Fantastic ride in Livigno (Italy) with my two sons
Alkmaar, July 16, 2015
We are just back from a week in Livigno, where we made some great rides. This story is from the longest ride, 42 km and ascending 1550 in total.
After speaking to the local guide of Hotel Astoria, studying the map "Singletrail Map - Livigno/Bormio-" and GPS-track 12 from Livigno (Passo di Val Trela) bike-gps.com, I had a good idea about the route we were going to ride and some possible adaptations to check out new trails instead of parts we had already done on earlier rides.
We started the ride at Lago di Livigno at about 11 o'clock in the morning.
And we went up along the Valle Alpisella. At first we could ride but soon after we had to walk:
As you can see on the face of Thomas, reaching the summit couldn't come soon enough:
Mind you, we were only halfway the climb here so we still had some track to cover. The guide had advised me to ride the trail in this direction, which had us climbing in the shades for large parts and with a temperature of 25 degrees C this was very welcome.
In the end, I have been pushing two bikes for a long stretch where the boys had to shove up one bike together. The total climb took two hours to reach the pass at 2202 meters above sea level. We met two bikers from the same hotel. Both were Dutch and recognized that we were Dutch too by our bike shirts. One rider even lived not far from us, the other had moved to Canada. They were kind enough to take a picture of us:
From here, it went down to Lago di St Giacomo di Fraele, here seen from about half way down the red singletrail:
And here is the video from this descend:
At the bottom, we followed the trail along the lake:
To reach a little restaurant, where we had a nice plate of pasta and a drink:
When we finished our lunch, it was two o'clock already when we started our climb to Val Trela. I expected this climb to be shorter and less steep but we had to get up from about 1950 meters at lake height to the Alpe Trela at 2180 meters:
On top at Alpe trela we saw a small farm with a terrace.
The kids would have loved to stop to have a drink but looking at the clock and the remaining trail, I decided to keep going and continue to the Passo Trela at 2280 meters above sea level. The higher we came, the lower the moral of the boys:
On the Paso di Val Trela we heard and saw those large mountain marmots, Thomas almost rode over one that sneaked back in his hole just before he hit it. Later the guide told us these beasts don't see too well and are not too smart so you have to take care not to hit them.
When we finally reached the highest point (where I couldn't find a sign by the way) I turned on the helmet cam for the descend of about half an hour. Near the bottom, Mathis went over the edge and slid down about six feet. He could barely hold on to a few plants, his bike went down 8 meters (about 25 feet). When I got him back on the trail and he recovered from the scary moment, he turned out to have just a little scratch which I cleaned up with the first aid kit I brought along. The bike escaped miraculously and only had a little bent pedal cage and the bars had to be straightened but otherwise it suffered no damage at all!
We rode down a bit more carefully and ended up in a vally named Stefan:
From there on, we had to manage a small climb to finally reach a nice descent to Lago di Livigno. Mathis' biking pants were torn so we both went to Livigno to get him a new pair at I'M Sport where we were assisted by a few lovely ladies who were very kind to Mathis after they found out the story of his fall. Thomas went back to the hotel to inform the others we were on our way back and to reassure them, since the entire trip had taken more time than expected. In the end, we got back at the hotel at about six o'clock and Strava noted an effective riding time of 4 hours and 40 minutes.
This was by far the toughest ride we had done together and considering the experiences, it was a ride we will never forget!
We hope you liked this story and the pictures and we heartly recommend Livogno and Hotel Astoria for a biking holiday!
Bikers & bikes:
Mathis (almost 9), Trailcraft Pineridge 24 Titanium, RST Air fork, 1x10 setup
Thomas (12), Specialized Enduro SX, 1x10 setup
Clemens (almost 49), Specialized Enduro S-Works, 1x11 setup