A 'Must' road for Motorcyclists

[ballaratdragons]

Forget about your 'Great Ocean Road' or your 'Tasmanian wilderness' or any other fantastic Motorcycle Ride you know of.

This is what we need to REALLY enjoy the ride!

Stelvio Pass in Italy :thumbsup: A Motorcyclists Dream :P

[DavidTrap]

I'd prefer to drive that in a convertible Ferrari!

DT

[ballaratdragons]

and here is another angle:

[sheeny]

mmmm

Al.

[erick]

just don't zig when you should have zagged!

[AndyK]

Gawd! ... I get dizzy just riding sections of the Oxley Highway ... :)

[Ric]

MMMM, definitely a nice piece of road Ken. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Now we know why the Italians invented Ducati's, Aprilia's and MV Agusta's. :lol:

[SkyViking]

Yes that's a magnificent stretch of road. The summit is at 2757m and it's the 2nd highest mountain pass in the Alps.
I climbed it on a bicycle in 1998 on a tour going from Copenhagen to Milano. Many of the hairpin turns are signposted with their number and elevation so you get the full 'joy' of knowing how many you've got left before the summit... :) (I suppose that doesn't have quite the same impact when you're sitting comfortably on a motorbike)

Attached are a couple of photos I took. Some sections are insanely steep as you can see.

[traveller]

Good one Rolf, I always wondered when I should use that granny ring on my pushie :)
Bo

[ballaratdragons]

Excellent Rolf!!!! That must have been spectacular!

Those concrete safety barriers don't look like they would stop much from going over the edge! :eyepop:

Looks more like just an edge marker than a safety feature. :help:

[vanwonky]

Also did it on my road bike last year. Absolutely breathtaking (in more ways than one!). Each hairpin is numbered so you can count down as you go up! Beautiful spot. I believe it was the "Must do" drive for the Top Gear guys but has now been surpassed by somewhere in Romania I think. Heaps of motorbikes enjoying it on the day we went up. BMWs and Ducatis mainly with a smattering of Goldwings.

[Finite]

Rolf, do you know hpw exotic and exciting that sounds? What an adventure. I want to go. I'm jealous and now my feet are itching!

[ballaratdragons]

You are a lucky chap Dave :)
Must have been fantastic!!!

[vanwonky]

Yes indeed. We spent 2 weeks in the Dolomites (Corvara) cycling including that day trip to Stelvio. Every corner you turn there was a scene from a picture postcard. It never got old!

[SkyViking]

Thanks guys :) It was an adventure indeed. I have attached a couple more photos.
I used to go bicycling every summer on long trips across Europe and then later in USA/Canada. For those interested there is a thread about my longest trip here: http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=76902



Yeah those concrete block barriers are notoriously dangerous, and they are everywhere. Some may recall Fabio Casartelli (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabio_Casartelli) who died in the 1995 Tour de France, when he crashed head first into a similar block with about 90-100km/h on the descent from Col de Portet d'Aspet in the Pyrenees.

[ballaratdragons]

Wow! Stunning pics Rolf! Thanks :thumbsup:

The road looks like it is in quite disrepair!

[AstralTraveller]

I suppose most of us think about what it would be like to go up that road. But then I began to wonder what it would be like coming down - on a motorbyke or a bicycle. :eyepop: You'd want to know that your brakes are in good order and be very careful about getting too deep into a corner before braking. Any sort of slip up could be lethal. (I suppose if you think like that you just shouldn't do the ride.)

Near me, Macquarie Pass is a favorite with bikers (8km of tight turns but no great gradient) but this totally puts it in the shade.

[vanwonky]

You can hit speeds of up to 70kmh (my brown stain limit) and beyond just rolling on the road bike. Half the fun is going down after all but yes, it is so dangerous if something goes wrong I do wonder afterwards why the hell I did it. :screwy:

[AstralTraveller]

I think the Tour de France blokes were doing >100km/h on winding downhill runs. And that with what? - 4 sq cm of rubber on the road. Do they have particularly large ...... or rocks in the head???

[SkyViking]

In Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia etc. they regularly reach above 115 km/h on the descents - pretty crazy! The fastest I have gone was around 85km/h but that was just momentarily on a relatively long straight piece of road, actually coming down from Stelvio.

The pros do crash fairly often. Check out this fabulous stunt by Lance Armstrong in 2003 when Beloki fell in front of him: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtZhG2kWVLY&feature=player_embedded

[traveller]

Incredible reflexes, still gives me the goosebumps every time I see it.
It's not the 115km/h that worries me, its the 80km/h around corners on 23mm wide tyres and contact surface about the size of a 20c coin :eyepop: