We publish a great trip made by Stefania Valsecchi, from Trieste to Ventimiglia on her MTB! Very exciting and great places. By the way, if you too want to experience unique emotions, Stefania is looking for bikers for next summer who want to cross all the Apennines! In this case you can find it on Facebook.
Source: Stefania Valsecchi
Lecco Alpine City of the Year 2013 ?!
For a "mountain eater" and in love with Lecco as I am, the call is irresistible and the idea explodes: to cross the Alps in full on a mountain bike! A cycle-mountaineer ride that joins the sea of Trieste to the sea of Ventimiglia through the highest and most beautiful mountains in Europe, along paths, fording rivers, up and down the mountains, always off-road. I cannot let this seductive aspiration remain abstract desire, therefore, abandoning all delay, here I am at work to make it happen.
Geographical atlases, maps, maps become the main furniture of my house. I spend hours and days studying the indicative path on them and, once I have made it up, I search the internet for the contacts of all the municipalities I intend to pass through, including foreign ones: Slovenia, Austria, Switzerland, France. With a single email I send the invitation to all of them: “Hey there! I'm Stefania from Lecco: are you coming with me to join the Alps on a mountain bike? ”. I have no interest in pedaling alone aspiring to personal performance so my motto becomes: shared joy is double joy; shared effort is half effort!
Monviso awaits us
Following that email, the run-up to sharing incredibly takes place: even if they don't know me, many of those "hooked" on the internet appreciate my idea and want to be there, so that I am able to unite through the WEB a sufficient number of cyclists scattered throughout the Alpine arch that will help me to cross the mountains that I love so much. On the other hand, no one leaves with me from Lecco, but still on July 5th, I move to Trieste by train and on July 6th I start the ride with a Triestino and two Slovenians. They are all much younger than me and have very heavy backpacks: mine, which will accompany me for a month, weighs 5 kg and 400; theirs, who will return home tomorrow, are around… 10 kg! Energy bars, but also ham and cheese rolls then shoes for the evening and even jeans, finally all the harnesses to protect shins and elbows on the way down! Well, everyone rides as they see fit, no problem.
In the first two days with them we go up all the emerald Isonzo along enchanting karst paths and, in Caporetto, we are involved in the evening in a historical reconstruction in costume of nineteenth-century battles that is truly fascinating. The next day we arrive in Tarvisio, in the heart of Carnia, where they leave me to other new local friends. Evening at the village festival with songs, dances, typical dishes and the Tarvisians organize the next two days of pedaling with three athletes from the valley, all ... sixteen! I'm older than their mothers so, rightly, the boys wrinkle their noses: “Eh? what is it we have to do with this little old carpet ??! Cross all the Julian Islands by mountain bike? But please! ". However, they cannot say no to their coaches who insist and, a little bewildered, start pedaling with me.
The paths are not only inaccessible right away, but - by mistake - we even find ourselves on a path equipped with stairs and chains: no problem! We pass the bike to each other, we cross rivers carrying it on our shoulders, we lower it off an overhang and although we lose our way a few times, I do not lose my smile and win the esteem of my very young travel companions. With them I also overcome the luxuriant Karinzia to reach the sources of the Piave in the northernmost point of the Veneto, wedged between Carnia and Alto Adige.
For the next day, alone between Val Pusteria and Cadore, the lightning strikes light up the surroundings, tumultuous thunder makes the bike vibrate on the ground and the lashing rain turns into hail pellets like hunting sinkers, but I keep myself warm as I pedal.
Under the deluge I meet 150 microscopic scouts in the inevitable short codpieces: the poor purple legs from cold and hail, crushed under hats larger than them, I stretch out my arm with an outstretched hand and respond by beating loudly packaged greeting us with screams and smiles. I will soon be on the roof and revitalized by a hot shower; these "pores" stars will have to set up the tent, make themselves eat with the stove and sleep wet inside almost on the ground ... gulp !!!
I proceed alone for a couple of days, but in the earthly paradise of the Dolomiti Super Star everything is so well marked, tidy and colorful that despite having the sense of orientation of a mussel fixed to its rock, I pass the Fanes-Sénnes Dolomites unscathed. Braies to arrive in La Villa in Val Badia where, to my great happiness, I find friends from CAI Lecco: how sweet their company!
The sky returns to being more blue than the fairy of Pinocchio and I cross all the Dolomites, from Dobbiaco to Valvenosta as if flying lightly and effortlessly because I am lost in enjoying the "technicolor" wonders all around, always above 2000 m of altitude: m 'enchantment touching the Odle, jubilation crossing the Gardena and the appeal of the Sella group captures me, I fall silent while lapping Sasso Lungo and Sasso Piatto, I am moved on the Altipiano di Siusi with its green pastures, I am amazed at the Sciliar open to the blond running horses , I explode with joy on the Altipiano del Salto between Bolzano and Merano, I rejoice in the presence of the Ortles even with breathlessness along the impervious climb to the Stelvio. I enter my Lombardy and my friend Mauro di Lecco arrives early in the morning from our capital up there only to make a stop with me and accompany me from the Stelvio to Livigno without ever touching the asphalt. From the Umbrail pass to the Bocche di Pedenolo and Pedenoletto proceeding through the Braulio Valley, here we are in Cancano; up the Valle Alpisella where our Adda lives and down breathless in Livigno! I have no words for these rides through scenarios that steal the heart and as a drug addict for so much beauty, I don't feel a shred of fatigue.
The next day alone I cross the Bernina pass, finding mule tracks; next to the Inn through the Engadine on dirt roads close to the mountains and the famous red train of the Rhaetian mountains rattles beside me, sometimes so close and fast, that the wind blows the ear wax directly from ear to ear : sorry for the picture, but gives the idea!
From Maloja I decide to temporarily leave the highest peaks to go down to Dongo to meet my parents and some friends from Lecco who have come up there to have dinner with me.
I leave with Giovanni and Davide - respectively from Oggiono and Olginate - who accompany me to Passo San Jorio then, alone, I proceed to Val Vigezzo to resume the Alps which here are getting higher and higher with Monte Rosa in Valle Anzasca. The Massif welcomes us with cold fog and hours of cycling on the shoulder to conquer passes at 3000 meters where the snow is still high, but thanks to Sergio, Davide and Marco, I pass Alagna and Val Sesia to enter Valle d'Aosta through the Passo dei Salati always at 3000 meters and bikes on the back!
portage in Val d'Ayas on a path equipped with chains and iron ladders
Although I have been several times in the small region in the north west of Italy, I had never had the opportunity to meet such large spaces, rich in lakes, mountain pastures, high altitude pastures: it is new for me to find such vast and spacious valleys here too. to think that to cross them it takes a whole day ... then instead, thanks to two strong wheels, it is a pleasure and fun is guaranteed despite the many kilometers.
Matterhorn and Mont Blanc show themselves in their impervious whiteness: respectful through them clinging to their sides that leave me no respite, but for a lover of the mountains what am I, what is better in life? From day to day an overflowing and unexpected beauty follows and with it many new companions who share the joy with me even for just a few hours.
From Col del Nivolet I return to Piedmont and what about the Gran Paradiso if not that it opens your smile ?! Even this region, wilder and less touristy, reveals unforgettable corners and gradually I leave behind an infinite number of splendid valleys that I almost did not know existed: Val di Locana, Val Grande, Val di Ala, Val di Viù where I get lost in the up and down Val di Susa with Colle delle Finestre and that of Assietta, paradises for bikers that have nothing to envy to the most famous Dolomites.
I also reach Monviso in the company of Lucio and so I have not missed a source of the great rivers: from the Isonzo to the Tagliamento, from the Piave to the Drava, the Adda, the Inn and then the Ticino ... Sesia, Dora, Scrivia, Toce and away up to the great Po '... beautiful isn't it?
Once you reach Colle della Maddalena, the Maritime Alps open up. Starting from Trieste, I traveled backwards through the nice "rigmarole" that we were taught as children to learn all the alpine areas: "MaConGranPenaLeReCaGiù". Giulie, Carniche, Retiche, Lepontine, Pennine, Graie, Cozie and Marittime: I am in the latter, I am arriving at the destination of Ventimiglia, what a thrill! And in fact with Lucio and Stefano I also pass Colle di Tenda to enter Liguria: oh cabbages!
pedenolo pass - 2800 m. - between the Stelvio and Cancano
Think about it: I had got it into my head that you could see the sea from here… but go laàà: Ste, desedess! It still takes just those four steps, understood as dirt passes with kilometers up and down, down and up ... then finally in Colla Melosa we touch the asphalt and thunder downhill fast bends like a taboga: the goal is near! Just a beautiful break in Dolceacqua where the mayor and councilors award me the honor of the town, then back in the saddle that I can't wait to get wet in the sea: go! In a few minutes we are in the Augustan traffic of Liguria ... THEY ARE IN VENTIMIGLIA !! The friend Ino, from the area, tells us about a breach to reach the public beach:
Here it is, I'm on the beach, I can't pedal on the sand, I get off, I walk with the bike, I reach the waves, I take the bike and like an Olympic hammer throw, I ride on myself, I throw it into the water, SPLAFF, start to run and SCIAFFFF I dive into it too, free, light, happy, moved. VENTIMIGLIAAA I arrived !! From the sea of Trieste to the sea of Ventimiglia through all the mountains of the Alps: 2200 km and 57.000 meters in altitude, a dream come true, infinitely more beautiful than I had imagined.
Lecco Città Alpina has united all the Alps: if you can, bring your dreams to life!
