from VIEL DAL PAN to MARMOLADA (part1)

SUGGESTED ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK (SOS)

Viel dal Pan: Beatles - Abbey road - Here comes the sun 

PROLOGUE:

An idea of tour was shaped with a friend and saved on a GPX file. 

Since one year it is jumping in my head.

Just 6 hours driving between us!

Today the Chef suggests a lift from Canazei to Col dei Rossi, cradled by the cable car. Appetizer with relaxing “601 Viel Dal Pan”, a part of the Dolomites Haute Route: spicy trail carved in the side of the mountain, flying 2400m high over the valley with small rise and fall (80% rideable) small jumps and great view on Marmolada Glacier and Gran Vernel. 

Landscape is wide open and reminds me how small I am, creating that mixed feeling of curiosity and anxiety that I love. Once arrived at Porta Vescovo I turn south and brain switches on “survive mode” descending from the top of a green amphitheater on dirt and rolling stones. The lake looks not very far …but there are still “billions and billions” of steps to ride on technical single track. 

On the last part of the trail I cut a group of sheep until I face the shepherd: a super old man with long white beard that looks like a prophet. The guy is “the sultan of sheep” and is an expert of the area, so maybe he knows the trail I’m looking for. “You shouldn’t ride trails you don’t know, because the risk is… TO DIE!!”  Wow, the power of positive thinking! Time to say goodbye and follow my way to the lake.

The dam on Lago Fedaia is a concrete line that connects 2 different worlds: one is flat, sunny, relaxed on the lake and populated with tourists. The other is vertical, dark, silent, wild. I wander at which of the two worlds belong the line I’m going to ride. 

from VIEL DAL PAN to MARMOLADA (part 2)

SUGGESTED ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK (SOS)

Marmolada: J.S.Bach - Complete Harpsichord Concertos

Not many bikers seem to cross the lake to get to Pian dei Fiacconi. The lift workers are usually quite bored by tourist’s activities, seen millions of times. But today Mr Cable-Car-Man is curious and asks me many questions about my next route. He tells something on a video recorded here not long ago until the the ticket seller shoots rough: 
“Are you good enough?”

“Mmmh!! …I don’t really know if I’m good enough, but … I came down from …there 👉🏿” 

So I grab the ticket and hit the Flinstone’s lift. A pillow under the frame saves it from scratches and 360° of Dolomites (Dolby) surrounds me. 
It’s so unreal and powerful!

Once landed in Pian dei Fiacconi I am in the sea of rocks. Weather is clearly cold during the majority of the year: not a single grass blade is visible around. I will follow a World War I military track across Marmolada that floats over huge slabs of rock and gravel fields, worked by ice and water for ages. I reach a steep session that leads to a very exposed traverse equipped with security ropes. Portage is not long but quite complex on very exposed steps. 

It's hard to immagine that here where I am riding, 70 years ago during world war II, boys under 18 were fighting at -30°C to defend a border that today no longer exists. Useless loss.

The trail goes on and cuts a cliff, arrives at a ford. Being under the glacier this area is rich of water, and my way takes place on super gripping dolomia rock surrounded by short evergreen vegetation. I pass under a small canyon, cross a water pipe that feeds Fedaia lake (I'm 2050m high) and follow a river carved in the rocks. The woods start and trail is easier with narrow turns until a steep section at the base of vertical cliffs. 

After many switchbacks turns on dirt the trail ends at Villetta Maria, near Penia, 

I love steep and broken! But this is different. I couldn’t figure out anything like this!

It was wild, much wilder then anything I did before.

I feel light as if I escaped from Polifemo’s cave. 

Now everything is easier, and the way to Canazei lies beside the river on a flow trail with roots and stones to play with.

Everything is beautiful but I’m not tired…. I will end the day riding that last trail from Col Rodella… 

THE GELATI COMPASS

Back to reality I followed Fosca at Pozza di Fassa where she found a special place: Il Vecchio Mulino where we stayed in the garden under a big tree. Antipasto was a local traditional speck very delicate and tasty. Tagliatelle with fresh Porcini are a bomb. Their home made grappa with Propoli is the perfect killer at the end of this day. 
Young waiters, fresh from hotel-school, were really cool specially when they started to feel at ease, giving a brake to professionally and leaving their personality free. 

Probably it was not the cheapest place we could find, but very balanced, considering the quality of food. I had the feeling that the menu changes during the year following the seasonal products.

WHY a MTB BLOG in ENGLISH

ME

I'm Nicola, I live near Finale Ligure, Italy. 

I ride because I like exploring, and I don’t care about speed, distance, positive or negative hight. 
I wrote a MTB guidebook, and sometimes I guide groups of bikers.  

Out of Italy I’ve been riding in Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe, surrounded by Mother Nature. Being in touch with local culture to get infos for my rides was a great experience.

In Italy I like to discover what is out of the commercial routes: trails, architecture, nature, people.

This Blog will be organized in 3 sections:

SUGGESTED ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK (SOS) 

When I’m under pressure my brain looks for the right music to cut stressful frequencies. 

When I’m not under pressure I often link an event to a tune. I never understood the process: it can be for the rhythm, or the lyrics, or the mood.

Music is my way to describe the climb, the downhill or my favorite steps. I like mainly allround ‘90s music and contemporary electro.

BLOG

Finale Ligure is beautiful, and there is a galaxy of unknown spots where riding is great and trails are not crowded. 

My friends "Ciclopirla" are real nerds of alpine trails, and I love the rides they find on the Marittime Alps.
I feel free to write on any other area that I find interesting.

THE GELATI COMPASS

At the end of a tour I like to eat local food. So I look for a nice place where to drink a beer or eat. 
The parameters I consider are: genuine products, quality of cooking, cheap price, hospitality. Of course the owner doesn’t know about this blog so I’ve been treated as any other client.

The name comes from Alexander and Irina’s ability to find Italian gelati during the MTB tour.

ENGLISH

This blog is in English because Italy is beautiful, our culture is very interesting and I like to share it with the rest of the world. 

To speak english makes me feel like when I am traveling and I meet new people. It makes me feel alive, it is like oxygen.

PICTURES

Pics and videos are done by me on tour, if not differently specified.

Nightmare before Christmas

There are different ways for flying
(Talking to a paraglider)





There are 2 kinds of bike ride: when I guide a group and I have to draw a tailor made tour thinking at the needs of someone else. 
But when someone purpose me to join. I love to fit in, specially when the trail is far over my possibilities.   



This weekend, it's mid December, I followed Maurino and Fede on a ring tour on some remote single tracks of Beigua park, touching all the huts and winter refuges.
It sounds like a soft tour from one cafe to the next, ending up drinking a lot of wine before Christmas holidays ...I like it!

When it starts the short way down to Passo Pian di Lerca we have a nice preview on how technical the rest of the day will be like.



Cogoleto: Saturday morning 8,00 a.m. The sky is perfect, no wind, not cold at sea level, but just 3 participants: Maurino, Fede and me... Why did the Ciclopirla crew aborted this tour?! I read again the message and I notice the last 3 letters: “OC+”. Today I’m gonna eat tough cookies!


OC+ roughly corresponds to the french M4+ and german S3+. It is not extreme but here on Beigua it means steep and slow rocky trails in the best alpine style.



It is the last sunny weekend before the big snow fall of mid December that will cover the mountain until next Spring. 
Far clouds from South will meet North wind in the late afternoon to start a huge snow party tonight.


We climb up to Rifugio Prato Rotondo and start riding East on Altavia dei Monti Liguri (AV). Today the air is clean: Monte Bianco and the Alps, on the other side of Piemonte, look very near. In the other direction the sea is just under our feet.





The climb in the woods to Cima Giassetti is not steep but is quite broken, and riding an ebike helps to be continuous on the irregular stones. It’s the first time that I try fatty tires on frozen ground and it’s just unbelievable the grip you have both up and downhill. I’m using the 10% of engine power, the minimum I can choose, to keep the same pace of my analogical friends and to save battery.



I'm using a Specialized Turbo Levo Comp: I like how the engine is conceived and how gentle can be the power delivery, but I love it even more for the geometries of the frame that makes it reactive and fun also downhill when the engine is off.



After Rifugio Argentea, we reach Passo del Faiallo where we get to Nuvolasul Mare: the refuge is opened all the year and it is run by a crew of local guys in a super nice way. Food is great and it is possible to find maps and books on Beigua UNESCO Geopark wild life, like wolf repopulation projects.


My cappuccino is over and I have to leave the fire place. We will climb to Faiallo peak where it starts Malanotte: one of the best trails I remember to ride. It is a worm sunny slope looking South on the sea from 1000m hight: a line hidden in the grass that cuts the mountain mixing flow sections to technical switchbacks. I don’t believe in paradise, but if i have to figure out one for light and landscape, that could be the place. 


A turn right introduce us to the darkness of Malanotte creek: the light changes and you get swallowed inside the mountain. After the spring everything changes: the trail becomes extremely technical on smooth, shining rocks worked by the water and I'm happy that today it's a sunny day. It would be impossible to ride it wet.Once at Passo Gava we refill the bottles while organizing the the climb to Tardia di Ponente peak: Fede and Mauro will carry their bikes on the shortest line, while I avoid portage with my heavy tool, pushing to Passo Tardie and to the top.


Following the ridge to Belliventi Hut, we descend to Passo Gavetta through the direct vertical line that we often dreamed from below, but never dared to ride. The super panoramic track is full of sharp stones: keyword is “precision”. Speed is slow not to get hurt in case of flight, but fast enough to be balanced. I think I've never been so happy to get to Passo Gavetta!

We hit the “White V" trail: the last wild rocky trail to Riparo Scarpeggin, but we end up so grind to skip the last beautiful flow line that would bring us to town. I’m starving! 

Back in Cogoleto we step by HotelSereno, where a friend of us is staying: a XIX century building owned by a local biker that shares with us his terrace just a few meters form the sea for a happy hour with focaccia ligure, cold beer and a chat on this unbelievable, unforgettable day.   

Suggested Soundtrack:  
UP:   Fiona Apple - The Christmas Song
DOWN: Cypress Hill - Temple of the Boom