Cycling Dolomiti Friulane: Torrente Rot

The brake bleed kit finally arrived so I bled my mountain bike's brakes and changed the paper-thin front pads. I took a test ride and the fronts were rock solid but the rear still squishy. Worse yet my test ride had a muddy climb and the rear tire was so worn it just spun without forward motion. So I bought a new tire and re-bled the rear brakes. Today was final test ride.

I left Giais heading west on a gravel path. The forest here is interrupted by clearings where hay is grown: 3-4 foot-high grass and wildflowers surrounded by woods and mountains. Sometimes along the edge of the clearings you'll find a path exiting, and you try them all till you find one that goes through. After awhile I reached Rio Stentore which is rocky and steep both down and up: being a newb I got off and walked. The forest singletrack continues until an area northeast of Marsure called Tamarethe. This is wide open grassland tilted upward toward Forcella di Giais. I rode across to a gravel road and headed upslope to a fork. Right takes you up Sentiero Costa Longa to the Forcella. Left takes you to the Chiesetta degli Alpini. I went left following a very narrow path along the little canyon of Torrente Rot. Again a skilled rider might be able to ride most of this, but even walking my left foot was often plunging through the thick grass and dangling in empty space momentarily before recoiling in terror.

I crossed the boulders at the bottom: luckily there's no water this time of year, though in early Spring it's probably a roaring torrent. The climb out wasn't bad, except for one section where you must carry the bike on your outboard shoulder to avoid plummeting.

Before long I reached the lovely grounds of the Chiesetta degli Alpini. They keep their memorials very neat. I descended on a grassy path straight downslope to Via Cantore in Marsure (near tennis courts). From here I rode home. New rear tire is very grippy- no slipping in mud nor sudden lunging sideways off a round rock. And the rear brakes are much firmer, but will need new pads in a couple months.