Kaltern Bike racing bike tour: To the Stars

You start by taking the biking trail to Bozen. (ATTENTION: When you're at the wineries, be sure to take the biking trail past at the vintage locomotive, towards Bozen – NOT the path to Lake Caldaro!) Once you've arrived in Bozen, you should continue following this biking trail along the Etsch / Adige River until you have left the lively provincial capital behind. The contrasting landscape forms you will see over just a few kilometers as the crow flies are now enormous. The flank of the Etsch / Adige Valley rises steeply – e.g., uphill towards Kohlern / Colle or into the Eggen / Ega Valley (which derives its name from the eponymous brook which has to cut its way through a deep gorge to attain the Etsch River). In actual fact, it's only two or three kilometers – as the crow flies – from the outskirts of Bozen, from the busy autobahn, or the hustle-and-bustle of the Staatsstrasse, and you're already in another world. But you have to steadily pedal up winding roads in order to reach this peaceful oasis in the Eggen Valley. But one mustn't oversimplify the character of the Eggen Valley; rather, this region embraces not only the valley, itself, but also an extensive area including ridges, high-altitude plateaus, and side valleys. And it's on one of these ridges north of the Eggen Brook that you find the astronomical observatory. If you take this tour and pedal from the Etsch / Adige Valley via the village of Karneid / Cornedo uphill to the forest chapel at the "Kasererbild," you'll be rewarded with completely peaceful segment along a side street with only little traffic, and will also have mastered 1,000 meters of altitude differential. But you might want to wait a little bit longer before taking a rest-break – that's because you have almost reached the lookout point at the observatory, and the small road to it soon exits the forest, affording you a marvelous panoramic view. And the descent from the observatory is a highlight of this tour, when you speed down the road, negotiating hairpin curves on your way to Birchabruck / Ponte Nova on the valley floor by the Eggen Brook. The road continues with a moderate uphill grade to Deutschnofen / Nova Ponente, one of the region's main centers. This town is located on an extensive high-altitude plateau west of the mighty Latemar. The road remains at this elevation (about 1,300 meters above sea-level) for a few more kilometers when going south via Aldein / Aldino to the Staatsstrasse, which in turn leads to the neighboring Fleims / Fiemme Valley. En route to this destination, you can also take a side-trip in Petersberg to the Maria Weissenstein Place of Pilgrimage (2 km, 100 meters of altitude differential). This side-trip should be interesting not only for the devout, but also for hungry travelers – because there's also an inn next to the monastery. Behind Aldein, you can continue on the main road not to the left into the Fleims / Fiemme Valley, but rather to the right, for a quick descent into the Etsch / Adige Valley. You'll reach the valley floor in Auer / Ora. Now there's a nasty little surprise coming up for you: The Kreither Saddle – nicknamed the "Coyote Pass" – which offers an additional 170 meters of altitude differential between the Etsch River and Lake Caldaro. And then there's also the final ascent from the lake through the Lavason Valley to the wineries and on through the Bahnhofstrasse to the market square of Kaltern / Caldaro. But in comparison with the Kreither Saddle, this final ascent is relatively tame.

Variants: In the Eggen Valley, you can take a short cut and glide along the Staatsstrasse from the valley towards Bozen / Bolzano. In doing so, you'll have to navigate two tunnels (with a length of 600 and 2,800 meters, respectively) and watch out for the traffic. On the saddle, we recommend setting your light to flash.