Our fingers stick numbly to the handles, while our soaked shorts smack like a mastiff on a food bowl with every step we take. Covered in dirt, we roll through the cobbled alleyway of Persone.
The small mountain village between Lake Idro and Lake Garda looks deserted. A dog is dozing in a doorway. It looks up briefly and curls up again, disinterested. We have already got used to this deserted scenery over the last three days, but one of these old houses should be our accommodation. As we lean our bikes against the village fountain, an elderly lady rushes up to us. Gesticulating wildly, she tells us something in Italian. Unfortunately, we don't understand her. It is only when the words "ciclisti" and "pensione" are uttered that everyone's faces brighten. We follow the woman to a house entrance with a wooden sign saying "Antica Osteria Pace". Okay, we've come to the right place. Guiseppe, the son of the owner, greets us in the dining room. He doesn't speak a word of German or English either. But with our hands, feet and a few words of Rimini Italian, the conversation works quite well. Apparently only a few tourists get lost in this sleepy mountain village. Especially not now in October. But there was a biker here recently. "Si, si Signore Uli!" his mother says, beaming. Uli Stanciu? Si, si! We're not surprised, because it was the Transalp Pope who put together this route around Lake Garda for us.
Like a Muslim to Mecca, I also make a pilgrimage to Lake Garda at least once a year, usually even more often. And have been doing so for many years. For the big festival bash at the start of the season, for bike testing in frosty temperatures in the run-up to Christmas or after the final stage of a Transalp. Lake Garda has always been a magnet for me. It goes without saying that I've already got to know lots of classic Moser tours and trails. Basically all of them - or so I thought. But then BIKE editor Uli Stanciu flew into the editorial office last summer and talked enthusiastically about his tour around Lake Garda. I was able to follow his route description as far as the Altissimo, but by then I obviously had the first question marks on my face. Because the Hackebeil sentence was already uttered: "My God, you don't know your way around Lake Garda!" Harsh words, but unfortunately it's true. For me, Lake Garda means Riva, Torbole, Mecki's Bar and all the trail tours around it. Maybe some climbing in Arco, that's it. But all the better if there's actually more to discover. Ben and Toni were also keen to fill in the gaps in their knowledge and were quickly enthusiastic as fellow travellers. Uli put the route together for us. Around the lake in five days. However, we were able to negotiate it down to four days. The really very flat southern shore can be wonderfully cut off by ferry at Garda. Even if, according to Uli, we will miss out on "real super trails". But the trails for the remaining four days look exciting enough in our eyes.
Lake Garda has much more to offer than Riva, gelato and downhill pistes strewn with angular scree. On the 200 kilometres of our circumnavigation, the bustling lake shows its wild, quiet side.
Even before the morning hustle and bustle in Torbole picks up speed, we start the first stage with the long ascent over the Busatte towards Altissimo. We know every hairpin bend on this tarmac road. We've cranked our way up here hundreds of times, as it's not just our test circuit that branches off here, but also classics such as the 601 and the Navene Trail. Today, of course, we leave these climbs to the left and finally reach new territory from Monte Varagna. A strange feeling. Especially when a gravel track washes us out after 6.5 hours in the saddle at Passo Cerbiolo, the sun is just disappearing behind the Monte Baldo ridge and we are still travelling south. At this time of day, our view is normally limited to a toast speciale in Mecki's Bar. Today, however, we are standing on this inconspicuous crossing, which rises just a few metres above the highest tree tops, and we can see the rocky and grassy peaks of the long Monte Baldo ridge to our right. To the left, the plateau drops imposingly down into the Adige Valley. It is precisely this plateau that makes our thighs burn and our stomachs crave a double portion of pasta. The plateau on the back of the Baldo is extremely hilly and winding. Between alpine meadows, scattered farms and winding roads, there are always some nasty ramps that require full physical effort for a short time. The gravel and path sections here are only sparsely signposted and often very dilapidated or end in nowhere. Progress is correspondingly exhausting. We reach the village of Spiazzi at the very last light of day. Villagers on the road turn their heads to look at us. They don't often see mountain bikers here. In summer, there are a lot more Italian pilgrims here, travelling to the pilgrimage church of Madonna della Corona. This is probably also the reason why our pre-booked guesthouse looks like a youth hostel. Now, in October, we have the house to ourselves and we are glad to have found accommodation at all between all the closed shutters.
Rain clouds cling to the Baldo massif the next morning. It can't be long before they pour down over the mountain. So we pack our rain gear ready to hand in our rucksacks and set off at speed towards the tree line, beyond it and on to Malga Colonei. Bright yellow shrubs now line the gravel track that winds its way south around the long ridge of Monte Baldo. According to the route description, "majestic views of Lake Garda" should finally follow on the descent. This would probably be the case now, but unfortunately we are looking at a thick carpet of clouds, which we plunge into after a few metres. So we rumble down the 1000 metres in altitude to Campo flying blind. Between the typical Lake Garda scree, we slide across damp meadows and muddy trails. Sometimes there are boulders set in concrete in the way. They look grippy, but are as slippery as peeled mangoes. And all without a view of the lake. But it gets worse: as we turn south again above the eastern shore, it starts to rain. It's too much for Toni's brakes. His carrier plates are already grating on the aluminium discs. He takes his leave to look for a bike shop in the next town, Garda. Ben and I, on the other hand, head towards the ferry. As we crank along the harbour promenade of Torri del Benaco, a German coach washes its cargo into the pedestrian zone. The density of restaurants is high, but the Hawaiian pizza on the menu makes us reach for the bar. When Toni returns from his successful shopping trip, we immediately buy three ferry tickets and take the small car ferry to Toscolano on the west bank. All three of us have to laugh: We've never seen the lake on a boat before. There are even small radiators in the passenger cabin on which we steam our wet clothes.
On the morning of the fourth day, we don't have to look at the map for long, as our host Guiseppe knows from Uli how to continue from Pensione. With a "Ciao", Guiseppe sends us up the long gravel ramp to Monte Caplone. It's going to be a tough day, because the Caplone is the Tremalzo's brother to the south, two metres higher. Only above the tree line do you realise how impressively the gravel thread winds its way through the weak points of the jagged rock towers. We have the Italians of the First World War to thank for this panoramic road. But the scree up here is even more angular, the nature more pristine and the tunnels are darker than on the neighbouring Parade summit. My feet feel like two numb lumps when we reach the rocky outcrop of Bocca di Campei, our highest point. We dig everything out of our rucksacks that we can somehow get on. But the frosty temperatures can't spoil the first-class trail to Bocca Lorina. Instead of balancing between bed-edge-high rocky ledges, you can really take it easy on the fine-grained gravel path. The hairpin bends are not too tight either. The furious finale follows. A gravel track washes us over the Valle San Michele to the Tremalzo. First flat, then uphill again. The last hairpin bends up to the Rifugio Garda suddenly feel very familiar. Home again!
BIKE-INFOS GARDA RONDA
The precinct
Lake Garda has been one of the top areas in the Alps since the early years of mountain biking. Elmar Moser and his tour guides were responsible for this. To this day, some of Moser's first tours are among the absolute Lago classics. Since 2015, there has been a new trail law in Trentino. In principle, all trails are open to bikers, but the regions can place prohibition signs on individual trails. Our route is freely accessible.
The tour
Our tour circumnavigates Lake Garda in four days in a clockwise direction. It covers 200 kilometres and around 6500 metres in altitude. However, you can also extend the tour by one day and, instead of crossing over by ferry, take in the whole of the south. According to Uli Stanciu, some unexpected trail gems and even climbs await you here. From Desenzano to Salo alone, you gain 650 metres in altitude through forests and olive groves. If you're only pedalling uphill to earn trail metres, you're in the wrong place on the Garda Ronda. The tour appeals more to touring bikers, is very scenic and is no mean feat in terms of riding technique. The mix of gravel tracks, tarmac sections, trails and meadow paths ensures variety every day. The GPS data for the tour is available at www.bike-gps.de; there you can also click together your own personalised Garda Ronda.
Best time of year
You can cycle the Garda Ronda from May to October. The decisive factor is that there is no more snow at the highest points - the Bocca di Campei and the Tremalzo. The webcam at the Rifugio Garda (www.tremalzo.info).
Ferry
Price: 8 euros for mountain bikers. The winter timetable applies from October to March, but there are still hourly boats from Torri del Benaco to Toscolano-Maderno. Exact ferry times can be found at www.torridelbenaco.de
Equipment
A trail bike with 120-130 millimetres of suspension travel is the perfect base for the tour. Plus, of course, the standard equipment for a multi-day tour. If you have a support car with you, you only need to pack for two days, but only Torri del Benaco and Toscolano are easy to reach. You should also pack enough repair materials, as there are no bike shops directly on the route.
Sleeping
An overnight stay in Torbole is ideal for an early start on the first day. We chose the Aktivhotel Santalucia. We spent the second night in the pilgrimage town of Spiazzi at the Albergo Speranza (more like a youth hostel), as accommodation is very scarce in October. A better place to spend the night is the Rifugio
Cedron (www.albergorifugiocedron.it) or Malga Ime (tel. 0039/045/7265104), especially as both are directly on the route. After the ferry crossing, you can look for accommodation in Toscolano-Maderno. We chose the dusty, run-down Hotel Adria & Resort (not recommended!). But there are many small guesthouses and smart hotels there. Before the last stage, you spend the night in Pensione (Valvestino). The small Antica Osteria Pace is a great place to go, www.anticaosteriapace.it
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