With Thursday and Friday being holidays it made sense to take the full week off and pretend to have a training week based in Locarno, on the shore of Lake Maggiore in southern Switzerland.
The training each day turned out to be a hard ride up some ridiculous hairpinned ascent before breakfast, then go for a relaxed longer ride up the more gentle valleys with Satoko for the rest of the day. It was clear early on that the roads here are either up up and away from the lake, relentlessly steep which made for good ascents, but terrible descents. On top of that, the roads around the lake are narrow in places and mostly busy, fast roads with mostly Italian commuters speeding along so not relaxing or enjoyable riding to start with.
The dead end valleys leading north from Locarno are worth riding, Valle Verzasca with its distinctive bridge, colourful water and the dam made famous by James Bond bungee jump in
Goldeneye. Valle Maggia is a much easier and longer journey with several options. We took it as far as Peccia where there is a fantastic polenta restaurant by an idyllic lagoon, the owner grinds the polenta every day which is served with local sausage and cheeses, not to be missed.
The cycling highlight for me would have to be the loop to Cannobrio, over the passo de Marco Pantani then follow Centovalli back to Locarno. Marco Pantani has ridden the pass in the 2003 Giro which started from Cannobio, but otherwise the pass seems to be named so by a local bike club, who have placed a stone at the top of the pass.
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| Corippa, a typical village in Valle Verzasca |
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| Polenta will be ready soon |
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| Pass de Marco Pantani |
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| After riding to Luino via Lugano, its nice to take the boat home |
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