Panuch

Another cold clear day- headed to Meduno, then Lago di Tramonti, then crossed the dam, pedaled to Chievolis and began the climb.  This road is very cool- lots of hard steep ascents with steep descents in between.  On a near-freezing day like this you end up alternately roasting and freezing.  On the descent down to Lago Ca' Selva I nailed a pothole with my rear tire and thought "That's going to go flat."  But I kept going, across the dam, over the stretch of dirt road, and started the paved killer climb to Panuch.  Then the tire finally went flat so I pulled over to change it.  Quite nippy standing in the shade of the mountain around 0℃ while I changed the tire.  I resumed the very steep ascent, made more fun by a thick layer of slippery beech tree leaves, and periodic drainage grates with 30mm wide slots (must cross at nearly a right angle).  Eventually I made it to the top, gasping the frigid air due to stretches of 20% gradient.  My view of the lake was blocked by beech tree limbs (even when devoid of leaves) so I didn't get a lovely photo of the lake with sun shining on the dam.  After a very slow, careful descent I continued with the fun ride home.

Note:  I think I will make the Merckx into an indoor trainer bike for the winter, and also use it for local flatter rides in summer.  The temporary derailleur hanger is a bit fiddly when changing the rear tire, and I seem to get many more flats in the mountains.