Home » Italy » Mountainbike excursions at Lake Garda in Italy

Our Italy tour this year (April 1995) visited two places, the Dolomites and Garda Lake not far to the southwest. Our <a href=http://www.odyssei.com/travel-article/3559.html> Dolomites excursions</a> are described on a separate page.

Mountainbike excursions at Lake Garda in Italy

Thomas Driemeyer
2005-10-16 10:16:07

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one that went directly south before Lago di Ledro.

Most of the trails on Monte Tremalzo reach an elevation of about 1800 meters. Lake Garda is at 230 meters. There are frequent small climbs and dips, and many are rocky or on loose gravel to make life interesting for mountainbikers. Too interesting for me, sometimes, I was always better at climbing than descending...

There are several different routes down Monte Tremalzo. The picture (5) shows a view after a bend in a moderately steep forest path, with a view over one of the valleys to the east of Monte Tremalzo. The trouble with descending too far south is that the only way back to Riva is the busy road along the edge of Lake Garda. Since there are numerous small tunnels on this road, a taillight or an LED flasher are essential. Italian drivers are not known for their careful slow speeds.

At another occasion, we rode down a trail that was marked with a dashed line on the map (dotted in the map in this page), meaning "steep hiking trail, mostly marked''. We thought this was a competition trail, but I don't believe it. It was so steep and dangerous that we had to carry the bicycles much of the time, or detour when possible. Generally, when a map of the Alps uses a special pattern to denote "steep'' or "difficult'', they really mean it.

Here is a picture of out bungalow in Riva (6). The really nice thing about a bungalow is that it's easy to bring the bicycles in without any trouble and that there is a front porch for repairs. Serious rides in a place like Monte Tremalzo will inevitably cause minor damage to the bikes (in our case our Master Bicycle Part Destroyer totalled an AMP suspension fork), and the bicyle will need cleaning. Not that we care much about a sparkling clean frame, but chains and bearings need lubrication. I don't know how we would have managed in a small room on the fifth floor of some regular hotel.