It doesn’t matter if we ride or run the trails near our home or on our trips, most of the time we head back to the place we’ve started. And that’s logical.

But why not try something different? A few weeks ago we decided to spend a night in the mountains to get a bit more the ‚locals‘ feeling. So we packed as light as possible (that’s why all the pictures are taken with a smartphone) and started to pedal all the way to the top of the mountain and spend at least one night in a Rifugio.

Preparation started just a few weeks before departure to Italy. I found a Rifugio on Google Earth and came across a very crappy website with some unclear information. But hé, that’s added to the adventure so we really didn’t know what to expect. In our case we only knew the price and the availability. For your information: there’s a rule a Rifugio has to give you shelter in case of need. When it’s open of course 😉

Enjoy the trip:

‚Dreamteam‘ ready for action

When looking at Google Earth, the climb seemed quite easy. On our way it was hard. Crazy steep at some points and at the end it became more technical. So to break the focus during climbing we made the best of some downhill parts of other trails.

The group separated because not everyone had the same pace going up. Nice to see the lead group placed motivational quotes for the group behind. Forza!!

Finally there! The Rifugio was quite big. We expected a small cabin, but this looks more like a 5* outdoor hotel. And as an extra: they opened specially for us!

Before hitting the well deserved showers a fresh beer, wine, etc. is a must do to celebrate the effort of getting on top of the mountain with the whole team.

When our room became available we picked our bed for the night. Just one last view into the valley before dinner was served. We ended with the typical Italian Bialetti coffee. After diner we spend the evening playing games while drinking good, wine and local made grappa.

What goes up must go down. So we prepared the morning ride to get the best trails possible. It would be a waste of our effort if we would ended on a tarmac road while riding mountain bikes.

No time to stay in bed. We’ve set our alarm clock to be able to go outside when the sun came out. It was worth it!

Just some playtime to warm up the muscles before the long technical downhill begins.

The last ’selfie‘ before we say goodbye…

We’ve done our homework well, the descent was technical and at some parts super steep!

Finally we could spot the sea. Almost back home!

We really enjoyed this short trip. For us it was quite an adventure. And the good thing: everyone can do it. We did everything by mountain bike, but there are also Rifugio’s accessible by road bike. Or for the real die-hards: try to trail run to the top!

What do you think: is it something you would do on your next adventure?