Cycling Stats – 61.06 km, 1737 of elevation, 4:02 hours

Hotel – Villa Maria

First climb – 13.8 km with 8.1 gradient

Second climb – 7.5 km with 6.9 gradient

Passo Santo Barbara – my mom in spirit at the end of the first climb

There was beautiful scenery along the bike path which took us along a river and then a lake surrounded by imposing rock mountains.

First climb was very hard. An additional 400 meters all up hill was added on to get hot chocolate at the top! It was worth the climb. Peter and Sarah waited a long time. After the first 3 km I quickly realized that I needed to do a km at a time if I was going to make it to the top. I found an extra gear by going back and forth over the narrow road.

Despite the chill in the air we had an amazing descent and then the second climb began. Not as hard but I suffered mentally the last 2 km. Our hotel was at the top of the climb.

Hotel Villa Maria despite its location on the top of the hill is beautiful and located in a small town with a church that has bells that ring on the hour

Even better to have chips and an aperol spritz to celebrate the end of the ride