This is the castle at Drena, Italy just down the mountain from Vason. We started out riding on our own, but by mid-morning we had caught up with Richard and Leslie Cleverly and Rob (with passenger Pat Czora) caught up with us.  So our three-bike pack turned into a six-bike pack.  It looks grey and rainy, doesn't it?  We're not going to get rained on again, are we?

We got our earliest start of the entire tour, but still ran into the things that delayed us:  rain and traffic-stopping events.  In this case it some bicycle race that the town had closed off the streets for.  We ran into it twice for a total of about 30 minutes standing around.  Here we are taking pictures of the "push-bikers."  You can see Paige in the foreground, Leslie in the red/black with white helmet to Paige's right, and Pat in the blue up on the curb. 

Another $60 gas stop for the three of us.  Here is Paige modeling her stying new rain suit that Brian bought for her* somewhere in Austria.  What's that about rain suit?  Yup: we're getting rained on pretty good!  Paige contemplates the beautiful view of the river that the gas station owners have to live with while trying not to look over at the guys in our group use the outdoor restroom behind a shed.

Here's our motley crew for the day:  Leslie, Brian, Rob, Paige, and Richard.  David is taking the picture and Pat took the van to the hotel when we met up with it at lunch.  We're at the top of the Passo di Gavia.  Did we mention that the road up was only recently paved and was only wide enough for a car?  It made the blind corners "really" entertaining.  It had its fair share of sheer drop offs and no guard rails, too.

Passo di Stelvio.  Rob likes to call this pass "the granddaddy of all of the Alpine Adventure passes" as it is the second highest pass in the Alps and the highest one we climb on tour.  We didn't actually ride down the east side (pictured here) and its 48 switchbacks as that loop would have added 130 km to our long day.  We got POURED on on our way up here, but we pretty much got up above the rain as we neared the summit, thank goodness!

One of Rob's "magic" places on the way down from the Umbrailpass at the town of Santa Maria.  We're heading toward the saddle in the mountains toward our last pass of the day -  Ofenpass, or Passo di Fuorn.

Contemplating the road below...

...which Brian has taken the liberty to scope out and is on his way down.  Just a couple of switchbacks!  (Yes, that's another switchback corner peeking out from down below the one Brian is riding.)

We went for the riding, and it continues to be fantastic!  In the enlargement you can see Brian on his way back in the middle of that far hairpin.