If anyone desires great riding, superb scenery, breathtaking mountains, fantastic Italian food and thirst-quenching radler (local beer with bitter lemon) then check out the 58k Tour du Sella Ronda. A week ago I took my wife on a last minute holiday to the village of Selva, the cleanest, prettiest, smartest resort I've ever been to, in Val Gardena in the Dolomites. The objective was to hike in the mountains but at booking time I'd forgotten (ahem) it was also the start of the Sella Ronda.
In wintertime it is a ski tour. In summer, it is one of the classic bike routes. Several options are open: a road bike tour...they close the roads on specific days (just like in England, not), or mountain biking eg
- join a group with a guide coordinated by the Selva Tourist Office (Eur25), take the uphills via chairlift/cable car and zoom the descents. Takes about 8 hours including a lazy lunch stop. I joined about 30 mainly Germans and were split into three groups with a guide each. (Necessary to route find and also for accident cover)
- ride the ascents as well as the descents - very tough
- go race the course....the sellarondahero event is in July.
The course is very technical with loose conditions undertyre everywhere. Even the few 100 metres of jeep tracks are covered in marbles. I rode on a sunny, dry day and it was tough. I would have been less keen in the wet. Rougher than Les Gets or Morzine and most wore knee pads.
Squeasyjet took us to Verona, then a two hour transfer, so not a short journey, but well worth it. It's in the Sudtirol, so you get the benefit of German efficiency with the bonus of Italian style and food.
I'd recommend it for a family holiday with a sneaky day off biking, or a dedicated bike holiday. Oh, did I say, it's also the Scott European test centre. Rock up and borrow a bike. Alternately, hire a Scott Genius 50 for the day for Eur30. Beware - the brake levers are the reverse of what you find in the UK. Well, I needed an excuse for my tumble over the bars.
Stephen Turner
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