Via Mas Comun MTB

A sunny but cold break in our rainy week.  I rode to the turn off for Range but instead turned right onto Via Maso.  You climb past some nice houses then pavement ends and you’re on a great gravel road.  It switchbacks  through the woods then gets steeper.  The trees transition to grassy slopes, with the road continuously climbing until you reach the junction for Mezzomonte.  I choose instead to continue toward Via Ciastelat, reprising my climb from Dardago of last week.  It was as fun to descend as to ascend.  From Dardago an easy ride home.  A beautiful area I’ll return to explore.

View east toward Slovenia

Looking up at Il Torrone

The main climb

Sentiero Pagnoca MTB/Hike

I parked at Villa di Villa and climbed up to Rugolo, then headed toward Montaner.  On the edge of town is a settlement called Val Borgo with an Orthodox church.  Turn right and begin climbing steeply.  After a few km I arrived at Casera di Fae and explored, looking for a shortcut.  No luck.  I descended a bit and traversed west to the chiesetta on Sentiere Pagnoca.  Here you must dismount and push your bike up a rocky trail until joining another concrete road, very steep.  Eventually you  reach the end of the road.  This begins the hike up CAI 1061, named Pagnoca after a partigiano fighter in WW II.  Lots of bike carrying uphill.  It’s a good workout, much more variety of muscle strain than usual bike riding.  Eventually it opens up in sunny beech forest,  which I thought was near Cima della Cima.  After descending a dirt road a I joined a well-paved road but  wasn’t sure where.  After ascending a bit I recognized the intersecting road from Col Oliver:  I was on Strada dei Patriarchi.  I descended to Villa di Villa, very tired.

Casera di Fae

Chiesetta on Sentiero Pagnoca

Faggio in autumn with deep blue sky

Steep climb

Cadolten da Sonego MTB

My second attempt on Cadalton from Sonego, the more difficult approach.  Last time was a couple of years ago and I remember having to stop to rest several times.  Today I rode it without setting a foot down,  so that’s progress.

At the top Cataldon had a few cm of snow which I walked through.  Then at the Casa Forestale the road was plowed the rest of the way.  After La Crosetta I continued to Strada dei Patriarchi, beautiful and deserted on this sunny autumn day.  What a wonderful workout through gorgeous scenery!

Cadolten beech trees in the snow

The upper end of Strada dei Patriarchi

Cordignano castello

Total climb

The hardest hour:  5.6 km averaging 14%

Ciavalir, Val de Lama MTB Hike

Today a MTB ride, a steep rough hike, up into the clouds, snow above 1500 meters.  I started with a ride to Dardago, then turned left toward Al Ciastelat restaurant.  This becomes a dirt road climbing steeply to  Mezzomonte.  A couple of hunters were out with their beautiful  bird dogs and shotguns.  At Mezzomonte cemetery I headed upward on the paved road, then right  on CAI 984.  After end of pavement I continued riding until it became too steep and muddy, then I pushed.  A few hikers who’d climbed up from Via San Tome above Dardago passed in the opposite direction.

Now the steep hiking/bike pushing begins.  This is great exercise, using muscles I often neglect.  I’ll admit I was fantasizing about a foldable mountain bike I could carry on my backpack, yet I persisted. Eventually I reached Ciavalir, a ruin of a stone farmhouse, surrounded by meadows encircled by piled-stone walls.   I continued steeply upward to Casera Val de Lama at 1100 meters.  I got confused by the electric fence routing but crawled through with bike without getting shocked.  After a short dirt road I rejoined the paved road up from Mezzomonte cemetery.  This ascends steeply and soon reached the Panaramica Piancavallo-Cansiglio in a dense fogbank.

I pedaled  through the fog until snow at 1500 meters where I donned my cold weather gear.  I froze down the slope past Casera Campo then Sauc and Piancavallo to Pedemontana and home.  Unpacking I noticed my phone missing, so drove all the way past Rifugio Valle Friz, where the phone was in the snow where I’d dropped it.  I was amazed the Mini could make it through all those drainage channels, it’s never been past Piancavallo.

Meadows at Ciavalir

Ruin of farmhouse

Piled stone walls

More piled stone walls

Close up of meadows

1500 meters, the spot where I found my phone

Long climb, including over an hour of pushing
bike steeply upward

Ciser

I needed to ops check my new license plate holder (see below) so I drove  to Villa di Villa.   After the easy climb to Fratte di Fregona I rode through the edge of Vittorio Veneto to Chiesa di Sant'Andrea, then turned right.  Here starts a very steep climb to Via Piadera, followed by some sali scendi to Ciser.  After Sonego I headed up toward Osigo, then saw a side road and thought it was a short cut.  No, it was a dead end.  Then I coasted down to Fratte again and found the backroad through Buse and Borgo Dari to Villa di Villa.  Pretty fun.  And the license plate didn't fall off on the drive home.

Santuario di Sant'Augusta
Nice hike up there with stairs

Vineyard below Il Cansiglio
Montaner is on the cliffs the to right

Been carrying my bikes like this for 5 years.
Suddenly within a week 2 different Carabineri
have stopped me and mentioned I need to make
 the tag visible when carrying bikes.  They are right
and were very cool about not fining me.  

I mounted the repeater plate on my Thule rack

The hard part above Sant'Andrea

Venezia delle Nevi MTB

Sunny cool day perfect for a tough climb.  The first section is paved, rising from Dardago, past Chiesa di San Tome to end of pavement at 584 meters.   This brings you to a trailhead, a gravel road heading steeply upward.  I managed pretty well up to around 700 meters eleveation, but then the trail becomes less dirt and gravel and more rockpile.  I fought my way upward awhile and then realized I would go faster with less effort just pushing my bike.  I think one of those moon tire bikes might work, but the weight of the tires and wheels might be even worse.  So I continued like this, with a few brief riding attempts, most of the way up to 1000 meters elevation.  Here the trail becomes a bit less steep and less rocky.  Eventually you intersect the paved road from Casera Campo to Piancavallo.  I coasted down to Bornass and then took the backroad past Madonna della Monte.  Very tired now.

Beautiful Croda di San Tome

4-Season Favorite Training Ride
Via San Tome 

Strada della Venezia delle Nevi

Monte Jouf MTB

A cloudy and cool Tutti Santi, perfect for MTBing.  I rode through the long tunnel to Andreis and then ascended to Pala Barzana.  Here I turned off toward Monte Jouf, on an excellent rough gravel road.  I eventually reached the grassy meadows of the summit and continued upward to the highpoint, 1230 meters.  I descended down the southern side, which has a switchbacking gravel road all the way to Maniago.  Great workout with some beautiful scenery.   

Monte Raut above Pala Barzana

Summit cross

West toward Ravedis and Giais

Torrente Cellina riverbed

The climb