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so after my faster friends left the Tirano area, and the big roadie climbs were under the bib straps, I got to map out my own ride and take a jab at Italian/Swiss ATB life. I could not help but notice that all of the road climbs we did also connected to other peaks and valleys along an ancient network of Roman footpaths etc. that were both well marked and well maintained for the most part. cobbled and switchbacked up incredibly steep mountain walls. there was one such squiggle on the mountain side directly across the valley from our abetment, and I just had to see where it went.

Alex from Hunt Wheels was happy to give it a go with me, as was another new friend Clayton. we met for soya caps downtown, and then rolled across the valley to begin ascending the mystery wall. near immediately, Clayton’s sram axis battery in his shifter gave out, even though the app said it was fully charged, and we were not able to remove the watch battery without a tiny Torx that no-one has — not even Alex (who is German). I try and keep my mouth shut the best I can, but bluetooth shifting thing — no one ever asked for it. short story short, Clayton had to walk his bike home.

that left me with Alex. what a guy! we are the same age, but grew up in different countries. on the 3rd switchback he revealed to me that he thought the Hatebreed demo/under the knife ep was the best hardcore album ever released. wow, we were instant friends right there. he also grew up in the 90s XC racing scene. so on other sides of the globe, he and I were shaving our legs for the weekends, and stage dive ’95 the rest of the time. New Haven CT worldwide!!!

up we went — the pitches were steep, but the switchbacks and the well made road made for a charming way to suffer. thats ATB!

the road turned to a footpath as we dipped briefly into Switzerland. this stone house was Swiss. Ricola!!!!!

Alex is a master XC rider on a very pinned out XC bike. he picked his lines wisely and kept the engine running. was a great wheel to follow when I could.

so much nice terracing — suppose in centuries passed these were important trade routes. they really hold up! I am speculating

not a bad place for lunch. at this point we were alllllmost to the high point. I had salty almonds, chestnuts, and prunes again. a bit of hazelnut dark chocolate too — but not enough. Alex had our MARS 29er tires on his BMC — pretty cool. I only had my 700×42 cava race with TPU tubes that I’d been using as a road set up (see prev blogs) up until now. gotta say they preformed beautifully, and never gave me any issues. I like to undertake allllllright, but I like to think (and so does my equipment) that I am pretty light on the bike with a lot of trail reading etc. it helps to be conscious of your sidewalls as to not lean them too hard into something sharp.

here is Alex nearing the crux of the day. I filmed a bunch of this ride for YouTube too — working on that edit. dang this was fun!!!!

some short clips for you. dang I already want to go back! well after all this we were pretty thirsty. at this point we’d climbed 7,200ft in 12 miles…. wow! really wow! I was counting on this little path to connect to a Refugio in Switzerland — and that there would be a fountain of sorts. pretty safe bet in these parts — they have really had mountain travel down for countless generations by now.

low and behold, an immaculate Refugio! and the road improvement for the 7000ft descent I was hoping for!

we filled our bottles and picked some nettles — I took a few more photos of the hobbit holes up there before we strapped in for the descent!

I love doors. what a cool door! lichen the lichen. okay for real, time to go down hill now.

the descent was too fast to take many photos on, but was able to get that one above. really one of the wildest alpine descents I have ever done. it went from packed double track, to perfectly banked Swiss precision grav turns, to immaculate pavement the width of a bike lane — banked turns. my Paul racer direct mounts quietly did their thing with one finger action. rims were warm to the touch, but no burn. these brakes under the high stress of these conditions are a real revelation for me.

we stopped on a bridge next to a waterfall to have another snack about midway down. then I looked down into the valley and realized we were only 1/4 the way down. one of those kinda descents.

back down the valley and pro tucking the rest of the more gradual but still substantial drop passed the Italian border (we tucked through like bad boys), and into downtown Tirano.

Alex, thanks so much for coming along on this one! when I come back to Tirano or the surrounding area next, I will either bring the Alumax with the forthcoming rosé 700×45 (really measure more 47), or just go full chunk with the Alumalith with 2.2 Mars. low gearing is a must no matter what. I did feel pretty good with my 45×29 up front and 11-34 in the rear 9 speed set up. not sure I would have kept enough momentum to balance with anything lower. walking is usually just as well at those ratios. I walked plenty on this ride. looks pretty cool on the strava 3D map!

thanks for reading!

RR