We had positioned ourselves at San Leonardo so that we had a straight run at the famous Timmels Joch early in the day. Our experience in the Alps up to that point was that the days started out clear and fine and deteriorated in the afternoon. As it turned out, we left San Leonardo in a drizzling rain and started to climb into a low cloudy day.  The road was not as dramatic as some we had encountered but we did pass the house of Andreas Hofer which is now a gasthaus and at the top there were stunning views of the mountain glaciers.  The road was constructed in the 1950s and was the first pass to be built using heavy equipment and not just manpower.  At the top of the pass there was a small display with some great photos of the construction which was well worth the stop.

On the northern side of the Timmels Joch we charged down the mountain with the temperature rising and the road drying and rushed north half way across Austria before turning south again near the town of Arzl for the Reschen Pass on the Italian frontier.  On the way, we turned off the main road and took a “short cut” through the mountains that took twice as long than the autobahn through Landeck, but was infinitely more fun.  All of this mucking about in the mountains gave us any easy run over the Reschen Pass late in the afternoon and dropped us back into Italy positioned for the Passo dello Stelvio (Stilfers Joch) the next day.

The Stelvio is “the” switchback road and it doesn't matter what the weather - rain, snow or ice - riders are out testing themselves against the corners.  This is the road you see in the photos climbing the mountain in a ladder of switchbacks many with a radius so tight it could be scribed by a man's arm.

Our Stelvio day started wet and cold but by the time we climbed through the first switchback the cloud had cleared a little and the road was only damp and not too slippery.  We started to count the switchbacks on the way up: one, two .... forty seven, forty eight.  Each switchback was a new challenge for a heavily ladened Just Sue.  I found the best technique was to change back into first gear well before the corner but to keep the clutch in and the engine running at about 4 000 rpm.  Keeping the engine speed up, I let Just Sue drift deep into the corner as wide as possible then, when it seems we had gone way too far, I flopped her over and started to feed in the clutch to get a smooth drive to stand her up again.  Just to confuse the issue, I “dragged” the back brake throughout the process to settle Just Sue on her suspension.  If it worked well Team Elephant came out of the tightest corner on the correct side of the road (very important), with strong, smooth power delivery to get us upright and driving again.  It didn't always work well!

The top of the Stelvio was a circus of tacky stalls selling every kind of tourist kitsch in the cold drizzle.  We took a lot of photos, treated ourselves to hot chocolate and strudel, bought a few stickers for friends then plunged down the other side: one, two ... thirty nine, forty.  Finally we made a fast gallop down a long valley towards the Italian city of Tirano, through insistent rain and endless mountain tunnels, then crossed into Switzerland heading for St. Moritz.

Like a lot of legendary places, the Stelvio was a lot more and a lot less than we expected. The road was certainly amazing and challenging and the views were exhilarating.  But the bratwurst stands and crowds of bikes and bikers around the souvenir stalls robbed the place of a little of the romance.   So, was it the best motorcycle road in the world? Probably not but, like the Isle of Mann TT circuit, being there is not just about the road. Besides, when we rode it we still had a very long day in front of us and another pass that laid claim to the title “best in the world”.