When the friends were dropped off in Zurich, I could drive on to my next appointment, the Stelvio Bike day, an annual recurring event where all sorts of people try their hand at the Passo dello Stelvio itself. All the roads up to the Stelvio will be closed to all motorized vehicles, so you can decide for yourself whether you want to walk, run or cycle up to the top. I arrived a few days early so I could try some of the other fantastic climbs you can reach from Bormio. I started out by driving up to a lesser-known place, Forte di Oga, here I got into a conversation with an Italian who recommended me to drive up to Torri di Fraele, which was his favorite climb in the area, and I can understand that, this is a very nice climb and now comes the surprise, if you continue a few kilometers after the climb you come to the wildest dam.
The next day was my Mortirolo day, and as if Mortirolo wasn't steep enough in itself, I got to take a shortcut, which of course meant it got even steeper, later I found out that the segment on Strava is called Ups wrong turn. Before I completely end the Mortirolo day, I have to mention the bike roads in this area, they are absolutely amazing and there will be more of them, so if you are not just riding to compare your times with the pros, take advantage of these roads.
Then it was my Gavia day, which was a bit spoiled by bad weather and some of the worst road I've driven on, and as if that wasn't enough, I was stopped by hundreds of cattle that were coming down the mountain. It was ok to walk/drive after the animals, the problem is just when so many animals walks 2 km on a road, then there are some remains. My tires were smeared in S H I T.
The next day was sunny so I decided to drive up to the Stelvio and there's not much to say, it's just an epic mountain. It was good that I made that decision because the next day on the Stelvio bike day it poured down, unfortunately I had promised a Norwegian guy, I met at the campsite to follow him up, so I kept that promise. It was crazy how many people walked, ran and cycled on the mountain, despite the bad weather.
My routes:
Climbs:
Forte di Oga
Passo del Mortirolo
Passo dello Stelvio
Passo di Gavia
Torri di Fraele
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