We had our last breakfast at Villa Tony. The owner's wife was nice enough to make me some eggs and extra hot chocolate (we were the lasts guests, as they are closing for the next month or two as of today). We hopped into the wagon and drove up the Valparola and down the other side of the Falzarego. We had much clearer skies today, and the temp was downright hot for our short journey into Cortina d'Ampezzo. We found a nice little hotel right in the middle of town - Hotel Montana. We have a nice little balcony overlooking the Falzarego.

We hopped on our bikes around 2PM. It was still sunny and warm, but we new that the clouds up top can make things cold. We climbed up the PassoTre Croci which started right out of our hotel, and climbed for the first 4 miles at a nice steady 8% or so, with a few kicks of 12% thrown in for good measure. The pass was only about 1800 ft above town, so it was pretty short. We dropped down a couple of miles and took a left towards Misurina which is a cool little town on a lake (I say town, I mean about 4 hotels and a few restaurants). Angela stopped and had to say 'ciao' to a few horses, unfortunately one of them was pretty grumpy and bit her stomach.

We continued past the lake and came to the turn off for the Tre Cime de Lavaredo climb. I had read good things about this climb, so we decided to take the right turn and climb. Hell, it was only 7km up the road to the top. We road up around the first turn, past a couple of restaurants, and then the climb punched us in the face. The road immediately turned skyward at 14% and hovered up to 16 or 17% for the first km or so. The we hit a flat spot (Thank God!) when we came to another little lake. We passed the lake, and went over a little roller and entered in what appeared to be a national park. They lets us ride in for free, but cars and motorcycles had to pay 10 or more Euros. We rode around a curve and then once again the road kicked up, but this time it didn't stop. The next 2+ miles were at about 14%+. It was unrelenting. We stopped a couple of times to check out the view (and so I could catch my breath). We kept on truckin' on until we hit the restaurant at the top.

When we got to the top the views were gorgeous. Again, I don't think my pictures are doing much justice to the scenery, but trust me, it is awesome. We went inside for a coke and piece of chocolate cake. We put on our arm and knee warmers and jackets and gloves for the descent. This descent was a little slower as the 14%+ grades made us stay on the brakes most of the time, and it was pretty cold on Angela's hands. Once we got back down to the lake though, things were back to normal. We climbed back up the Tre Croci climb and flew back down into Cortina. The ride was probably only 30 miles or so, if that, and climbed only about 5000 ft or so, but it was definitely the hardest ride we have done on this trip. That climb to Tre Cime was probably the hardest single climb I have done.