Ride Day 5: Pfunds, Austria to Prato, Italy

Ah, into Italy, but a majority of the day's ride is in Switzerland and Austria, then Switzerland and then Austria.

A 2-map day again today because we're riding on roads that are not there (according to Ridewithgps.com at least).  And we started the day about 50 km north of Pfunds, in Nassereith.

Map 1:



And map 2:

We are sure that you will be happy to hear that today was a bunch better than yesterday.  In fact, today was pretty excellent all the way around.  Our ride took us through storybook alpine meadows, beautiful valleys and over a big pass.  All in perfect weather.

We woke early at our “rustic” little campground.  We’d pitched the tent next to a creek and well under some trees in an attempt to avoid getting soaked with dew.  It worked pretty well, as the tent was dry in the morning but it was really cold.  We powered up the GPS and it said 42 degrees.  We had noticed a café down in town that said that they opened at 6 a.m.  We rode down the hill and were there at 6:01 for coffee. 

Lorie had figured out that in order to have a super easy day before we ride the Passo della Stelvio, we needed to put in a big day today.  So we set the route from Nassereith, where we camped, with the destination of Reschi, in Italy.  The route was 110 km and had about 2000 m of climbing.  But with perfect weather, why not?  We were pretty bundled up when we left, as the temperature was still in the low 40s; the sun had not made it into the valley yet.  But soon enough we warmed up and started peeling layers. 

We had just a beautiful, beautiful ride, following the river Inns (which is the namesake of Innsbruck) through tiny villages in Austria, Switzerland and Italy (we crossed various borders 5 or 6 times today).  

Picture perfect Inns river valley outside of Nassereith

The mountains

Still pretty cold at this hour of the morning

The route was well marked and I don’t remember getting lost even once.  

The Inn valley

Our route was significantly upward with lots of rolling hills.  But then we had to get over the Reschen pass.  The pass is closed to cyclists because there is a long, long tunnel that is too dangerous for bikes.  So we diverted to Martina, Switzerland, then crossed back over to Austria via what I am calling the Martinapass.  I’m not sure what the real name for this particular pass is, but it was tough enough with 11 numbered switchbacks and an average grade of about 9% for 11 km.  I thought that we’d tip over at times since we were going so slowly, but we made it and celebrated at the top.  Only 15 km to Reschia, where we found a nice hotel with a great view of the lake.

The summit of the Martinapass

At the top, Nauders, Austria

It was steep coming down and our GPS said that we hit 46 mph.  Lorie usually hits me in the kidney if we get over 35, ish, so neither of us noticed how fast we were coming down.

Our view from our room:

The Stelvio is up there somewhere...

Hard to beat the view

Tomorrow we have a very short ride to the walled city of Glurns (Glorenza if you’re speaking Italian) where we get ready to ride the Stelvio.

Ciao.