Pedemonte - Rifugio Bornass

After 6 days of continuous rain, this afternoon we had a brief "period of brightness" as the BBC weather reader says. I hurried and jumped on my bike, thinking I'd go to Villa di Villa and search for the Strada di Patriarchi backroad to Il Cansiglio. But as I approached the turnoff for Piancavallo at Pedemonte, I glanced up, saw the clouds had parted and I could see Castaldia, where the parapendio jump off the slopes. On an impulse I turned right, thinking I'd ride up to Collalto at 1374 meters.

As I mentioned previously http://dolomiti-friulane.blogspot.com/2010/04/piancavallo.html it's a long steep ride, rated "Molto Impegnativa" by Passi e Valli in Bicicletta- Friuli. I managed to remain seated up to 650 meters but a stretch of 13-15% did me in. So I climbed standing until 767 meters at Rifugio Bornass. My plans to reach Collalto quickly disintegrated during this standing stretch, as a huge black cloud with lightening and thunder loomed overhead. Discretion being the better part of valor, I decided to descend at Rifugio Bornass. It was quite windy and started to rain. Once I got down to 300-400 meters the rain stopped. I rode as fast as possible the 200 meter climb home on Via Pedemontana. Another guy with the same idea shot by me in a blur. A second fellow went by a little slower so I jumped on his wheel for the 1 km flat ride through our town.

Once home the sky split open and it rained buckets. I was very glad I hadn't ridden to Villa Di Villa- I would have been drenched and then faced a long ride home.

Map

Gradient from kilometer 7 to 14