Wheels for Bormio.

Questions about bike hire abroad and everything light bike related. No off-topic chat please

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Dalai
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Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2004 10:54 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

by Dalai

If you don't mind a short section of gravel you can ride both sides of the Stelvio easily in one day. After riding up the Bormio side, descend back down 3km towards Bormio and take the right over the Passo dell’Umbrail through Müstair till Glorenza to Prato Allo Stelvio and start back to the summit...

Ride details: Distance 111km 4650m elevation

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dgasmd
Posts: 1953
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2007 5:10 am
Location: South Florida

by dgasmd

Or if you feel enterprising, have someone drop you off at Ponte de Legno and ride up the Gavia, into Bormio, up the Stelvio from there, and back down to Bormio. Should be enough to break the legs of most of us mortals! The next day, you can ride from Bormio to the top of the Mortirolo and back to Bormio. That should make you curse like you never have for years to come LOL………….

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Dalai
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Location: Melbourne, Australia

by Dalai

To save having to organise lifts, I rode Ponte de Legno side of the Gavia by looping south and over the Mortirolo. Remember to take a front light for the long tunnel about 3km from the summit of the Gavia... :wink:

Ride details: 118km, 3202m Elevation gain

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airwise
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Joined: Tue Jul 27, 2010 8:31 pm

by airwise

If you want to ride both sides of the Stelvio in one day then I would just do an out and back to Prato - stopping for some Apfel Strudel and a Capucchino in Prato.

The descent to Prato is a real blast and far better than desending the Umbrail IME.

The Mortirolo/ Gavia ride from Bormio is a classic and huge fun. But be prepared. I've seen people crumble big time on it even though on paper it looks relatively easy.

The Tirano, Livigno and back to Bormio route is also superb and in late June you will often come across some well known pros putting the finishing touches to their Tour preps up there. Enjoy.

LionelB
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Joined: Sun Oct 05, 2008 8:09 pm
Location: Aix en Provence

by LionelB

Take the hyperon and spare tubulars. They are meant for this type of rides.

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JKolmo
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Joined: Sat Feb 10, 2007 2:00 pm

by JKolmo

Agreed! Hyperons will excel! I had my Hyperons in Lombardia this April. Didn't regret it once, on the opposite it was the best wheelset suited for the mission.

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Guerdi
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Location: Switzerland

by Guerdi

If you want to ride from Livigno to the Ofen Pass, be aware that you can't ride through the livigno tunnel (called "Munt la Schera") with your bike unfortunately. You have to take a shuttlebus.

Valbrona
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Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

by Valbrona

Anyone know how busy/safe the No.38 road is from Tirano up the valley to Bormio? Travelling from Sondrio to Tirano you have the choice of the minor road alongside, but not after Tirano. Thanks.

c50jim
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Location: Calgary

by c50jim

It's been a while since I was on 38 but I seem to remember it being fairly busy. However, our tour company, which was usually pretty good on route picking, did use it, so it's probably OK. If you're going to Tirano, it's slightly downhill so you should be reasonably quick. Looking at the detailed map, it seems as though there's a smaller road that goes through the towns most of the way to Tirano. I'd probably use that one if I were riding there. As I think back to our trip, we took the van to start and were dropped after our route left 38 and we piled into the van at Aprica rather than ride to Sondrio along that big road, which looks to be a similar size to 38.

If you want to do Mortirolo/Gavia, our guys used a climb they called the picolo Mortirolo. It went up to the Mortirolo starting from Grossio, whereas the race route uses the road from Mazzo di Valtellina. The Grosio road is less steep and meets the race road near the top. The Grosio road seems to be about 2 km longer and Grosio is about 100 metres higher than Mazzo. My route instructions from that trip say that it was 111 km. It's actually the route Dalai linked to but it's not the route used by the Giro. If you did that, you could do a shorter day by riding the Grio's Mortirolo from Mazzo then coming down the longer route. That looks like it would be about 80 km.

The Mortirolo routes had little traffic and the Gavia wasn't very busy when we were there in early July last year. The Stelvio is fairly busy but I never felt threatened. Umbrail wasn't too busy, although there were quite a few motorcycles. I also remember it as being really narrow and deciding to force cars to pass me on the right a couple of times because the road fell away with nor guardrail and wasn't much more than one lane wide. We were riding up it so we were on the exposed side. If you rode down the Umbrail, that wouldn't be a problem.

Dalai
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Location: Melbourne, Australia

by Dalai

Valbrona wrote:Anyone know how busy/safe the No.38 road is from Tirano up the valley to Bormio? Travelling from Sondrio to Tirano you have the choice of the minor road alongside, but not after Tirano. Thanks.


You do have minor roads all the way to Bormio, at least from Mazzo di Valtellina just north of Tirano. I rode to Mazzo di Valtellina from Bormio when I rode over the Mortirollo which starts from this village. It was all on smaller roads and a section of road closed to cars around Morignone leading to a very short section of bike path. Checking satellite images it looks like they have finally finished the road along the river flat which now avoids this little detour. Checking the map the roads are mainly marked as SP78 and SP27.

No way would I consider SS38 even if allowed as much of the way is through very long tunnels!

Valbrona
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Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

by Valbrona

Dalai wrote:No way would I consider SS38 even if allowed as much of the way is through very long tunnels!


Yes, that No.38 is death, at least further down the valley towards Lake Como. My map only shows one tunnel between Tirano and Bormio, and I am hoping the road is less busy towards Bormio. After all, isn't it the same road that becomes the Passo dello Stelvio?

Dalai
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Location: Melbourne, Australia

by Dalai

I find http://www.viamichelin.com/web/Maps/Map-Europe the best detailed online maps. Checking this you will see the SS38 is mostly tunnels from Grosio.

I can guarantee you will not need to ride on SP38 till past the last tunnel exit on the outskirts of Bormio all the way from Mazzo di Veltellina.

Valbrona
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Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

by Valbrona

Thanks. I met an Aussie in that part of the world in October 2012. He was a newspaper editor I believe, and possibly from Melbourne.

Dalai
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Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2004 10:54 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

by Dalai

Would have been cold in October? I was there that year for a couple of days but mid September. One perfect day on the Stelvio and then rain and sleet on the Mortirolo Gavia loop the next day. :shock:

Enjoy your trip!

by Weenie


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basilic
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by basilic


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