Riva del Garda - June 27,28

It's pouring. I really thought that I'd leave the rain behind when I went south. Ah well, it's an excuse for having a beer at 11:30, but surely it's 5 o'clock somewhere ...

So yesterday, I started out by visiting Ötzi. Who or what is Ötzi you might ask. Well, he's a 5000 year old iceman that was found in the Alps by the Ötztal, 20 years ago. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ötzi It's pretty fascinating, in that he's extremely well preserved due to the climatic conditions in the area. I first heard about him on radiolab a few months ago, so I decided I should go check him out if I made it to Bolzano. It's pretty cool. http://www.radiolab.org/story/ice-cold-case/

By the time I made it back to the hotel I was drenched. Not because it rained, but because suddenly the humidity was ridiculously high. Think Louisiana in July. The forecast hadn't improved any, so I figured I'd head for Trento and see how it turned out. The precipitation percentages weren't over the top, but too high to risk the high passes. I hopped on the secondary road to Trento, fired up Coldplay on the iPhone (connected with my bluetooth helmet headset - I do love technology) and found my zen. I had picked out a loop through the hinterlands to the east of Trento. Nothing high, just nice roads through the wine country and some funky towns, so if it did start to rain it was no big deal. As it turned out the weather held, so I got a nice ride through some pretty landscape.

Trento is a "Sliding Doors" (movie) place for me. 25 years ago my advisor asked me if I wanted to got to Trento to come to work with him. I said yes, but then in the end the money did not come through. My life would have been very different. Obviously there are always junctions for all of us that dictate our paths, but this one does pop into my head every so often - obviously driving through it is a good reminder.
The weather was nice enough in Trento, so I decided to grab a quick run over Monte Bondone (1650m) that was conveniently located along one possible route to Riva. Really great run up the mountain. Wide road and good visibility through the switchbacks so it was possible to use the entire road. Also, not much traffic. Of course around 1500 m, it started to rain. Oops. Luckily it didn't amount to much and the road surface stayed dry. Then, as I crested the top, I drove into the clouds. Great, switchbacks in the fog. Once again I got lucky (probably undeservedly by now) and a few turns later things cleared up again. Very open and fast descent. Dropped 1000m in maybe 10 min. Fun run!

Arrived in Riva to find Tom & Pauline waiting by the side of the road for the apt owner. Timing is everything. We settled in, wandered around the town a bit and Tom and I went and watched some football in a local bar, while Pauline worked. I'll be here for a few days before setting off again. The rain should stop tomorrow...