Stella Alpina 2006

[Whealie]

It is Sunday afternoon and we just had the most fantastic run up and back down the Stella run. Lovely Italian weather. Great fun.
You'll notice no pics of Fewtrees (Rob) because he shot off in front of us and we only saw him again on the way down. I followed him for a chunk of the downwards journey and it was a hoot, losing grip all over the place until we hit the tarmac and then some of the best twisties going.
The day started with us removing our wingmirrors (Fewtrees the pessimist insisted we would break them when we dropped our bikes, but none of us dropped ours).
There was Fewtrees, XRVJim, Piguglyshandydrinker (phil) and me - Whealie.
The pics tell the story really so here goes:The view up.

A waterfall on the way up

Jim

still a long way to go

Phil

Roman roads are always straight

The top was still a long way away

Pulled over for the Fireblade coming down

Phil coming up

And taking the corner comfortably

The summit

We were above the clouds

The only way was down

BMW has laid on some food and support (no sign of Honda)

Jim coming down

WE met up with some other XRVers. Red Marcus and Africa Jim, with some mates.

The view on the way down (before I concentrated on following Fewtrees' rear light)

[Whealie]

Here's the only pic I got of Rob. He was so fast he'd almost left the picture before I pressed the button.

[Austin]

fan..bloody..tastic!!! Now, why didn't I go? Next year.

[lootch67]

Nice one Whealie! Wish I could've made it. Maybe next year...

[boboneleg]

Great stuff Whealie, so no snow this year then ? We got stopped before we got to the top last year as the snow was to deep.

I'm jealous but I'm definitely on for next year, how was the Hotel ?

[Whealie]

Hotel was great and had free wifi. Currently sitting in another hotel having broken down on the way home (see Africa TWin section). May have nothing better to do later than load up more pics and tell the full story (and as I've paid for 24hrs wifi access).
In desperate need of a shower for now.

[Whealie]

A few more pics from the next couple of days. Basically I have loads of pics or fantastic scenery but I've just posted a few to tell the story. You really want to come to the Stella and have a few days riding out.
We did something like 35 miles completely off road, not on the GPS, riding up with the ski lifts, the eagles and various other wildlife.

I love this pic of my bike. The RD04 really does take you anywhere.

The camera struggles to show just how steep it was:

Everyone loves taking an @ apart in a campsite:

On the third day, loaded up with alu boxes, we found some water:

and some more:

The rat pack:

And one of my favourites; The end of the world:

Particular thanks to Fewtrees (Rob) for organising everything so effectively.

[DaveS]

If you get time chuck all the photo's in to the gallery as I'd love to flick through them some time.
Very very inspiring.
Shame you've had problems, but try not to let it detract too much! What a place to breakdown!

[faantjie]

Sooooooooo Thaaat's the Stella. WOW it looks great. Thanks for the report. As Dave said, INSPIRING STUFF!!! Makes you realize again there is more to life than 9 to 5.

[Finer XRV]

That's a great photo of your bike against the mountain backdrop.

As the others have said, very inspiring!

Just need to get mine back on the road once I sort out the chocolate brake calipers!

Hope you manage to get home safely.

Cheers

Paul