Thursday, July 3, 2008

Stage 7, the Sellaronda

The Sellaronda is a standard Dolomoti ride that goes up and over four major high mountain passes: Campolongo, Pordoi, Sella, and Gardenia. The two middle climbs are quite hard, while the first and last are less so, though no pieces of cake, mind you. The Sellaronda is also the short loop of the Maratona di Dolomiti (www.maratonadolomiti.it). One of our guides, Mike Elmer, took another group on this ride, which finished last Sunday. It is a very high tech race, with each rider given a special chip that helps officials record their routes and times. Check out this website (http://runners.tv/events/md08.asp?r=3066) which shows Mike at various stages of the race (you would have to know what he looks like to pick him out). He was riding as Tobias Panek, head of Gran Fondo, who had to bow out of this years event.

We started early, straight up into the Campolongo climb, reversing the freezing descent of the day before. This side of the Campolongo was easier....

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