Facing Fears: Colle Di Sogno
I’m an endorphin junky. He loves adrenaline. Our bikes reflect this. My Bianchi Infinito is built for comfort on looooong road rides. He built up his Salsa mountain bike (mtb) to be stiff and light for cross country mountain biking. He is agile and can navigate over rocks and down steep slopes.
We hit the road together on Sunday afternoon with some of the steepest local climbs in mind. We stay on the roads for my comfort, but I find the less trafficked roads for his. We headed south from Lecco to Calolziocorte and pulled off the main road as soon as we could, heading uphill toward Erve, taking switchbacks that pass beautiful villas and small neighborhood churches. We continue on the road toward Carenno and come upon other cyclists. My inner coxswain can’t hold herself in and I hoot “Bravo” as we pass a young man. Appreciating the encouragement, he scoots in behind us and pushes his pace to stay with us. A new friend! We climb together to the top of Carenno where a beautiful church soaks in the day’s sun and caps the hill. Andrea lives nearby in Olgiate and thinks we’re crazy for heading to Valcava so late in the day. It’s fun to see him push to stay with us, to talk to him about his riding - usually on an mtb like Mike, but finding joy on the road today.
We turn off to Valcava. Quickly I understand why Andrea thought we were crazy. So much of the Valcava road is in the shade at this time of the day. With temps still lower than usual for the season, I can feel that it is going to be a cold descent. We opt to not go all the way to the top of Valcava and instead to continue straight on the road to Colle Di Sogno. It’s not as far and we can see the sun.
It’s a tough climb, but we make it to the tiny paesino at the ridge of the mountaintop. It’s like going back in time, the cobblestone road narrowing quickly to one meter width between buildings. We navigate through tight turns and arrive at the trailhead that Mike saw on the map. It just happens to be at the local restaurant where 4 locals sit outside sipping wine. We are clearly an unusual spectacle for these regulars. They inquire on our plan, asking if we will take the Strada anticha down to Carenno. Three of them are encouraging, “It’s only 5 minutes down.” But the fourth looks at me and my bike and I see strong doubt in his eyes. He stays quiet and I pause and look at Mike. The sun is shining on the path, making it very very alluring. This is the warm way down. But we can’t see around the bend too far. We don’t know how far it is and the condition.
Quick decision, we each take off our shoes, switch and then hand each other our bikes. My bike is not made for the road we are about to take and I have zero skill on this kind of ride. Mike’s bike is begging for this road and he has all the skill. By sharing his bike he spreads the wealth and we may just be able to make it. The locals laugh at us, bid us farewell and we tell them we will see them again another day. I’m certain they will be there when we come back.
The road is paved as a bumpy walking path and covered in fallen rock. It is STEEP! But with Mike’s encouragement, and fat tires, I’m able to slowly make my way. It was not a 5 minute ride as the locals said. It was likely 2km of trail with as much as 400 meters of descent by my estimation. I was all nerves the whole way, but so proud of myself that I made it, only walking short clips. I’m even more impressed that Mike could navigate the same terrain on my 26 tires without damaging my bike! It was a great feeling to get down to the paved road, back to my comfort zone knowing that I’d pushed out of it and stretched myself through this little adventure.
We switched shoes and bikes back, and descended to Carenno, then Calolziocorte and took the Lungolago trail back to Lecco. With the end of day sun shining on the mountains, every view was dramatic and the descent was glorious. Our smiles, encouraging whoops and hollers were huge. There is joy in the ride and even more joy when riding together.
Route: https://strava.app.link/67PLdbf48yb
