Piancavallo from Barcis

This is one of the prettiest rides around here.  From west shore of Lago di Barcis up the gorge of Torrente Caltea to Piancavallo, all wilderness.  And you get a good workout, 13 km of 7.5%.  It was  a little icy up near the top where previous light snowfalls have melted and re-frozen.  A couple of times I had to hop off and walk along the edge for maybe 50 meters where the ice and steepness prevented rear wheel from getting traction.  Much less snow than normal for this time of year.
Descended down the main road to Aviano, much less traffic than usual because of fewer skiers.  

View north of  rocky Monte Resettum

Closer up

Passo San Osvaldo

I enjoyed riding through the 4 km tunnel by Barcis on Saturday so much I returned to ride through it twice more,  this time from Montereale Valcellina / Lago di Ravedis.  I continued past Barcis to Cimolais and climbed up the little pass of San Osvaldo (848 meters).  The return ride is one of the sweetest around here: 40km almost all downhill.   Hard to describe how good that feels after burning your muscles all the way up there.

Some of the peaks of Val Cimolana 

Note the rock towers along the ridge, a local specialty

San Osvaldo's little chapel,
with the first snow I've seen this year

From the pass, more Val Cimolana eye-poppers

Close up of rock walls high above

Pala Barzana

Pala Barzana is a good training ride from east to west (Poffabro to Andreis), and slightly harder in the opposite direction.  Today I took the easy way, up through Bus di Colvera and Poffabro.  Quite chilly in the shade of the mountain but the climbing kept me warm.  At the top (854 meters) the road was frosty and I felt some slippage so I rode very slowly.  Good job too because it got frostier and even a thin dusting of snow above Bosplans.  

There were a few sightseers enjoying Santo Stefano but not enough traffic to be a bother.  Finally I reached the less-steep and -frosty road by Andreis and tried riding fast as possible to warm-up but it was useless:  I was frozen.  The 4 km tunnel was a bit warmer and I got a little warmth on the short climb to the tunnel above Montereale.  I hurried home and pulled off my shoes and socks to warm my block-of-ice feet by the heater.  I'm still feeling a little cold but a warm bath will cure that.

Monte Raut above Pala Barzana

Beautiful peaks above Andreis

Piani di Clauzetto

The cloud cover broke and I headed for the hills.  From Meduno I followed the rolling road along Lago di Tramonti until the turn off for Campone, beside Torrente Chiarzo.  Here you begin a winding climb to Piani di Clauzetto (3 km of 7% reaching 686 meters), a curvy rough descent to Pradis di Sotto (526 meters) and a steepish climb to Pradis di Sopra (3 km of 6.5% reaching 722 meters).  From there down through Clauzetto and home.

Cima Lareseit from Piani di Clauzetto

Monte Taeit from Pradis di Sotto

Montaner

I left home feeling energetic but by the time I reached Caneva I was really feeling the hard climb of yesterday.  I avoided the usually hilly approach to Villa di Villa and took the lower route.  After Sarmede there was no avoiding the inevitable, so I just stood and gutted out the 1.5 km of 10% (again with +15% ramps).  Afterward, I stopped and pretended to photograph the countryside, whilst softly whimpering and moaning in pain.

Once I regained my composure I continued along the saliscendi of the hillside road.  It's a beautiful conch valley, with starting points for many steeper climbs up toward Il Cansiglio.  At Fregona the road heads downward, leveling out around Cappela Maggiore.   Again I was doing my best to stay on the flats, and succeeded all the way to Marsure where again there's just no getting around it.

BTW at the industrial zone of Polcenigo I tried a shortcut to Budoia which ended in a dirt road and a flooded gravel pit.  I rode through the woods on some muddy singletrack but the highway bridge in the distance was still on the wrong side of the water.  I hiked through the woods carrying my road bike and finally reached  the bridge.  So don't turn into the industrial zone at the Cimolais sign, wait till you see the SEDIT sign (that road leads to Budoia).
 

Olive groves and vineyards in Rugolo 

Sheep and lambs enjoying the sunshine

The view west toward Monte Cesen

Bornass

I started this ride running some errands: the bank, the post office, etc.  But my final stop, the pharmacy, wasn't stocked yet so I killed some time with a training climb.  The ride from Costa to Rifugio Bornass is another contender for best training climb of Pedemontane  Pordernonese, but with a caveat: it starts with a kilometer averaging 12% up to Santuario Madonna del Mont, with some +15% in there.  Once you get past that it's as sweet a climb as you'll find: 7.5 km of 6.1%.  A bridge washed out a couple years ago so you must hop off and walk a few meters, but it's really a net plus because no cars come through anymore.  At the rifugio I turned onto the wide, smooth beautifully-switchbacked road from Piancavallo to Aviano.  One of the funnest descents I know of.

Back down in the "real world" I picked up some prescriptions then headed home.  Maybe tomorrow another escape into fantasy.

Forchia di Meduno

Another good training climb, this time from Meduno to Forchia di Meduno: 4.2 km averaging 8.1%.  There are many options from Forchia: on road bike to Monte Valinis where you can watch paragliders leap off the precipices and try to land in the wind, or you can descend steeply to Campone and go up to Piani di Clauzetto.

If you're MTBing you can continue on the gravel road up to Monte Cereis, with option of rock-scrambling to top of  Monte Chiarandeit (haven't tried that yet).  Then a bit further down the road is a turn off for Monte Mulon I want to try next year.  If we continue snowless maybe I could do that in the next month or two.

View northwest from Forchia showing gravel road up Monte Cereis

Monte Mulon from Monte Valinis/Campone junction

Mezzomonte

A cold, clear, windless day.  I bundled up and rode down Via Pedemontane to Coltura (Polcenigo).  Here you head up the best training climb in the province,  Mezzomonte:  4.3 km averaging 9.5%.  You might say it's too steep but it's short and the pavement is smooth and switchbacked perfectly.  I think that makes it seem easier.  Wonderful climb.

View from Mezzomonte of Budoia, Aviano, far-away Julian alps

Clauzetto

For some reason I always pass through Clauzetto instead of visiting there.  It's really a lovely place though.  The climb up is good training, 6km averaging 6.5% gradient.  And there are numerous deviations and side trips you can take.

Today though I rode up to the road junction to Pradis di Sopra at 600 meters.  Perfect weather, light traffic because of the holiday, and several huge packs of rides, Meschio and some other clubs I didn't recognize.  

I was ravenous when I got home but luckily I'd made some pizza dough and put it on the heater to rise while I was gone.  So I had hot pizza 40 minutes after returning.  A perfect day! 

Looking west from Clauzetto

Monte Ragona from near Clauzetto chiesa

Campanile on the edge of the ridge, visible for miles

To the southeast: hills of Castelnovo del Friuli and Tagliamento River

Clauzetto from the town church, with mountains to northwest

Campanile from southwest

Castello di Caneva

Yet another local training climb.  Today I climbed to Castello di Caneva from the easier side (Sarone), though you can also ascend directly from Caneva (steeper).  The weather was cold and clear, pretty much perfect, with several large bike clubs riding up Via Pedemontane to take advantage. After descending to Caneva I took a little road Paul Kim once showed me, which crosses beneath 2 large aqueduct pipes bringing the waters of Fiume Meschio down to a hydroelectric plant at Stevena.  I continued west to Villa di Villa and Sarmede, then wandered south and east till I finally ended back at Caneva.  Nice ride home.  Now I'm exhausted.

Castello di Caneva from the south

Closer up