Passeios e Viagens

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Short and to the point:

- Milan offers great infrastructure for cyclists.

- Bike path, shared roads and bike sharing system allow just about anyone to commute with easy throughout town.

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About 60km. That´s all the riding I needed to do to arrive at my final destination, Milan. At first, I had thought about making it a 100km ride, going through Lago di Como, however, since I was battling lower back problems (hernia), I decided to take it easy and ride directly to Milan. And it was a great a idea. For the first time when planning my route I decided to research bike paths, as I had really enjoyed riding from Bolzano to Lago di Guarda mostly on bike paths.  Bergamo is very close to Milan, so a bike path of about 35km in length lets you ride more than half of the way on an easy, fun and pretty area.

The first 18km were on the SP 525, which is not fun or pretty to ride on. Mostly industrial area, the road is filled with trucks and lots of traffic, specially on the outskirts of Bergamo. However, everything changed once I began to ride on the bike path that goes along the Adda river (https://goo.gl/GsfEQE), then along a canal that leads directly into Milan.  It´s about 30km along a really pleasant scenery that is worth the trip, or even, if you are in Milan, it´s worth getting out of Milan to ride on this bike path.  It´s a very popular ride for Milan´s local´s and the closer you get to Milan, you can see more people running and cycling.

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I knew it would come a time that I would compare any ride to the other rides of this trip. And it´s what happened today. I have been very spoiled as I have ridden some of the best routes of my life in the last 11 days, so it´s really not a fair comparison. Just having the freedom to do a one-way trip is already something I really enjoy, and to do it in a place where it´s safe and you ride through  history makes it worth while. But the ride is very basic when compared to the other rides I have done so far in Italy. There are a few climbs, but they are very light and there are no views from any of them.  There was, however, wind the entire time, which doesn´t help me enjoy the ride while pulling at least 20km extra on the panniers.

I really enjoyed the first 30km-4km, but not the last 20km-30km. Perhaps there is an alternative way to Bergamo that offer better views, but that wasn´t my case.  Riding through Brescia was pretty interesting. The city seems to be a medium sized city, but its downtown is charming and the main piazza offers place to sit and enjoy the area.

Bergamo is historic town and I was very eager to ride up to the mountain and check out the castle and city views. But that plan was frustrated as my back wasn´t feeling well and I decided to rest for tomorrow´s ride to Milan.

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Italy and Europe offer many cyclepaths that can be used for travelling, and today I was very fortunate to ride on a mostly flat path along the Adige Valley, surrounded by mountains, rivers and nature. I was even more fortunate to cycle with Marina, and Italian who I met shortly after leaving Trento. As she was headed to Lago di Guarda, and on a road bike, I tried my best to keep up with her so we could ride together. And it was worth it. It was the second time I had company during the trip and the first time with an italian, which showed my the way around the bike paths (this meant I didn´t get lost this time).

The first part of the ride is very easy and simple (if you follow the bike path signs, as I didn´t): 65km of really nice bike path to  Trento, which is a very interesting city. Downtown is very charming, and as it is situated in between two mountains, it seems that the suburbs are up in the mountains..which must be a great place to live....and ride.

The second part is on the continuation of the Adige Valley bike path, and the farther south I went, the closer and prettier were the mountains.  From Mori, there are some not very well marked bike paths that take you to Lago di Guarda, and this is the toughest climb (but not really tough).  There are several beaches around Lago di Guarda.

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Cold! Very cold! Ice on the road and grass with ice. Getting out of the Dolomites (on SS51) on the shaded side on  an early morning was an adventure. But thanks to having both of my hands pratically frozen, I decided to stop on the first plot with some sunlight that could possibly sell some hot chocolate. The bad news: The Café was closed (Sunday, as I just learned, many places do not open Sunday´s in this area). The great news: The place I chose to stop is a "must ride and must stop" for those in Cortina. The Dobbiano Lake is just 25km from Cortina and it offers a great view of its crystalline green water, reflecting the Dolomites.  A really beautiful scenery.

The second part of the ride was mainly on highways that cut through Brunico and Bressanone.  It was a light descend most of the way, so it was nice to be able to ride over 20km/h for an extended time.  SS51 and then SS49 cut through the mountains, but  in some case, actually 5, there are tunnels, which are not fun.  And I thing that bike are not allowed in most of them, however, the only sign they have at the tunnels´entrance is of a Bike and a Pedestrian, with no lines crossing them as if they were not allowed.

The third and last part was my favorite, as it was entirely along a really really nice cycle path. It started just after Breassanone and ended in Bolzano and lasted for about 40km.  The cycle path goes most of the way between the Isarco River and SS12, and also very close the Autostrada A22.  It cuts through a lot of vegetation and under a few cycle tunnels. This is "must ride" if you plan a trip around this area.