Into the Dolomites

Editor’s Note: We have been asked to write a few guest posts about our trip for singletracks.com and tripleblaze.com. The first of our articles talks about the trail riding we did in Cortina, and you can click here to check it out.

Day 1

We left Venice Sunday afternoon to headed north to spend a few days in the Dolomites; unique and beautiful mountains that many people have suggested we visit. We were unable to find free internet in Venice, so we decided not to plan our route ahead of time and to try using just our 1:800,000 scale map of Italy for navigation. Leaving the city was very difficult, with few small quiet roads leaving the city in the direction we were going and no detailed map to see where we were going. Eventually we wandered around until we found a way over the canals and railroad tracks and found the route we were looking for.

The riding was smooth from that point until the next city we encountered, Treviso. We stopped to get a kabob for lunch which provided us some good cheap food as well as something different from the typical pizzerias and ristorantes. After eating, we asked the worker behind for directions, so he told us which direction to head and then said to follow the river out of town.

This would have worked well if there were only one river,  but with several rivers and streams intersecting and branching off (we found out later this made of a moat system around the main center of town), we were once again turned around and lost. We were eventually able to use a saved Google map and map from one of the local bike share stations to find our current location and figure out how to get out of town.

As we rode, we began to see the mountains of Northern Italy rise up before us, which was exciting following the hundreds of kilometers of flat hot farmland leading into and out of Venice.

As we began climbing, we discovered that we would not be riding on quiet mountain roads as we had hoped, but instead would be sharing the road with a fair amount of cars and countless numbers of motorcycles. As in the States, the winding mountain roads are a big attraction for motorcyclists and hearing the high revving engines as we climbed up through the valley nearly deafened us. This also meant that finding a suitable free camping spot would be very difficult, since anything near the road would be very loud.

We only knew of one campground along our route, but estimated earlier in the day that it would be too far to reach by nightfall. Surprisingly, we asked a local about a good place to camp and he said that the campground we were looking for was only a few kilometers away. We climbed the last few km and then descended down to Lago di Santa Croce, while in awe of the beauty of the lake and surrounding mountains. It was late in the day, but the water was still full of windsurfers and kite boarders as we coasted into the campground. We checked in for the night, and pitched our tent near another campsite with mountain bikes locked up hoping to find some information on the local trails from our neighbors.

Day 2

We awoke the next day and decided that with the beautiful scenery and lots of recreation opportunities, Lago di Santa Croce would be an excellent place to spend an extra day. We postponed our plans to ride further into the Dolomites and went in search of a bike shop that could give us some info on local trails, but when we asked at the front desk of the campground we were told that the closest bike shop was 20 km away. We were able to get a trail map, but most of the trails were in the high mountains which would mean a couple of hours of climbing before we even started the trails. Instead of killing our legs to get to the high elevation bike trails, we decided to instead do a hike that began at the campground and took us up one of the smaller mountains.

The hike began on a path that ran along the lake, before turning into one of the small villages nearby and following a road through town. Eventually, we made our way back onto a dirt road which climbed steeply for a few kilometers before topping out at a church. We stopped at the church to enjoy the view and began our descent back down. The trail back down was very fun with excellent scenery and several cool trailside features such as a waterfall, ancient Roman road, and small cable car used to transport materials up and down the mountain.

 

After arriving back at the campground we spent the rest of the afternoon hanging at the beach.

That night we talked with our camping neighbors who were visiting from Austria and had come to the lake to go kite-boarding. We traded stories for a little while about our trips and home country.

Day 3

We left the lake on Tuesday and continued north on our way to Cortina.

The road we were riding on seemed to get busier and busier the farther north we went. We passed through an 1800 meter tunnel and shortly after a 2300 meter tunnel which was pretty exciting, but very stressful. The tunnels are dark, cold, and very loud with the uneasiness of the wind knocking you over every time a truck passed by.

We eventually saw a smaller road nearby that followed the river and highway we were on that seemed like a quiete,r safer road to travel on, which it was. Instead of long busy tunnels we were welcomed with quiet windy small roads around each mountain instead of through it.

The route was not nearly as hilly as we were expecting, and things went well enough that we arrived in town by 4:00 in the afternoon despite our first flat (which was not our last that week) and stopping extra for some great views.

We checked out a couple of the different campgrounds and decided on one for our visit where we ate some food and set out into town. The downtown of Cortina was much more posh than we were expecting, with designer clothing stores lining the streets. We were able to track down a bike shop just before closing to see about fixing Andrew’s freehub, but were told to return in the morning. We took one of the free trail maps to plan our next days ride and made plans to return to the shop.

We went back to camp to cook dinner and get showered up, where one of the locals told us of a cool bar in town where we could hang out and grab a drink later that night. We made our way back into town to check it out around 10, and found that it was infact an interesting place with lots of people and several decorations highlighting the Cortina 1956 Olympics. We never saw the campground employee, but decided to call it a night and head back to prepare for the next day’s ride.

Day 4

After breakfast, we geared up and set out to do the first mountain bike ride of our trip. Before hitting the trails though, we stopped back by the bike shop and had the mechanic take a look at Andrew’s freehub. He, like most Italian bike mechanics, had never dealt with Chris King hubs but was eventually able to figure everything out and got it back in working condition. With the bike finally working, we hit the trails for an all day ride, including a great lunch at an Austrian style mountain hut.

Day 5

In the morning we went into town to find internet to figure out plans for the next few days and to restock on patches and tubes following a few flat tires while trail riding the previous day. After coming back from town, the rainy day moved our neighbors closer under the trees at our campsite. Three were from Slovenia and the fourth was an American who all came there for a vacation to rock climb. We talked for a while and had beers and coffee. The American laughed watching us cook and eat on the ground since we don’t have the room for chairs nor do we want to haul the extra weight. He did a similar trip in New Zealand for 9 months by bike and also spent his time sitting on the bare ground during his trip so he understood. They encouraged us to check out parts of Eastern Europe and pointed out some nice areas in Slovenia to bike. We’ll see what happens in a few months, maybe we’ll make it that way for a visit.

Day 6

We decided to get an early start and head to Lake Garda to spend extra time there, but decided to do one last mountain bike ride before leaving town. One of the local shops recommended a route which featured the only singletrack in town, which we rode before packing up camp and set out touring again.