From Innsbruck, I ran down the Brenner Autobahn to Sterzing (again). Note: you have to get a ticket just before Sterzing for the Italian Autostrada. Because you are in Italy, not everything is guaranteed to work. In particular, the rightmost ticket dispenser required 5 minutes of work by every single vehilcle to get a ticket. Most maddening, you then exit immediately and give the ticket and a Euro to pay for the experience. The man in the booth didn't want to know.
I stopped to have lunch with a large fraction of the rest of the motorcylists in Sued Tyrol. Among the bikes, I saw one old BMW airhead. Of the seemingly thousands of bikes on the road that day, this was the only one besides myself. At the Timmelsjoch yesterday, I caught other bikers looking at my odometer.
After lunch, I got off the Autobahn at Klausen to get on the back roads to Cortina.
There are apparently no bad roads to Cortina. At the Autobahn exit, I immediately turned left onto the small 242d in the direction of the Groedner Pass. This small road joins the main 242 just before Ortisei. It was a surprisingly short great motorcycle road. A very gradually rising twisty mountain road with relatively little traffic. Only a few cars going in my direction and only a few groups of motorcyclists coming the other way. Recommended.
The little towns in the Groedner Tal are very picturesque and the Dolimite spires start to appear behind them. At the end of the valley, one can choose either the smaller Goedner Joch or the Sellajoch. The latter is probably nice but I chose the former hoping for less traffic. Perhaps it was, but it was back to a lot of motorcycles passing a fewer number of cars. Still, a wonderful road both in curves and scenery.
At the top, there is the usual collection of bikes,souvenirs, and scenery. I bought a walking map of Cortina intending to hike when I got there. It's only 200km from Innsbruck to Cortina, and even with leaving just before lunch and stopping a lot for pictures, it was likely that I would arrive in the late afternoon.
Just below the Goedner Joch, a helicopter rescue team was practicing. They would fly up to a ridge, lower a rig, pickup a man, and fly him to a nearby meadow, repeatedly. It provided great entertainment and photo opportunities for the bikers. I would have shot better pictures had I been able to see the LCD screen in the sunlight. As it was, I was guessing.
On the way to Arabba, there are a few more passes and lots of bikes and trikes. Then it's just following the signs to Cortina. All of the roads are just wonderful. The last big pass on the Dolomitenstrasse to Cortina is Passo di Fatzarego (finally really in Italy). I had followed a couple up the hill as they had set a nice pace: not stressful but fast enough that I wouldn't want to pass. The woman, in the lead, was just exercising her Suzuki 600. The guy was following (and giving directions with his hands) on BMW oilhead. I spoke to them (German) at the top of the pass. They weren't going anywhere in particular.
On the way down, there a bunch of really old small bikes out for a ride and doing well on the downhill. I got behind a couple on a Z1 that I managed to pass eventually. With my big bag on the back, I was squealing the front tire in front of some of the steep downhill turns. Then into town.
Of course I was passed by real sportbikes. As I got deeper into the Dolomites, there more and more really fast riders, a few zipping past at seemingly twice my speed, using all of the road and clearance.
I had stopped a lot so did not get to Cortina until almost 4pm. The hotel I stayed at previously, the Olympia, was closed for construction, so I got a kind of pricy room next door at the Alaska.
From the book, I chose the nearby Sorapiss: Rif. Vandelli Traverse, starting from the trailhead at Passo Tre Croci off of the SS 48. Got sorted out, back on the bike, and out to the trail with the bike secured and me with a backpack by 5:30pm. This is a beautiful forest trail with some old Italian forts, from WWI, in the beginning. Great trail with beautiful 180degree views of the Dolomites.
Hiked up until a little after 7pm, with some stops to put on rain gear. I was ignoring the thunder as the lightening seemed be on the next mountain. But decided eventually to turn around. I had gained some height, was the first to traverse a bit of snow over the path, and had enjoyed the scenery. Back down more quickly and back to the bike just after 8pm.
Back to town, shower, good meal, and to bed. Well-done.
Then the next day, I rode to Munich. I went on the backroads and had lunch at Kruezberg. Then turned right at Innichen to go back into Austria. In Lienz, I missed the turn to Großglockner Hochalpenstraße (direction Winklern) and instead went to Burg Groppenstein. I turned north and went through the Tauerntunnel, which is a high, long toll tunnel through the mountains. Then it was on to Bischofshofen.
Some day I will go back on the 164 and go up to the Hochkönig. But now North on the E55 Autobahn with the Hagengebirge on the left up to Salzburg and then on to München to stay overnight with Christine before leaving to Madeira for a week. The bike was parked on a side street on her block and was fine.