There are places that become inextricably linked to a sport. Not necessarily because they host the biggest races or have the most famous trails, but because, year after year, they become a meeting point for a community.
Those who have been riding enduro for a few years hardly need much explanation. Just say Pogno and images, memories, races, transfers, start of special stages, and days spent on their trails come flooding back. For some, it was an important race, for others, one of their first experiences with a number on their bike, for others still, simply a day of... riding with friends. Different generations of riders have passed through here, and behind many of those days, there have always been the same people.
The Owls and that story built one trail at a time
MTB I Gufi ASD is an organization we at 365MTB are particularly close to. Not only for the races we've run or covered, but because it represents the network of associations, volunteers, and enthusiasts without whom our sport would be profoundly different.
Over the years, their history has become intertwined with that of Italian enduro. Superenduro, 4Enduro, Italian Absolute Championship A long series of events brought thousands of riders to Pogno. Some came to compete for a win, many simply to test themselves and experience a race weekend. All, however, found behind those events an organizational machine built through years of experience.
Because a race, when it works well, from the outside seems almost simple. You arrive, pick up your race number, start, and run. But behind it all lie weeks of work, people to coordinate, routes to prepare, safety to ensure, problems to predict, and unexpected events to resolve.
The Gufi know this profession well. So much so that their experience isn't confined to the woods of Pogno: over the years, we've also found them on the competition fields of other events, called upon to offer the expertise that can only be built by doing, making mistakes, learning, and starting over.
And perhaps this is one of the aspects that best describes who I am. The Gufi didn't just organize races in Pogno. They helped build a mountain bike culture.
Much more than the races
However, it would be reductive to stop at the competitions, because while Superenduro, 4Enduro and the Italian Championships were taking place on the trails, something perhaps even more important was growing in parallel in Pogno.
The children were growing up.
For years, I Gufi have been running courses and activities for young people, offering their time, experience, and passion to introduce them to cycling. Kids who perhaps arrive unsure of what to expect begin to become familiar with the bike and gradually discover a world of balance, technique, the woods, friendships, hard work, and fun.
Not everyone will become a competitive cyclist, and that's not the point. Some will race, some will simply continue riding with friends, and some, perhaps twenty years from now, will accompany their son on those same trails.
This is how a sport takes root.
And perhaps this is the thread that unites everything that's happened in Pogno over the years. The races, the trails, the courses, the children, the volunteers are not separate realities: they are parts of the same story.
The next chapter is a pump track
Today that story has reached a new stage.
A new one is taking shape in Pogno pump track, a project designed to offer the area an accessible space dedicated to sports, inclusion, youth, and the community. For I Gufi, it will be, above all, an additional tool for working with young people and continuing the growth journey they've been pursuing for years.
A pump track may seem, at first glance, simply a collection of curves, bumps, and berms. For those teaching children to ride, however, it means much more. It's a safe and easily accessible place to learn how to ride a bike, develop balance, coordination, and technique, and above all, have fun with others.
It is also a gateway.
First the pump track, then maybe an easy trail. One day a proper trail. And who knows, a few years later, maybe a race.
After all, many mountain bike journeys begin like this: someone puts you in a position to try it and makes you discover how wonderful riding a bike can be.
The new Pogno facility is taking shape, but there's still one final step to complete it. That's why I Gufi have asked for the community's help.
This time we can be the ones to lend a hand
And this is where this story concerns us too.
Because behind a reality like I Gufi there is something that, when we frequent our sport, we sometimes risk taking for granted: the work of others.
We arrive at a trail and ride. We arrive at a race and run. We follow a trail, find a special stage ready, ride through a forest, and enjoy a day on the bike. It's normal, and it's also beautiful.
But someone, before us, has come by with tools. Someone dedicated a Saturday to fixing a path instead of going for a walk. Someone spent an evening organizing a demonstration, looking for volunteers, or preparing a course for children.
A huge part of the MTB world we love was born from the work of people who decided to give back to their community.
In Pogno, for many years, the Owls were among those people.
That's why raising funds for the new pump track shouldn't just involve those who live in Pogno or those who bring their children there today. It should also involve those who have raced on those trails, those who spent a weekend there, those who remember a special stage, a curve, a race in the rain, or a perfect day with friends.
If you are one of them, try to think back to those days for a moment.
Maybe you don't remember your time on the special stage. You probably don't even remember your ranking. But you probably remember the people you were with, a particularly good descent, a wrong turn, the laughs at the end of the day, or that feeling that's hard to explain to those who don't experience mountain biking.
Source good vibrations that this sport can offer and which, ultimately, are the reason why we keep returning to the trails.
Well, a small part of those emotions was also possible thanks to the work of those who built, maintained, and transformed those paths into a place to meet.
You don't need big numbers. You need a community.
The fundraising is carried out through the Novara Community Foundation, who has chosen to support the project. The Foundation retains nothing: 100% of donations will go towards the construction of the pump track.
There's no need to make large donations. The strength of a community like the mountain bike community lies in its numbers and its ability to move together.
Ten, twenty, fifty euros may seem like a small amount in isolation. But if it's done by the many people who have run, cycled, and lived in Pogno over the years, those small contributions can become something extremely concrete.
They can become asphalt, curves, and structures. They can become paths. They can become afternoons spent on bikes.
They can become a pump track full of kids.
And this is probably the most beautiful image with which to think about the project.
In a few years, many of us will still pass through Pogno. Some will come to ride the trails, some for a race, others simply because those woods continue to be one of the places we love to return to.
And maybe, before entering the woods, we'll see a group of kids riding around the pump track. Some will be beginners, others will try to jump over everything in their path, like kids do when you put a bike under their feet.
Maybe one of them will become a great rider.
Maybe not.
It does not matter.
It matters that he had a place to start.
The Owls are trying to build that place, adding a new chapter to a story that began many years ago on the trails of Pogno.
For a long time, they have been the ones who gave us something: trails, races, days spent on the bike, emotions and memories.
This time we can be the ones to give something to them.
And if a small piece of our passion for mountain biking has also passed through Pogno, perhaps it's worth contributing so that that same passion can pass on, tomorrow, to someone else.
Let's help the Owls complete the new pump track.
Because some stories shouldn't just be remembered.
They need to be helped to continue.
Below are the details for concrete assistance:
POSTAL PAYMENT MONEY ORDERS Current account no. 18205146 Made out to Fondazione Comunità Novarese
BANCOPOSTA�IBAN: IT63 T0760110100000018205146�In favor of the Novarese Community Foundation
Important: always indicate in the reason for payment:
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