July 25, 2024, presented by Gravellata
Participating in a BMW HERO Südtirol Dolomites is a life-changing experience. It makes you understand what it means to suffer on a bike, how difficult it can be to climb a broken mule track at 29% gradient while staying balanced. It certainly teaches you the joy and satisfaction of riding that final hairpin turn lined with HERO banners and crossing that finish line.
The start in Selva di Val Gardena is always magical, and this was our 6th HERO. In the past, we would show up here super light and focused on performance, and the moments on the start grid in the morning were pure tension. Five years have passed since our last HERO, and this time we were here to relive the emotions we had missed and create a memory to share. There was no tension on the start grid, but an energy we hadn't felt so strongly in a long time.
The race starts, and we immediately begin climbing the Dantecepies. It is a long and challenging climb, but one that can be done entirely in the saddle. At the top, we find some fog, a first warning. The descent towards Corvara is stunning, a very long single track through the meadows made treacherous by the rainy weather: in some places we find a lot of mud, and through our glasses we can see mountains, fir trees, and patches of earth that keep changing shape.
Pralongià and Passo Campolongo are transitional moments in this race: you climb in bursts, descend through fast corners, wooden walkways, and gravel roads. Arabba, but then Ornella—when we see this sign, our hearts race in every sense. We are on the third climb of the Marathon route, the hardest climb, with gradients reaching almost 30%. It is drizzling, the ground is heavy, with some rocks and branches in the mud. In some places you have to get off and walk, but in these conditions it is not easy to even push. Our shoes accumulate mud, as does the bike. Here we open everything up and try to let every layer of our kit breathe, from the Stay Fresh tank top to the Jersey and the Vest. We sweat even though the temperatures are far from warm. The climb is too hard, our bodies don't feel what is coming from the outside, they only feel two legs pushing and suffering as much as they can. And sweating. We arrive at the top immersed in fog and surrounded by snow walls. We see the Sourasass Aid Station emerge through the haze. It looks like an oasis.
The brakes scream on the first descents, and our hands want to scream too because our fingers are frozen. We are at 2500 meters above sea level, wearing a summer kit and nothing else. It is 4 degrees and the fog envelops everything. We zip up every available zipper and try to recreate a microclimate inside these light layers. Having a base layer at these moments is essential; it is an emergency shield. We still find snow and small streams created by the abundant precipitation. Every ford is ice-cold water splashing over us.
We keep going and think about how beautiful all this is. About the experience we are having and building. We think about how hard we worked in the past on this route, even though we have never encountered weather like this. It is an opportunity to be proud of ourselves and to remember that we are still capable of finishing races like these.
We descend to Canazei, a fast descent with some pitfalls. We stay alert, ride clean, dodge wet roots, drink, and take a gel. In short, we prepare ourselves for the final battle of the day, the Duron. What a climb, what bursts. Halfway through, we find a long flat section that lets us catch our breath, but then at the top the road steepens before giving us the fourth GPM of this epic race. We descend at full speed towards Selva, we are deep in the race, our bodies and minds are working in unison, and it seems impossible to make mistakes at these moments. We ride with confidence, the fir trees flash past us quickly, we descend hard.
We see Selva, we hear the announcer shouting, we are approaching that finish line after 86km and 4500 meters of elevation gain! We think once again about our journey. Not the HERO route, but the journey to return to this race after so long. We did it together. Once we raced as athletes, now we are here to tell the story. We push, we ride, we graze the brakes, and we get emotional. We look for each other out of the corner of our eyes; we have to finish together. The tires claw at the rocks with every braking, we release those small levers for the last time, and we cross the finish line with the race number on the handlebars shaking. Like us. With happiness.
A hero is not someone who races like this or someone who wins it. This race does not crown heroes on that day. This race teaches you to be a hero when you return home, to fall in love even more with this sport and this suffering, to improve for the next year, to have the desire and the willpower to challenge yourself when the challenge seems bigger than you. Heroes, we have a piece of advice for you: an experience like this should be lived at least once in a lifetime. Keep Pedaling.
On the Gravellata YouTube channel, you can find the full report of their HERO.