I go from Berlin to Munich while Paul, Ralf and Kevin receive their rental bikes in Munich and have a little ride around. I meet them in the evening and we have a Bavarian dinner with Zwiebelrostbraten. Hector comes from London and stays overnight close to Munich.

Paul and Ralf

We meet Hector and we start our ride to Arabba in Italy. Hotel Olympia will be our base for the week. We will do rides from there into all directions. The route brings us over spectacular passes: Timmelsjoch, Jaufenpass, Penser Joch, Ritten-Landstraße, Sellajoch and Pordoi Pass. Quite exhausting but also very exciting.

We meet Wolfgang at Sylvenstein reservoir. He will escort us for a fraction of the tour.

We say farewell to Wolfgang at the entry of Öztal valley which we have to pass through in order to get to Timmelsjoch. Hector, Wolfgang, Tom, Paul, Ralf, Kevin

Timmelsjoch is very impressive Ralf on his way up

Tom

On top of Timmelsjoch: Kevin, Tom, Hector, Ralf

Snow

Video going down the southern ramp of Timmelsjoch

We stop for having cake on top of Jaufenpass

Paul seems to like it.

Many motorbikes on Jaufenpass

View back to Timmelsjoch from Jaufenpass

Video of climbing up Jaufenpass

View from Penser Joch

We stop on our way down Pordoi pass to enjoy the view.

Ralf

In the evening we meet Jim and Susan. They did not tell us that they wanted to be there so it was a big surprise. Tom, Hector, Kevin, Susan, Ralf, Paul, Jim

After the exhausting ride the day before we stay in the area and do an extended Sella eight going over all big passes of the Sella area

View from the hotel in the morning

Cliffs at Falzarego Pass

I have to explore the scenery

Riding shots from Pordoi pass (Kevin in front followed by me)

Kevin and Tom on top of Sellajoch

View from Sellajoch

Waterfall at Pordoi pass

View during lunch

View from Belvedere on Santa Lucia

Hector, Tom, Paul, Kevin on top of Giau pass

View from Giau pass

Tom riding down Giau

The final pass of the day is Pordoi

We are relaxed now and tackle the most remote target: Großglockner in Austria.

We pass the Jungfernsprung waterfall at the bottom of Großglockner

The road up to Edelweißspitze is a very narrow cobblestone road with tight turns.

Hector, Paul, Tom, Kevin on Edelweißspitze

View to the road up to Edelweißspitze (the blue white guard rails mark the road)

Tom

Descending

Quite a lot of snow at the side of the road to Hochtor

Tunnel Hochtor

The video of this ride

View to the glacier at Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe

At the glacier (Hector, Paul, Kevin, Tom)

On our way back we go over Staller Sattel into Italy

The Southern loop. A nice trip via Duran pass to Kaiserjägerstraße and Manghen Pass

Duran pass

Valstagna presents itself as a lovely little Italian town. Some minutes later we will get into a nice thunderstorm.

The video

At the viewpoint on Kaiserjägerstraße. One can see how steep the road is.

Tom, Hector and Kevin

All four of us (Hector, Kevin, Tom, Paul)

Kaiserjägerstraße is attached to an extremely steep rock and is quite narrow

This video shows the way down Kaiserjägerstraße

Manghen pass. The road meanders up the mountain.

Kevin on his way up...

...arrives at Manghen pass house

The house is a good place for a break...

...and a coffee...

...before we descend.

The Eastern loop. We go to another very spectacular piece of road. Panoramica delle Vette (Monte Crostis). Very narrow, very steep, some sections are gravel road but stunning views in exchange.

The day starts with Giau Pass. Here is the Video.

View during morning coffee break

A bike sleeps behind a barn

View from Panoramica

Paul approaches the view point on a section of gravel road

Kevin enjoys the view

The gang (Paul, Hector, Tom, Kevin)

The video

Tom descending Panoramica

Hector needs to return to Munich. So we do a Northern loop towards Sterzing via Penser Joch and then via Würzjoch and Furkelpass

360 degrees of Grödner Joch

View to Großkogel mountain from Grödner Joch

Hector

View to Bozen/Bolzano from Ritten-Landstraße

Views from Würzjoch

Riding up Würzjoch

Riding down Würzjoch

Ride over Furkelpass

We end our tour back in the hotel with a beer.

The waiter wears a traditional costume

Now I have to go home. While Paul and Kevin have another loop in the area I go directly to Berlin. A very exhausting trip but the weather is cooperating.

View to Corvara in the morning

Berlin welcomes me in the evening with perfect summer weather