There are tours you choose because you don't know them. And then there are those you have to start with precisely because you've always known them.
The first chapter of Lakes and Mountains It couldn't have started anywhere else: from the Alpe Sacchi and Camasca loop. My home trail.
It was here, somehow, that I began pedaling. On Mount Zuoli came the first jumps, the BMX tracks, the first sensations of what many years later would become something much bigger. And even today, the entire area of the Nonio lakes and the climb towards Sacchi retains a special energy for me. Those good vibrations difficult to explain, but very easy to recognize when you hear them.
These are places that make you want to return. To take a road you've never seen, see where it leads, discover what lies beyond the next mountain. And then there's Camasca.
There's Quarna and the village of my origins. There's a mountain that still carries a powerful historical message tied to the Resistance. And above all, there's that close and powerful connection between lake and mountain that can be found in few other places.
A mountain that plunges into the lake
Here, the mountain isn't simply a backdrop to the lake. It ends up inside it.
Descending from the Quarne, you almost have the feeling that the slopes drop directly into the waters of Lake Orta. A small, secluded lake, very different from the monumentality of other large Alpine lakes. And perhaps it is precisely this size that makes it so special.
Lake Orta possesses an intimate magic. It's nestled in nature's strong, ever-present embrace, and when you observe it from above, this feeling becomes even more evident.
It is precisely from this very close relationship between water and altitude that Lakes and Mountains: look for routes where the MTB allows you to cross different territories, climb high and then look at the lake from a completely new perspective.
This first round is almost a declaration of intent.
A perfect ring for the e-bike
The Alpe Sacchi and Camasca route is sure to delight e-bikers.
Part of this territory has already been described by our Mingus, who interprets fat tires differently than I do: always intensely, but with that convivial component capable of transforming a ride into something that often goes well beyond a simple bike ride.
This time I wanted to add something.
The climb to L'Aquila, the descent, and then the exploration of Saccarello broaden the tour and, above all, partially change its character.
Because there's another dimension I'm interested in exploring with these itineraries: that of solo tours.
When you're alone, your destination can become more fluid. You can change plans, stop, follow a trail, or abandon it. Above all, you can listen to the land and its energies without interference.
There's no need to fill every moment. Sometimes just pedaling is enough.
Two balconies overlooking the territory
Added to this more intimate dimension is that of the panorama.
And on this tour there are at least two truly special balconies.
The first is the Mount MazzucconeThe second is the Saccarello.
From up there, the perspective changes completely. On one side, Lake Orta, stretching out beneath us and seemingly disappearing toward the horizon. On the other, the real mountains, the imposing ones, with the Alpine 4,000-meter peaks forming the farthest frame. And then Mount Massone.
Another of the destinations of our mountain bike journey, which from Quarne we can observe from the opposite perspective to that of our usual descents.
It's one of the things I love most about this area: while pedaling, places that seemed separate suddenly begin to connect.
A mountain seen from another mountain. A trail you recognize from across the valley. A line you've already traveled that, seen from afar, takes on a completely different meaning.
Little by little, a personal map is built.
The descent could continue. But not this time.
Theoretically, this round could go even lower.
With a long dive in negative gravity, you could reach Omegna. There are plenty of possibilities, but for this route, I decided, above all for safety reasons and to maintain the consistency of the itinerary, to stop the descent at Quarna Above.
The rest belongs to another kind of story.
There is, for example, the descent of the Fontegno, which over the years has become a sort of natural laboratory: one of the climbs on which I test practically all the e-bikes that pass through 365, including the Mondraker Zenith with which I made this tour.
And there is the side that goes down towards the Nonio power station, up to Omegna, passing through trails like the GAG.
These are trails where I test settings, tires, suspension, and components. Places where those sensations that initially only come from riding end up, elaborated and compared, in the articles you read on 365.
For this reason too they are not simply “home paths”.
They are part of my way of experiencing mountain biking.
The tour of the house
At the end this first episode of Lakes and Mountains It tells exactly what I wanted to start from.
Not the furthest ride. Not necessarily the most spectacular or the most extreme.
But from what explains everything else best.
A loop between APE, Sacchi, Camasca, Mazzuccone, Saccarello, and Quarne. A short journey geographically, but one that combines mountain biking, exploration, history, personal memories, and landscape.
There's the Resistance and the traces left by those who lived in these mountains long before us. There are my origins. There are the places where I started playing with a BMX and those where today I test the bikes and components that end up on the pages of 365.
And above all there are them: the lake and the mountain.
So close they seem like one.
The mountain rises, offering a glimpse of the distant Alps for a moment, and then suddenly changes direction, plummeting toward that dark, pooled water that from up here seems to draw every line toward itself.
Perhaps Lakes and Mountains It is born precisely from this feeling.
From the desire to climb high enough to be able to see the territory in its entirety, and then let oneself fall back into it.
And to start this journey I couldn't have chosen any other place.
It was supposed to be the home run.
