BAC Val d'Aosta 2012

I did not intend to do the whole ride today. My knees were sore, my back hurt and I had lots of other excuses. The weather was beautiful, though - warm temperatures and sunny skies. So I started to ride out of town with Mary McCurdy and Heidi Dexter leading the way. They stopped for an equipment adjustment while I trudged on. It was quite steep for the first few kilometers and I was getting warmed up. I set my mental clock to decide at each 10km whether or not to turn around. The traffic was very heavy and it started to spook me. But then it would thin out and the grade would lessen, so I kept on.

We were going up another valley alongside a quickly moving river. We passed several villages with Tyrolian architecture. It seems that a lot of the cars were targeting Gressoney Saint Jean for their Sunday adventures. This is a town on an alpine plain that stretches for a couple of kilometers. There are lots of hiking trails, hotels, cafes and picnic areas. I targeted this town as one of my turnaround points. The road leveled off here so it felt good to pedal on.

Outside of town, the grade rose by a lot. I was close to the end of the route, so I kept going. I am glad that I did because the grade leveled off as I rode into Gressoney La Trinite . The mountain views were spectacular. I rode along a hiking path for a short while and ended up at a cafe where I met Janet Monks, Midge Cross, Rose and Art Hewig, Paul Goessling and Bob McCullough. They were resting and drinking cappuccino. I was hungry, so I had a panino with tomatoes, cheese, lettuce and mayonnaise. This is the first time that I had mayonnaise on this trip. It really made a normally dry panino taste much better.

The group left for the return trip before I did. When I finished eating, I took a couple of photos and pointed my bicycle downhill. It was a quick trip.

It was very hot back in town. I was a little apprehensive about packing my bicycle in the heat, but the basement in the hotel was relatively cool. Once again my bike fit into its suitcase. And as a bonus, so did all of my cycling attire. Now I had more room in my regular suitcase for the continuation my trip through Italy, Slovenia and Croatia.

After cleaning up, I walked up to the center of town. I ate my after-ride gelato and found a cash machine to replenish my supply of euros. Dinner was at the hotel again. I had risotto that had cheese and apple slices in it. For a main course I had a beef stew with polenta. Our desert was a caramel custard. It was all good.

My next adventure starts tomorrow.

Click here for more photos from today.

Here are my statistics for the ride.