Beginning of this year we have discussed with some friends about the possibility to organize a ‘solar bike’ stage during summer 2024.
For this reason I had prepared a small document to describe this proposal and the planned activities.
This document was then shared on the velo-solaire.com web site:
https://velo-solaire.com/en/solar-bike-stage-in-northern-italy-early-july-mid-august-2024/
This is a brief recap of this first ‘solar bike’ stage in the Italian alps.
Mid of July my friend Paul arrived in Osais with his car, an old ‘Acadiane’, with his bike inside.
Unfortunately it was not possible for him to bring his solar trike, so we had to plan carefully our trips: in fact his battery was sufficient for 120km max.
The first day we were able to climb to ‘Casera Razzo’, (20km long and 1000m altitude gain, average 5%): this is the main direction to go from ‘Val Pesarina’ valley to other destinations.
This is the gps trace from Strava:
![IMG_20240716_125502[1]](http://gonano.eu/wp-content/uploads/elementor/thumbs/IMG_20240716_1255021-scaled-qxyp6yalnxp4uicw8yesbjnge30kkn19rdxhhot2ww.jpg "IMG_20240716_125502[1]")
Next we were able to ride a little longer (almost 80km, 1500m elevation gain) , till the lake of Sauris:
https://www.strava.com/activities/12044566252
After few ‘one day’ rides, we wanted to try a longer itinerary:
- DAY 1 From Osais to Cortina d’Ampezzo
- DAY 2 From Cortina back to Osais
Here are the GPS traces:
https://www.strava.com/activities/12044566144
https://www.strava.com/activities/12044566248
In total it was roughly 180km and 3000m of altitude gain
Unfortunately last winter the route going through the “Monte Croce Carnico” pass was closed due to a big landslide: so the closest route to go to Austria was (and still it is) blocked.
Then we decided to go anyway to Tarvisio (on the border with Austria) following the Alpe Adria bike route from Carnia, small village close to Tolmezzo.
This is the GPS trace: https://www.strava.com/activities/12044565994
In total 100km and 700m elevation gain: it was a good surprise to find out that they have just added 5km to the Alpe Adria bike route few days before (see picture here below)!
The weather was very nice and sunny: extremely hot, 37C° most of the time!
https://www.instagram.com/p/C9-I31FoaF_/
The weather was constantly very hot: luckily in the evening it was refreshing and we never had any problem to sleep!
Sometimes we decided that it was too hot to go biking so we did some hiking in the surroundings.
Here is a video on our ascent to the famous MONTE LUSSARI (1200m of altitude) which was also a stage in the 2023 Giro d’Italia.
https://youtube.com/shorts/4R3UuYkw2fs
Unfortunately after 3 weeks Paul had to go back to France…
But after few days Gilles and Josephine arrived with their solar trikes on their trailer directly from France!
Unfortunately just the night before their arrival à Osais there was a very violent thunderstorm causing a huge landslide few km after Osais toward Casera Razzo.
The road was interrupted.
Here I just wanted to go there to understand the gravity of the disaster….
The consequences were very bad for all the “Pesarina” valley but also for us.
In fact this road is the main access to most of the tours I regularly make and that we planned for this stage.
The result was that we had to plan different tours leaving us with much less choice than usual…
This is the GPS trace of an alternative tour we made:
https://www.strava.com/activities/12248384912
In total a little bit more of 70km and 1360m of altitude gain.
The day after we decided to go and meet Hervè and Christiane who were also coming to join the stage in Osais.
They were still on their way, one month after having started from Marseille with their solar bikes: it was really a great exemple of solar biking adventure across the Alps!
We then decided to meet at “Forni di Sopra” in an another parallel valley
This is the GPS trace: https://www.strava.com/activities/12248385106
In total it was more than 100km and 1500m of altitude gain.
This was the exact moment we were able to meet all of us!
Since the road up to Casera Razzo was closed, for our first tour all together (5 solar bikes!) we decided to go to Sauris going from the other side (from the tunnels…).
In this way it was not possible to make a complete tour but we had to go back from the same route.
Each morning we had a very good breakfast and preparation before starting was always fun…
https://youtube.com/shorts/VAAzDbq7GAk
Once arrived at the artificial lake of Sauris, Gilles found a mechanical problem with his rear wheel: luckily he was able to repair it, continue with us and go back to Osais safely!
This was the GPS trace: https://www.strava.com/activities/12248385575
In total it was less than 100km with 1600m of altitude gain.
Hervé wanted to check if he could pass through the ‘closed route’.
And without too many problems he was able to proceed over the barriers and to go through approximately 1 km of gravel road ….
This was very good news for the trip we had planned for the next day!
So we planned to go (again…) to Sauris but this time going from the Casera Razzo climb through the ‘officially closed’ road.
Luckily it was a holiday so nobody was there to control the road works.
This was the GPS trace: https://www.strava.com/activities/12248387065
It was almost 80km and 1600m of elevation gain.
After having had lunch in Sauris di Sopra we split in 2 groups:
- Hervé, Gille et Christiane went back from the same route, climbing again toward Casera Razzo
- Josephine and myself we continued down the Sauris valley, through Villasantina and back to Osais to make a complete tour
We had 1 day of rest, going to Grado (by car…) for a family event so everybody was able to go to the beach and visit the old city!
The following day, since the weather was very changeable we planned for a relatively short tour to Sappada only with Gilles and Josephine.
Preparation before leaving was always fun: here a video from Herve’s drone just before we left.
This was the GPS trace: https://www.strava.com/activities/12248385813
Little bit less than 64km and 1160m of altitude gain to reach this very nice village which was a stage finish for the 2024 Giro d’Italia!
The following day we planned for another tour to Ravascletto, down to Tolmezzo (the main city in the region) and back.
This was the GPS trace: https://www.strava.com/activities/12248386615
Shorter tour than usual (60km) but still 1000m of altitude gain.
As always happens when having fun, it was time for everybody to leave.
So I took the opportunity to ride again with Hervé and Christiane going toward Lubiana where they had planned to meet with his daugther.
We left direction Tarvisio and we took the Alpe Adria bike route: we had lunch together at the Chiusaforte old train station.
Then they continued to the north and I went back to Osais on my own…
Gilles and Josephine left the same day with their bikes on their trailer to go back to France.
This is a typical (funny) example of different itineraries we used to choose:
– in RED is the route preferred from Hervé, very touristy, following cycle paths for gravel bikes and not so straight…
– in BLUE the one I normally prefer, may be because I know very well all those areas, faster, busier and always straight!
In all cases we always had A LOT OF FUN riding together!
So overall it was a great experience to be able to ride all together with our solar bikes.
We met a lot of people, always very curious about our bikes and very supportive for this type of solutions.
We would have liked to organize longer rides but unfortunately several roads being closed forced us to plan for shorter/closer routes.
Thanks a lot to Paul, Hervé, Christiane, Gilles and Josephine who came to the Dolomites!
Hopefully we are going to organize another similar stage again in the next future, when all closed road will have been reopened!