Day 4 of riding – May 22

What a day, what a day, what a wonderful day!  Today had to be the most enjoyable day I have ever had on a motorcycle and I have some good ones in the past!  We completed just over 300 km (about 190 miles) and it was almost 1 constant turn after another.  I have never done so many tight hairpin curves and switchbacks in my life!  In many places they are just one after another.  You look a few bikes ahead and it looks like they are coming at you but going up over head – that is how tight some of the hairpins are!

The day started with wonderful sunshine and it followed us all day.  We had no rain, snow, sleet, or hail or any other form of precipitation today which was a first on the trip.  Second, when Manny, our leader, was going over the route this morning I figured it would be a great day because as he explained the route, it was always passo (pass) this, passo that, passo … on and on.  The sound of music to my ears.  We did so many today, I didn't even count.

The views we had today were also the best so far.  We stopped at one lake that was so clear you could see the bottom.  In the background was the green hills, the snow covered mountain tops, blue sky and white clouds.  It was really a sight to behold.

One of the passes that was on our planned route today was closed.  Manny only learned this once we reached the top.  I believe it was closed for some bicycle event.  As a result we had to drive back down the way we came and then Manny altered our route “on the fly”.  Manny has a great memory for the roads and the layout.  He changed the route and still provided great riding.  He does carry a GPS in case of emergency, but he never uses it.  Amazing!

The traffic for this tour has been very light.  Yes there is more traffic in town and sometime you get “stuck” behind some buses or trucks on a road that would really be fun at higher speeds but that is part of driving in the real world.  Manny said that some of the passes we did today he would never try during July and August because there is so much traffic it just looks like a train going around this popular loop of passes. 

During our morning briefing, Manny explained the true story of why 2 mountains in the areas are much flatter on the top then the rest.  During World War I, there were many battles in the Dolomites between the Germans and the Italians.  During one winter, the Germans figured out the Italians were camped out on top of one of the mountains.  The Germans tunneled into the mountain under the Italians and packed it with dynamite and blew up the top of the mountain and the Italians.  Later during the war, the Italians learned the Germans were camped on a different mountain top.  The Italians made the same attempt to drill into the mountain under the Germans to blow them up!  Unfortunately for the Italians, the Germans figured out what was going on before the Italians completed the work and evacuated the mountain.  However, because the Italians had done all this work already, they decided to blow it up anyway – even if the Germans weren’t still there!

As I said earlier, the riding sequence within the group sorted out early and has resulted in everyone really enjoying the riding pace.  The sequence is usually something like this.  Manny leads.  Todd is usually second; although today he rode 3^rd much of the day.  Gerald is always last.  The reason for Todd and Gerald’s placement is that they have Scala “bike-to-bike” communications between them.  It helps the communications within the group.  Marc, Gianni, and I (in various orders) round out the top 5.  We set the fastest pace for the group.  Jim is usually next followed by Tom and Sue, then Mohammed and Zahar and Gerald as “tail gunner”. 

Tomorrow will be the last day of riding.  The current plan is go to Lake Garda which is a very large and popular lake in Northern Italy.  It sounds like a great way to cap off 5 days of riding.

Gianni will not be riding tomorrow; he left before dinner this evening.  This is typically for Gianni.  As I said earlier, this is the 3^rd time he has done this tour and always rides for only 4 days rather than 5.  Manny said that is because day 5 they usually go to Lake Garda and Manny lived there for many years so he doesn’t feel the need or desire to ride there again.

 A couple of other people (Mohammed, Jim, and maybe others) are still deciding between riding or spending time in Bolzano.  No question for me on what I plan to do.