Sooooooo we survived the trip to Trento..... we met for breaky and decided to plan the day.  

Well after a lot of map browsing.....and playing with the GPS......I had a route for the day.....bit of a painful process.....but in the end it involved.....Stelvio Pass. Seems last night one of the locals said it was open :)) We checked the weather rock...weather rock looked wet......hmmm seems its raining hard in Trento.....the forecast for Stelvio was sunny later in the afternoon. That would work.

So we had to put the full rain gear on...booties and all and it was going to be a climb so chilly too. After much nodding of heads me grinning....because its on me bucket list....check google pics to see why. We then commenced to load up the bikes, in the rain and hop on and back out. I then heard a #$#@ comment in me headset (we have chatterbox's mounted so are in communication while riding....seems Mike had a boo boo. His little legs make it hard to back out the bike (remember its too tall for him).....somehow in the process....it started to go over and did....with a thud. I zipped over and all I saw was Mike's pride splattered on the parking lot. Checked him out, he was fine only bent pride is all, I lifted the bike.....he dusted off.....we hopped on and off we went. I swore no one would ever know....

So off we went pouring out...got some gas....still haven't figured out the change thing...if you feed in 20 euro.....and can only jam 15 in the bike....no change. Bizarre..... So another issue was that the TIM stores for the simm cards.....closed....seems everything in Italy is closed on sunday and doesn't open till after 3 on Monday.... the waiter we were talking to started to tell how he had to go to Germany to go shopping its open 24/7......hmmmmmm 

Well.....the ride commenced...up and up we went....one switchback after another....on rainy wet roads....until the rain stated to let up. Lil bit of sun poked through...roads started to steam up....thats good means they are trying to dry, seems we may have timed this right. I was grinning pretty hard and in a nice tight sweeper to the right when it happened....the front tire on my bike started to slide out. I am certain Mike heard my sphincter slam shut with a bang through his head set.  

Well I got it back....no falls or skids.....but was a little rattled as all the roads would be similar. The tires on the bike were new and good but Bridgestones....never was a fan. Great roads but very wet.......so troddled on up the hills little slower....then I remembered an interview with Valentino Rossi. Lorenzo and him were duking it out a few years back in the Valencia MotoGP race (a true classic finish of finishes), both are on the same team and bitter rivals. The race was between him and Lorenzo, neck and neck, they swapped 1st a few times with no laps left. On the last lap Lorenzo got the lead with only a few corners left....the last passing corner that Rossi could use Lorenzo slammed the door on him. With one turn left that no one passes on because you have to brake hard on the entry...Rossi was stuck on Lorenzo's rear tire inches away, they raced for the last corner....Rossi held off on braking a hair of a second later than Lorenzo. Right here in the program (it had been showing the race) the camera turns to Rossi, he looks at it and says something along the lines of (do this in a verry heavy Italian accent) I a brakkkkeee a lil lateerrrrr praying tires hold.....pause turn to camera... buttt youaaa knowaaaaa Bridgstone dey a makaaaa goooooda Tire!!!!!!! He aquirted past Lorrenzo and won the race, the crowd went wild....So if they are good enough for him I'll be okay. So that actually helped me get my groove back and I puttered on leaning a lil more than before.

We ended up climbing into a ski resort and beyond.....over a mountain range and down into a valley....sun was out.....time to strip down a bit....and move on.....Every road got better and better. The roads were drying out and there is not much traffic at all. I lead and call the traffic for Mike. Seems to work, he hasn't sworn at me yet. Mike was in the groove too it seemed one curve after another... truly a stellar ride. Seemed to go through one small village after another and got climbing a pass and hit a ton of corners and switchbacks. Then poof a cool bikers bar popped up on the apex of a switchback....how could one not stop. Parked with the rest of the sport bikes....hopped off and we headed in for a stellar wine and bratwurst. Italian sucks so don't even try...combos of grunts...pointing and doing the tongue out panting thing whilst pointing at drinks seems to work....plus they giggle at you......   

So we kept climbing and it opened up into an area of another ski hill. There was a war memorial there. Very interesting.....it was for WWI this is near where some nasty fighting occurred. I found it because I needed to stop to put some warmer gear on. Oh and we are above the snow line now...chilly....but not snowing yay

So.....it is definitely taking longer to ride distances here....lots of navigating.....I will call them oopses....the GPS gal just can not keep up. and so many corners that you can not do highway speeds ....no way. Short bursts at best.

But no worries we are getting closer to the pass. Blast through a warnign sign of some form.....trundel up what can best be described as nice golf cart roads with lots fo corneers...past some sheep......a dude parked in a wierd place....one last run....up a very steep incline....to find a "Closed" bar across the road.... NOOOOOOOOO sigh......so close. Ah well I decided to vent my rage by taking a piddle in the general vicinity of the barricade. Felt better in more ways than one.

We backed up......figured another route.....back to Trento we figured. Off we went. Super fun ride...again with the amazing corners and stuff....then it hit ..... I need a beer. Told Mike need to find a pub.....then it was a challenge to find one...crap they were everywhere before. Sniffed one out with some cool character we pulled in and asked for some beverages. About here we met the town....loon. Nice guy hung up our jackets tried to communicate something.....I though he wanted us to buy him a round of beer at first...he then went on about how strong first he was.....and then Zambuca was. He demonstrated his strength by shaking hands while trying to crush them......then he found out we were canadian...he wanted to show us something 400 meters down the road Mike shrugged .... I shrugged we put on our coats and followed him to a "Canadian hotel and restaurant......seems he wanted our business. We shrugged....waved goodbye and went back to our waiting beers the bar gal laughed as we came in...she knew all along..... Those beers were soooooooooo good.  

Well from there it was just a twisty ride back to the hotel where we started the day....Stelvio won that one. Mike liked the day...so did I. Ended it by finding a restaurant for some Italian Pizza..... it was pretty good.