My summer turned out better than expected. I
really enjoyed biking, because as soon as the cast was removed I felt like if I
could bike like nothing had happened, injury free! The following weeks I trained more on the
bike than I did climbing and in August I went to Bormio with Stew where
we met his Mum and Dad, because Stew, Mike and I planned to cycle the Stelvio
loop. On Monday the 5th of August we left the campsite at 7:30am in Bormio (1225m), cycled up to the Passo Umbrail summit (2501m), cycled down to
Switzerland, cycled back to Italy to the Prato allo Stelvio and up the Stelvio (2758m)
with the 48 hairpin turns and finally down to Bormio again. In total we cycled 100km
with 3200m of climbing. This was probably one of the most challenging things that I have done in my life!
The constant battle with your innerself, the determination and the different mental
stages you go through, but the feeling of success at the end of the day is so
rewarding that you would definitely do it again, again and again. 
As the weeks passed my ankle got stronger and
stronger and I switched back from cycling to climbing. End of August was the
yearly Ötztal Climbing Camp, which was held already the 5th time in
a row. Each year the event grows and gets more professional. I enjoyed working
with the motivated climbers, who were eager to learn and improve their
climbing skills and enjoy their time on the rock of Ötztal.
