Alright! The weather is changing for the better - so much for the poor forecasts. Today looks like it will be partly cloudy/partly sunny. The clouds seem to hang pretty low around these huge rock walls that surround us, but there are a lot of sucker holes in the sky and the clouds don't seem dark, so we decided to ride the Sella Ring or Sella Ronde. It is a pretty short ride, not very difficult, but super beautiful. We rode thru town and then immediately started climbing the Passo de Gardena which is about 2000 ft above Corvara. As we climbed, the road stayed dry and it looked like the valley behind us was filled with sunshine, so we figured that was a good sign, even though the top of the passes seemed a little cloudy. The top of the Gardena was at about 6900 ft. As we flew down the other side of the Gardena, we came across a little Ferrari club meeting. There were about 30 Ferrari parked along the road with all of the owners wearing their red Ferrari hats and sweaters. It was pretty cool. My brother Tim would have loved it.

We continued down the Gardena but only dropped about 800 ft before taking a left and immediately starting up the Passo Sella. This climb was a little quicker, in that it was only 1200ft or so, up to about 7400ft. The views from the top of the Sella were great. We could see the little town of Canazei down in the valley below, surrounded by huge mountains. This is also where Angela met some goats. They were tiny little goats - at least their legs were. But they were cute and Angela just had to say 'ciao!'

We put on some warm clothes and dropped about 1400ft in a matter of minutes, only to make another left turn and immediately started climbing the Passo Pordoi. I really like the Pordoi. The sun was out for most of it, and we could see over the valley and watch the paragliders flying above. We climber back up to about 7400ft or so and decided to get some lunch. We had our usual, Pizze Prociutto e Due Coca-colas. After lunch, we put the warm clothes on again for the descent of the Pordoi. Angela really started to rail the descents - now that her hands weren't frozen and she had some control of her brakes, we ripped down thru all of the hairpins. Unfortunately we got stuck behind a BMW that wasn't quite as aggressive as every other Italian driver, and Angela just couldn't find a safe place to pass, so we had to go a little slower than she would have liked. But it sure was fun! We dropped over 2000ft and made another left hand turn, up towards the Passo Campolongo.

The Campolongo was an easy one, just over 800ft of climbing and not more than 5km long. We got to the top in the sun, and suited up for one more quick descent back into Corvara. Angela was pushing it on the downhill again, catching up to a guy in his Porsche, but once again playing it smart and not trying to pass him since we were just a km or so from town. As we headed into town the sun was still shining and the clouds had partially lifted off of the strassenhoffer. We got into town, put the bikes in the car, and as we walked into our hotel it started to rain. Perfect timing! We did the whole Sella Ronde without a drop, and as soon as we finish, it starts to spit. We are very lucky and happy. Time to go get a beer and a pretzel! Hopefully we can do another great ride tomorrow. Today's ride - a mere 31+ miles, with about 5400+ ft of climbing.