mac and johanna's bike tripjoh

September 16
Dobbacio to Cortina d'Ampezzo

This morning, before we began our ride, we wanted to ride downtown to visit the town of Dobbacio first, only to find that Johanna had a flat tire. We got directions to the bike shop and headed in that direction. Of course it was closed so we locked our bikes there and did our sightseeing. When we returned there was no sight of the owner and turned to go. He suddenly roared up, cigarette dangling from his lips and replaced the tube in 10 minutes for 10 euros. He checked our tires, told us our padded bike seats were "shit" then we were on our way.

Our tour to Cortina was filled with the sad history of the first world war and spectacular views of the Dolomites. We stopped at Nasswand, a military cemetary from the first world war. Over 10 million men lost their lives in WWI. This area was a a section where the Italians and Austrians fought to protect their borders. Nasswand was the location of the hospital and later the graveyard. Most of the deaths here were caused by avalanches, the cold and other perils of winter and not by the hands of the enemy.

The trail gently climbed upwards towards the Cimabanche Pass where we made friends with a holy man who was following his "master." He had a very creative rig with all his belongings packed on his bike and in a makeshift trailer. Chantal argued religion and philosophy with him for awhile and then we headed down. De Drei Zinnen soon soon came into view. This is the most spectacular landmark in the Dolomites littered with many climbing routes of severe difficulty. The three peaks are known as the Little Peak, the Big Peak and the West Peak.

A little further on we stopped at Lake Duerrensee and lunched out of our travel bags. The route up to the pass was quite easy and then down towards Cortina we did not need to pedal for over an hour. The mountain route abounded with huge empty gorges and washes that must thunder with torrents of water during the spring melt. Several tunnels, views of the Dolomites and the River Ampezzo below highlighted our gentle descent along the gravel route to this famous mountain ski village, home of the 1956 Olympics.

We found our lodging afetr stopping at the tourist center and ended up in the Hotel Oasi. We got a good recommendation from the owner for dinner and enjoyed a splendid meal of egg pasta stuffed with beets, polenta with mushrooms and white pizza with spinach and ricotta and of course, Tiramisu for dessert. It was gently raining as we made our way along the central downtown route reserved for pedestrians only. The center abounds with elegant stores displaying the latest haute couture and the window shopping is quite entertaining.

Our plans for tomorrow are to ride the tram and then hike to the Cinque Torri, Five Towers but it is raining so we may have to come up with another strategy. for tomorrow and the next few days depending on this weather.