Livigno Mountain Biking

A fine weekend, no colds or broken bones and my bike back from repairs meant there was only one thing to do! After a lazy Saturday morning we drove north up to the Italian Alps. We took some wrong turns and got stuck in traffic so it was a slow trip but we made it up to Livigno in time to check the town out and find a campground. We also collected some information about rides in the area – but surprisingly for a place famous for its trails this wasn’t very easy. It promised to be a cold night and we toyed with the idea of a hotel before deciding to camp. I don’t have a sleeping bag here so I wrapped up in a fleece blanket and a wool rug. Once I put all my clothes on it was just possible to sleep but certainly not the most comfortable night. At 8 am the next morning the car temperature said it was -5 and waterbottles had frozen in the tent so it was probably a better night to have a sleeping bag.

Sunday was another beautiful day and the sky was a crisp blue – so different to the permanent haze that covers Milan and most of northern Italy. We looked at all the maps etc. we had been given but then just decided to ride the piece of singletrack we could see from our tent. It looked pretty good and seemed easier than following a map somewhere. Soon enough we were riding and the trail was fantastic. The trees have all turned gold and orange and under the brilliant blue sky the panorama of snow dusted peaks was a perfect backdrop. The trail contoured along the valley wall and ducked over bridges, across paddocks and through forest. At the far end of the valley we took another pot luck choice and were rewarded again with a section of excellent buff, pine needle singletrack that twisted and turned through the autumnal trees. It was fun in both directions and was one of the best trails I have ever ridden.

We re-traced the trails back to the car in time for a late lunch in town. We then checked out the shops (Livigo is in a duty free area so has some cheaper prices – petrol is the most notable) and then headed home. It’s only 230km back to Milan but a checkpoint leaving the duty free zone and heavy traffic through small towns near Sondrio turned this into a 6 hour marathon. Lucky the riding was good…