Day 19

September 6, 2021

Toblach to cortina and back

Today was the day for my second bucket list item of the tour, Der Langen Weg der Dolomiten. I’ve heard so many people gush on and on about how great this ride was. This and the Drei Zinnen hike are why I came to Toblach. As we’ve already established, the Pustertal Radweg is nice, but not special nice like the Eisacktal between Brixen and Bozen and the Etschtal between Meran and Mals. Therefore the only reason to come all this way was for the dolomites.

This morning my grocery shopping from a couple days ago ran out. I debated running up to the grocery store to pick up something to eat, but I wasn’t feeling very motivated this morning so instead I ate the left over pita from last night and an apple. I figured I’d find something to eat along the way.

I was very slow getting going this morning. Three weeks of intense daily activity is apparently more than I’m used to with my desk job-like occupation. I also knew it was a little chilly this morning so waiting a bit would give it time to warm up some. The other issue weighing on my mind was how to buy that train ticket back to München (see previous post.) Between those and a general lack of desire to move, it was nearly 10am by the time I left my room at the hostel.

On my way out of the hostel I asked at reception if they knew where I could buy a train ticket back to München. They suggested trying tourist info for ideas. I debated whether to take the time to ride up to TI today or wait and stop in tomorrow. I decided I would enjoy my ride more if I had settled on where I could connect with a ticket agent, so I stopped at TI. They suggested Bruneck as the closest spot and confirmed that I should also be able to buy a ticket in Lienz. While there I also took the opportunity to express to them my concern about the lack of mask enforcement and compliance at the hostel, including among staff members (for instance, the cooks. I have yet to see one wearing a mask in the building.) Ehile they can’t directly do anything about it, the TI receptionist said she would inform her manager about my concern and they would see what they could do. I’m not expecting anything will actually happen, but I feel better having at least reported it somewhere. Ultimately it will be their business that gets hurt if tourism has or shut down again because of spiking infection rates.

So yes, enough time on my soapbox again. From TI I headed for the dolomites Radweg. It basically starts right by the hostel. It’s an unpaved route all the way to Cortina D’Ampezzo. While I’m not a big gravel riding fan, I will make exceptions for great scenery. This route is reputed to be one of the best of the best.

The route first passes by the cross country skiing/biathlon facility in Toblach. X-country skiing is apparently also a big winter draw in the area.

Entering the gap between the mountains I’ll be following to Cortina

After the ski facility the next attraction is the Toblacher See. It has some pretty dramatic mounting backdrops as well. There were plenty of people chilling along the lakeside or out walking. I think there’s a path all the way around this lake as well. I was on a mission and already behind schedule so I took my photos and moved on.

My bike posing like a champ at the stairs leading down to the See

After the lake comes the Soldaten Friedhof, a WW1 cemetery along the Radweg. WW1 saw some very intense action in this area with a great many soldiers losing their lives. There are war related items spread out throughout the mountains here. A little further along the path I passed the remains of an old concrete war bunker that was used in WW1, was then part of a line of never finished defenses after the area was ceded to Italy post WW1, and then saw action again during WW2. I think some of the caves I saw near the Drei Zinnen yesterday may also have been involved in WW1.

There is actually a creek here. The water is just that clear.

A rather derelict building, likely once associated with the rail line

Once there was a bridge here. Now there is a newer overpass. For awhile there was nothing and you had to push across the creek bed.

The next attraction, and the main one along the trail, is the Drei Zinnen Blick, a view between the mountains at the north side of the three peaks. Having seen them up close yesterday, the attraction wasn’t quite as prominent for me, but I still took a few photos and thought fondly back to my excruciating 9km hike up and down steep rock faces yesterday. Then I considered how lovely it was to be biking today instead of walking.

Not as famous as the Drei. But just as nice

There is one more trail side attraction before reaching the pass and the border with the next province, and that is the Dürrensee. It’s another scenic lake right on the trail. A lot of people were stopped here, either to sit along the shore, or to visit the restaurant across the rode. I can’t blame them. It’s a beautiful spot. I took this opportunity to eat my last granola bar and an apple, all that I had with for lunch. I also popped into the restaurant for a piece of cake and to use their hand sanitizer. I forgot mine back in the hostel and the trail side porta potties did not have any sanitizer or soap.

The Dürrensee. You can see why people were stopping here to lounge.

My bike seems to like posing near lakes. Maybe it’s the color similarity?

Soon after the Dürrensee I encountered one of those grates that cows apparently can’t walk over. On the other side were four cows in the middle of the path. Now you’ll recall I’ve had a recent run-in with some jail break attempting cows. I wasn’t sure how quick and efficient the cow grapevine is so I approached with caution. As I was eyeing up the herd, another cyclist rode past seemingly unconcerned with Amy potential danger from the four cows. I decided I would go ahead and try my luck. I skirted the edge whilst keeping a wary eye on my potential opponents. They were clumping up together, almost as if they were more concerned with me than I was with them. Up ahead we’re four more cows. They seemed more interested in eating than they were with me, however, so I cycled quickly past. Crisis averted. Except I do have to pass through there again coming back....

Is this a threatening pose, or are they afraid of me and my weird bike?

As I cycled away from the Dürrensee I noticed that trail usage fell off markedly. I also noticed that the trail surface quality was also declining. There had been some less than ideal stretches here and there along the way, mostly patches of fine loose gravel that were maybe being used to fill in spots in the trail that had been washed out. Now there were starting to be big rocks or spots where big rocks had been sunk into the trail over time. It was pretty rough, but I figured it would just be rough for a bit and then get better again.

Clearly during some part of the year a lot of water flows through here

Goodbye Südtirol. I’ll be back in a couple hours.

I finally reached the pass where the trail would start downhill. There was a small restaurant in this area along with signage welcoming you to the province of Belluno and signage from Südtirol bidding you a fond farewell. From here it would be all downhill to Cortina and I was looking forward to seeing my average speed tick up beyond 7mph. It was definitely downhill, but my average speed was not ticking up. Why? Because the trail surface was an atrocious, embarrassing, unspeakably horrible, bone jarring, soul crushing, hot mess of loose rock, embedded stones, and small loose pebbles. I picked my way between things as best as I could all the while noting the downhill gradient that I would have to toil back up on this unspeakably horrible surface. I also made an effort to occasionally look up and attempt to take in the scenery. Now on a mountain bike, I’m sure this would be a great ride. But I wasn’t riding a mountain bike. I was riding my recumbent, a bike best suited to long-distance riding on pavement, preferably flat or with slight gradients, ideally downhill gradients. With marathon greenguard touring tires, this was not at all the correct bike for the trail. Oh, and suspension would have been really helpful too. My bike doesn’t have suspension. I couldn’t help but notice that now every single bike I was seeing was a mountain bike. How in the world did this trail become so famous?

There was a guest house and a church up at the corner. Maybe the perfect place for very pious people to overnight?

The strange use of snow fencing. Blocks the view!

Yet another trail side lake. Reminds me of northern Minnesota, except we don’t have mountains.

The trail surface. This really is not fun to ride my bike over.

I bumped miserably along as the path wound its way along a canyon. There’s a fair amount of tree growth along the trail so some views were obstructed, but I got enough to get a good feel for the dramatic scenery around me. That’s when I could glance up for studying the trail for the route least likely to send my rear tire out from under me. The trail passes through a tunnel and then over a bridge crossing the canyon. For some reason the Italians have lined the sides of their bridges with snow fence material. You can’t see anything through it and you have to wonder what views they’re hiding behind that fence. The path continued to be bad, bad, and more bad. I started to realize that I had stopped having any sort of fun several miles ago. My neck was getting stiff from the jarring of the path, I hadn’t had nearly enough food for the day, I needed to go to the bathroom, and.... I reached the second tunnel, saw a work truck in the middle of the tunnel with them doing some sort of work on the ceiling, perhaps changing light bulbs, and realized I did not want to see Cortina d’Ampezzo badly enough to do another 4-5 miles of this in both directions. I turned my bike around, and headed back.

Going uphill on the rocky path was not any more fun than going down had been. I still had to focus on finding the least bad area. I said a lot of words I won’t repeat here, especially when I had to put my foot down quickly to keep the bike from flipping over. Fortunately I don’t think any of that was captured in the video recordings I’ve been making. Just trust me, it wasn’t a good experience for me. The path is run on an old rail line so at least the uphill gradient wasn’t a soul killing percentage. Mostly 1-3%. Since I had already stopped to take most of the best pictures, I just focused on riding. It had taken four hours roughly to ride the first 14 miles. At that rate it would be 7pm when I got back. That also factored into my decision to turn around short of Cortina.

With a renewed focus on riding, and just riding, I got back to the pass reasonably quickly. From there it would be a downhill coat back to Toblach. For a mile or two beyond the pass, the trail surface continued to be terrible. Around the Dürrensee the surface improves quite a bit. The potentially threatening 8 cows also appeared to have moved on. From there I was able to make quicker progress. First the Drei Zinnen Blick and a potty break, then the friedhof, the Toblacher See, the ski place, and finally Toblach itself. As long as I had the bike and a bag with me, I rode the mile up to the grocery store, stocked up on food for breakfast and lunch the next two days, and then stopped at a pizza place for supper.

By 5pm the sun is low enough to be hidden behind the mountains. It gets chilly pretty fast.

Where I went, the circle where I turned around, the circle indicating where I originally planned to turn around. X marks the part I didn’t ride.

So, what did I think of this incredibly famous and popular route? Well, I agree that the scenery is amazing. But is it better than other places, like the Brixen to Bozen stretch? personally, no. I’ve ridden other stretches with better surfaces that I think are just as good. One look at the Drei Zinnen does not make up for how truly awful the trail surface is. While I fully confess my attitude was hampered by a less substantial amount of food for the day and a generally grouchy disposition after a number of frustrating experiences this trip, it’s just really hard to immerse yourself in scenery when you’re trying to avoid immersing yourself onto the unforgiving surface of a rocky unpaved trail. I’ve gone down on dirt tracks before and I just don’t really want to relive that experience. None of the research I did on this route gave any indication that the path would be this rough. Bone jarring is the best descriptor I have. Worse yet, this could be a massive draw if they would just improve the surface. It doesn’t even have to be paved. Just put in a good limestone surface and get rid of the huge rocks. The München-Venezia Radfernweg uses this stretch. That route is definitely off my list of potential future routes. I would need a fully suspended recumbent trike to even consider it. So all in all, if you’ve got the right bike for it, it’s fantastic. But I sure wouldn’t take an unsuspended touring bike with narrowish tires down this stretch. And if you do, be prepared for a very bumpy ride and make sure you check bolts on your bike when it’s over and retighten everything. Bluntly put, add this one to the ridiculously long list of things this trip that have been a huge disappointment for me. Your mileage may vary depending on your bike and what makes an enjoyable ride.

Today's ride: 30 miles (48 km)
Total: 506 miles (814 km)

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