NOTE: Scroll all the way to the bottom for photos and maps/metrics from today’s ride.

Last night we stayed at the Hotel Hanswirt in a small town called Rablá, near Merano. From the outside, it looked pleasant enough, with a lovely restaurant with seating inside as well as on a very pleasant patio complete with a fountain and a garden under glass bricks beneath the tables. The hotel seemed to be attached to a large barn with a huge statue of Jesus on the cross at the peak of the roof, and there were religious artifacts and, curiously, typewriters used as decorations throughout the hotel.

You’re starting to wonder why I want to rave, right? Wait for it.

Everything about this hotel (except, perhaps, for the lack of air conditioning) was phenomenal. Rated four-stars, each room was spacious (read: huge), with a large comfortable bed, sitting area, desk, flat screen TV, enormous bathroom with shower AND bath, toilet AND bidet, and more counter space than I am used to in a hotel.The closet was larger than a hotels I remember on business trips in Kobe, Japan, and London. No, really. I also had a large outdoor deck that overlooked the pool and the nearby mountains.

Our bikes were stored in the Fahhrad-Depot (fahhrad is German for bicycle). How many hotels have you visited that had a Fahhrad-Depot?

Our group dinner was on the patio at a long table set up for all 20 of us (remember, Guido joined the trip yesterday as a guide, luggage van driver, and videographer). The food was excellent, the service good, and the view fantastic. All-in-all (other than the painfully slow WiFi), a wonderful experience, which continued this morning with breakfast, which was the typical European buffet including the usual quality European coffee.

By 8:30 AM, it was time to leave the lap for the saddle of pain (please note that I am sparing you the details so as not to be the butt of any jokes — get my drift?), and begin our ride.

Today we rode from Rablá to Bolzano (see Day 0) via the Passo Palade (1,193 meters of climbing) and the Passo Mendola (371 meters of climbing). The Passo Palade is a 16 km climb with an average grade of 7.4%, which may not sound too bad, but there are very few turns.

So what? you may be wondering. And since I know my mom is reading this blog, this answer may just be for her (Hi Mom!). The Passo Palade is mostly straight road that heads up the mountain with only occasional turns as it reaches toward the saddle at the summit of the pass. The Stelvio, on the other hand, is a much older road that was engineered and built using mostly short stretches of straight road, and frequent turns or switchbacks. While the Stelvio was longer and steeper overall, the road flattens out a bit (not flat, just less of a gradient) in the turns.

Complicating matters further was that the Palade and the Mendola are both lower elevation passes (therefore naturally warmer) and today was a hot, humid day. Despite all of these challenges, I found a pace on each climb, kept a steady cadence, and made my way to the top of each somewhere in the middle of the pack.

Massimo, who was driving the van today (they switch off each day), knew how hot it was and made sure to stop several times on the climb to make sure everyone had full water bottles. This was a huge help!

After summiting the Palade, we had a 10 km descent and then an 8 km climb to the top of the Passo Mendola where we had lunch. From there, it was all downhill into Bolzano, including 14 km at the end on Bolzano’s fantastic bike paths. The one we started on used to be the railway line, now converted to a bike path. As we got closer to Bolzano, however, the signage and frequent intersecting paths made clear that Bolzano’s city leaders are progressive when it comes to ensuring alternative transportation, specifically bicycles. We were all quite amazed at the network of bikeways as well as how well maintained (or should I say landscaped?) they all are. Bravo, Bolzano!

Our hotel tonight is the Stadt Hotel Citta, the same hotel in which many of us stayed the night before the tour officially began. It is perfectly situated on one of the city’s main piazzas, right across from il Duomo. The Duomo has Romaneque and Gothic elements and was consecrated in 1180. Partially destroyed in World War II, it was painstakingly rebuilt, brick-by-brick (shrapnel scars can be seen everywhere). The hotel is very nice, with clean well-appointed rooms (and a fantastic breakfast), and allows cycling guests to store their bikes in the lobby.

Bolzano is a pretty little town with a vibrant merchant culture that dates back nearly a thousand years due to its location at the middle of Swiss, Austrian and Italian trade lines and borders. Today it is considered the Gateway to The Dolomites and the Capital of the Alps (along with Innsbruck, Austria). The entire town is flanked on three sides by towering mountains, including The Dolomites clearly visible in the distance.

Bolzano is also the home to Ötzi, the iceman, a prehistoric man found mummified and perfectly preserved in snow and ice high in the nearby Alps in the late 1990s. Carbon dating indicates that Ötzi is over 5,000 years old. The Archeological Museum has him on display and, perhaps even more interesting than the man himself, all of his clothing, tools, weapons and other personal items. I visited and it was facinating.

This Ciclismo Classico tour includes all breakfasts, two lunches and all but one dinner. Tonight was the night we were to have dinner on our own, so most of the North Americans met in the lobby for a short walk to a nearby cafe where we enjoyed excellent pizzas, salads, and risottos. Afterward, several of us made the trek across town to Officina Del Gelo Avalon, which Enrico says has the best gelato in all of Italy. It was very good.

I’m told that tomorrow will be our biggest climbing day so far, but I’m choosing not to think about it.

Buonanotte, amici!