed provided a lot more space, but the typical European bathroom could use a little American super-sizing. Once again we woke to a beautiful, cloudless day and were up early and ready to ride. It was also quite warm at 9am so it was nice not only to not have to layer, but also to not have to worry about packing lots of extra gear in case the weather turned.
We left about 9:30am and headed up over the Passo Gardena, which rises right out of town. This pass was not anywhere near as imposing as what we had ridden the past few days. It had nicely banked turns that, although tight, were not the sort of 1st gear hairpins we were used to. Corvara seems to be the main town in a huge network of towns connecting a gigantic ski area known as Alta Badia. There are lifts, gondolas and bahns everywhere you look and I think you could easily visit for a week and never ride the same chair twice. It’s massive. There was a surprising amount of traffic up and down this pass from cars to motorcycles and busses. It really felt like GSMNP in the middle of the summer with an endless line of vehicles. I have learned to pass like a European on my motorcycle, which would never fly in the USA and I will really have to check myself when I get back home. People expect the bikes to pass them here and cars will often pull over to let you by. Dad and I would often pull over to let much faster sportbikes and supermotards pass us, often thanked with the right foot kickout. I look quite frequently in my side mirrors, but sometimes these crotchrockets will scream past in groups of 4 or 6 and you never knew they were there.
In the first 25k since leaving the hotel, we covered three passes and saw amazing views but never really got out of the traffic. The roads were also a little more the worse for wear and had lots of potholes and frost heaves. Finally, in Canazei we turned left and put most of the heavy traffic behind. We rode up to the Passo di Fedaia, where, at the very top in a long tunnel, a group of sport bikes came up fast behind us. The sound of their bikes in the tunnel was deafening even with my earplugs in and I thought they were coming to mow me down. At the far end of the tunnel we stopped for lunch and had pizza and cokes looking up to the massive Marmolada which at 3342M (over 10K feet) still had lots of snow on it and there were many hikers, small as ants, way up in the snowfields. We could also see where people had made ski turns and as we were about to leave we watched a guy come down.
Riding thru ever more beautiful scenery and continuing to go up and down pass after pass, we finally began the ascent of the Passo Di Giau. This was a very steep pass with hairpins like we had seen yesterday but near the top the road mellowed out into wide sweeping turns and we were able to begin to take in the view that would hands down be the most amazing sight my eyes have ever seen. At the crest of the pass is a restaurant and large parking area and there were hundreds of motorcycles of every make and type sitting up there. The view alone from the lot was great but there was a trail to a knoll maybe a 10-minute walk up that I could tell would provide panoramic views. I don’t understand why Dad and I were the only ones to make this easy trek as the short hike provided quite literally endless views of these most magnificent and commanding mountains. This is the longest Dad and I had stopped for scenery. I don’t think either of us wanted to come down. It was simply too beautiful. 
We finally relented and got back on the bikes. I set up my helmet cam and told Dad I saw a spot just down a bit where I could stop and film him. According to Dad, as we set up the helmet cameras and our bike2bike communication devices, there were a number of other bikers who were staring at our equipment and pointing and talking in German and Italian. I hope they thought it was pretty cool. My impression is all of these guys would love to see themselves take a corner at the speeds they carry. We followed a threesome of sportbikes down the east side of the Giau and a female was leading the pack. It seemed that the guys behind her were “letting her lead” as they would occasionally sit a bit farther back in a turn in order to race around it. Her pace was perfect, if not a bit fast for Dad and I and it was kind of fun being part of a pack, racing down this road with excellent banked turns and solid road conditions. I honestly felt the best on the bike that I have felt all trip.
At the bottom of the Giau we saw the sign to go left with 30k back to Corvara. The female’s friends had given her the chance to lead and now flew past her and were out of sight. Dad and I stayed behind her for a bit as our skill level was similar but she was much more apprehensive about making passes and when we got behind a bus, Dad overtook, her, me and the bus on the inside of a hairpin turn. Now I am the first to criticize what I think is a stupid pass but Dad rode this thing like a pro. You could see way up the hill to know that there was no oncoming traffic and the turn was wide enough that Dad was able to dip far down below the bus. It was the most impressive thing I have ever seen Dad do on a motorcycle and would no doubt score him many points with these European riders. 
Close to Corvara we rode up behind Harley Dog. He was a little Springer Spaniel who was riding in a metal box on the back of his owners Harley. It was so awesome and so silly at the same time, but Harley Dog looked like he was enjoying the ride. Back at the La Fontana, Dirk came out to meet us and told us that he had just ordered a round of beers and to meet him in the bar. We had a nice drink and more excellent conversation and promised to meet for dinner once again. We also talked about Belgian beers, which are a bit of a hobby for Dirk and he promised to send us some. I must say, Dirk embodies everything that I love about Europeans; good people in general… a great sense of humor, a thirst for knowledge, and most important a strong interest in who he is talking too and what we are talking about. I hope we will stay in touch.Skyped Amanda at the local internet café, (I miss her terribly) and had another great dinner where I had a plate of local cheese for my main course. Now to bed. I don’t know if it’s possible to top today but there is every indication that it is possible. We will see what tomorrow will bring.
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