Rainy day here now so here’s a bit of a report on this morning’s fun:
After 3 days of quite delibitating pain – referred from arthritic neck into right arm and shoulder – this morning I felt well enough to re-mount the steed and head for the biggest hill I could find. Plenty of choices around here but settled on the Stelvio. Thunderstorms predicted for the afternoon so set off at 7:45 hoping to be back before lightening struck. Well I avoided the lightening but the storms were coming in fast (ahead of forecast) and the wind was, well quite scary. Going in to some of the corners under brakes you couldn’t tell if it was the back wheel locking up or just a gust of wind. Cross/head/tail you name it it was swirling all over the valley. When the rain finally started to fall I was glad I wasn’t one of the riders I saw heading up. Bucket list die hards surely. Why else would you climb towards those black clouds? Maybe I’m getting soft… don’t answer that!
Actually gotta tell you about the guy coming up the last 100m where temperature was 8 degrees (according to Garmin) but wind chill was way below that – anyhow this old guy, surely a local with that brown skin kind of hanging off him! climbing up without a jersey. Almost laughed out loud – why would you do that? Probably has done it every day for the last 40 years 😉
Other riders spotted were two JaycoAIS dudes out for a morning training ride. They were descending as I was climbing so must have been up early. First guy gave me a friendly wave n’all. Didn’t get to note who they were or who was in the support car. Good to see them happy to acknowledge even an old hack like yours truly.
So all good today – pain was manageable, climbed well (took 10min off my 2008 time), survived a tricky descent beating the worst of it (continuous rain here in Bormio now) and once again loved my new GoreTex jacket! Weather fines up again as of tomorrow so heading out to some of the steep stuff – Mortirolo, Garvia – shoulder pain permitting (taking it day by day).
Some pics:
PS. Just heard the first clap of thunder! Gonna be a fun afternoon 🙂