2062m Blockaus is in my Pocket!

Chieti to the summit of Blockhaus featured as the 17th stage of Giro d Italia in 2009. The 23.5km climb to Blockhaus is more difficult than the world renowned Alpe de Huez. I had set my eyes on it soon after the Giro. Instead of Chieti my ride started from the city Pescara at 4m above sea level and goes inward 67kms to the summit of Blockhaus at 2062m! I was in the company of my brother in law, a very good cyclist. The ride would be 67kms to the top of the summit. Pescara is a good 400kms from the place I live in the south. So I took the train the night before while my brother in law carried the bikes in the car a day earlier. His girlfriend lives and studies in Pescara so he left early as he had other things to attend to. I loaded the ride on my Garmin and we set out at 1.30pm from Pescara after being treated to a delicious dish of spaghetti.

The ride starts with a gradual 1-2% grade through beautiful country side. The landscape was littered with beautiful country houses, vineyards and orchards. Small villages and towns set on top of hills. We kept a moderate pace through this beautiful landscape with absolutely no hurry! After about 40kms we were a little surprised to find ourselves at hardly 500m of elevation. At 509m we were at the base of the village of Pretoro. It meant that we had to cover another 1500m of elevation in the next 25kms or so! I was still riding on the 53/21 and decided to keep that ratio for as long as I could. Soon from the base the gradient picked up to 8-9% and within a few kms we were riding thru narrow high gradient hairpin bends through the village of Pretoro.

A very quiet village set on the side of a mountain and almost everyone had a view of the sea on a clear day! Breathtaking!! As soon as we exited

Pretoro, we realized we were off the 'course', we asked a local gentleman for directions and he advised us against the intended route as it was

in his words 'tosta' (difficult) and confirmed it was the route of the Giro!

We quickly turned around to the original 'giro' route and soon the gradient picked up to 13% and I shifted down to 39/21 for the rest of the ride all the way to the summit. The roads were winding and passed thru thick forest. There were sections where the forest was so thick that we were riding thru absolute darkness under dark over cast skies. Soon my partner got a flat and we had to stop to take care of it. While inflating the new tube with the hand pump, he broke the valve and I had to give him my spare. We were without any more tubes and it played on my mind.

We were hardly passed by anyone on that climb and by the min the temperature was dropping. We just wanted to get on top after all this work. At around 1600m we exited the tree line and found ourselves in thick fog.

The visibility was not more than 10m and all we could see was the newly laid dark tarmac that laid ahead. we had no clue about our surroundings. Looking at the Garmin, the numbers suggested that we had passed the finish line of the Giro, but the summit was still a good 5km to the top. We stopped for a few minutes to take hold of the situation. With 5 -10m of visibility it was very dangerous. The fog was so thick that my hands were white with dew formations on every single hair strand!

The conditions were bad but we were riding effortlessly with average HR in the 140's!! The road began to narrow and deteriorate and we stayed on the top of the pedals. Every every 3 pedal stroke we were climbing 1m in altitude. We passed deserted telecom towers and soon after some military outfits but we never saw anyone. At 2062m we were finally at the summit. There was not a soul up there and I wondered if we were the only 2 brave hearts or 2 downright fools!! We took a couple of pics and immediately turned around, we were shivering. As soon as we turned our backs the fog was clearing and we got the first glimpse of the landscape and in the distance the Adriatic sea from where we had started this ride. We were truly on top of this beast!

We wanted to stay up to bask in the glory but with no extra tubes, rain and cold weather we risked our lives if we stayed too long. We were soaked to our bones. We stopped for a few more pics and started to descent. The fog was clearing by the min and we stepped on the gas but the road surface was very much wet and we maintained a speed around 50-65km/hr thru winding roads. Most of the time we had a 1000m vertical drop on the side of the roads! Truly breathtaking!

At Pretoro we stopped for a cup of hot tea to warm ourselves. After 2 cups I was still rattling like a leaf. With soaked clothes it was not a great idea to stop. We continued with the descend and it is only after we were below 500m, we realized blood was still running thru our veins!! Mad Mad ride!

We climbed a total of 2350m in 67 kms and the total ride was a cool 135kms in 5 hr 45m including the climb! Avg HR 141bpm Now with Blockhaus under the belt, setting my eyes on a few peaks on the Dolomites next week!

A slideshow!