Strada della Venezia delle Nevi MTB

I've wanted to ride the upper part of this climb from Dardago for years.  The lower portion I've climbed frequently: it's one of the best road bike training climbs around here, from Dardago continuously ascending for 5.6 km to end of pavement at 561 meters, averaging 7%.   

Today I took the MTB instead and continued past end of pavement up a very rocky road for 8 km to 1183 meters.  Not terribly steep at 7.6%, but the continuous trail of softball-sized (and bigger) stones wore me out.  It doesn't turn into a a normal dirt road till the last couple hundred meters before Sauc.  By then I was slowly tweedling along in 24-36 gear on a 7% grade- I was toast.  Then, smooth easy spinning on pavement slightly uphill revived me, and I rode up the hill to Col Alto at 1347 meters then down through Castaldia and Bornass to Costa di Aviano. 

I may try it down hill next time.  Beautiful ride,

From 715m, looking down at Torrente Cunaz at base of
Croda di San Tome

Looking up at the imposing Croda

Looking south a huge fissure in the croda; hopefully
I'm not hiking down there when the cliff face calves

A landslide at 960 m; the road was privately built back in the '60s
 and isn't maintained by the government

From 960 meters the top of Croda di San Tome

Return of pavement at Sauc, 1183 meters
(if you are descending this road isn't marked). 

Val de Lama MTB

I rode down to Dardago then climbed up past San Tome to the trailhead for Val de Lama at 550 meters.  The trail is too steep so I pushed the bike uphill.  The trail did get somewhat less steep later but it was technical and I thought I'd fall and break the bike or my body.  So I kept pushing.  This continued past the turn off for Troi dei Mui at 750 meters which descends to Mezzomonte, past the  ruins at Ciavalir (1019 meters), until the pastures just below Casera Val de Lama at 1100 meters.  A good MTBer could probably have ridden some or most of that.

The pastures are gorgeous, with wild roses, karst stone, free ranging asini, wildflowers and grass.  I rode to the junction with the paved road descending from Col di Palse.  From here I rode down nice and easy, as the front disc brake was a little gimpy.  I need to work on that.  Anyway I made it down the hill and then home.  I would not recommend biking up this trail, although a skilled technical rider should be able to descend most of it.  Still I enjoyed the fantastic scenery and got a good workout.   Not a bad day.

The cliffs above San Tome.

Too steep to ride up the trailhead

Turn off for Troi dei Mui at 750 meters

Old house ruins at Ciavalir (1019 meters)

Wild rose 1100 meters

Little herd of asini at 1100 meters

Casera Val de Lama 1100 meters

View southwest from casera

The dirt road from the casera joins the paved road to Mezzomonte

Dardago, Mezzomonte, Santa Lucia in Colle MTB

First mountain bike ride of 2014: rode up through Dardago to the left turn for Al Ciastelat.  Steeply up the paved road, past the restaurant driveway, then continue to end of pavement, where you take the gravel road to your left.  The dirt road (marked Tagliafuoco on the map) continuously varies from climbing steeply  to descending a bit and even levels off at times.  Some of the steeper bits have been concreted.  Eventually you end up climbing up to Mezzomonte at almost 500 meters and reach pavement again.   I sped downhill to Coltura, then crossed though Polcenigo and Santa Lucia.  Here I got a sudden urge to try and find the way to the church on the wooded hill, Santa Lucia in Colle.  This was a steep concrete road but I made it.  Then I decided to go over the top of the hill, which was even steeper concrete.  The rest of the woodland trails were dirt and moderately inclined.  Looks like a great place for Sunday walks/hikes.

Budoia from almost 400 meters

Dardago from around 400 meters

Santa Lucia in Colle

This church is in a secluded wooded area; you may be startled when the bells start pealing 

The front end of the church

Val d'Artugna 3

Another fortnight of pouring rain, and finally a day of clear skies.  I headed down Via Pedemontana Occidentale, past Aviano at 129 meters, up to Budoia and Dardago, then turned up toward Val d'Artugna .  It was cold but the exertion of climbing heated me up quickly.  I stayed seated all the way up the 10-11% slope, past Il Rifugio and La Chalet, accompanied by the roar of rain-choked Torrente Artugna far below in the gorge.   I passed a couple of older gentlemen walking a little black and white dog.  One of them warned me "Guarda su il inizio, cora" but I wasn't worried- I've ridden this many times before.

At 450 meters I rode carefully in the gutter around the closed barrier, and continued up the narrower mountain lane to end of pavement at 570 meters.  Nice view down the gorge toward Budoia and the plain.  Fun descent- long straight stretch glide in aerodynamic tuck.

Val d'Artugna 2

Noticed it's been 3 weeks since I've done any real climbing, and wondered, when the parts arrive if I'll be able to head for the mountains right away.  So I'm trying to do some of the local smaller climbs for practice.

Today I headed down past Castello d'Aviano to the junction and turned on the road to Budoia.  After the passaggio a livello I headed upslope to Dardago, then followed the road up Val d'Artugna.  The lower part of the climb until the restaurant Il Rifugio is wide and mostly exposed to sun.  Very humid today, and with the heat of exertion, sweat was pouring into my eyes.  After  a later restaurant, Il Chalet, there is a barrier (not locked) and the road becomes narrow and cloaked in shade.

I was curious how well I'd climb this in 39 x 26, which is bigger than my normal low gear.  It wasn't bad, but I did have to stand for maybe a kilometer from the parco up to Il Rifugio.  After that I settled down and climbed seated to 571 meters where the pavement ends.

The Trek rode great coming down through the switchbacks near the top- very stable.  On the long steep straight stretch between Il Rifugio and the parco I spun out the 52 x 12 top gear.  For some reason I remembered the Trek had the wobbles at speed, but no, it was rock steady with hands off the bars.  Maybe it was me wobbling long ago and I blamed the bike?

The climb from the CRO back to my house is another couple of hundred meters, with some rolling bits adding to the total ascent.  Felt great though.

Now I need to keep this up till the other bike is ready.  A few other nearby climbs I can try in coming days are:
Caneva-Sarone
Mezzomonte
Osservatorio astronomico Montereale
Rifugio bornass

Val d'Artugna

Quick ride down Via Pedemontane Occidenatale to Dardago, then up the climb through the Val d'Artugna. It's between 7% and 10% for 3 or 4 km, good pavement, and lovely scenery. I posted about this route previously in January ( http://dolomiti-friulane.blogspot.com/2010/03/giais-val-artugna-dardago.html ) but that time I stopped at the barrier (450 meters) because of ice higher up. This time I continued up to the end of asfalto at 577 meters. The descent was great- very fast. Rode up the 200 meter climb toward home quickly, even passing a paceline (GS Pratenese bike club), but in fairness they had just just come down from Rifugio Bornass, so they were probably pretty tired. Great ride!

Looking back down the valley toward the plain

Map

Ride profile

Giais-Val Artugna (Dardago)

Short ride but a good one. Headed south on the slight downgrade to San Quirino, then Roveredo. Then headed on the upgrade to Budoia, which starts imperceptible and ends being a good workout. From there, headed up the steeper grade through Dardago, and the Val Artugna, past Il Rifugio and Chalet restaurants, until I reached the barrier at 450 m. The downhill is very fast and steep. Headed onto Via Pedemontane Occidentale, down to the CRO, then up the hill to Giais.

Croda d'Artugna