Description

There's no getting around the fact that this is a huge ride, and all but the strongest of mountain athletes will choose to either break it into 2 days or just do one section of it.

As you can easily see from the line, picking one of the 2 main loops that route involves is simple enough. Start out in La Villa and head to Badia alongside the river then head up to La Valle through some sections of gravel, tarmac and short, easy singletracks.

Climb from La Valle up tarmac to the tiny village of Biei, from where a steep gravel climb begins to the Forcella de Cians ("Saddle of the Dogs" in the local dialect).

From here follow the jeep track to Ju and descend the epic downhill trail - which is S2 level ish - all the way down to San Vigilio.

Enter the Pederü valley and go up to the Rifugio Pederü.

From here make the long, gentle climb up to Rifugio Fanes.

From the Rifugio Fanes a couple of steep turns take you to Lago di Limo, from where the riding is flat for 1km until you reach a junction at Malga Gran Fanes (a little wooden hut), at which point a long descent through the Fanes valley begins.

The descent is down a wide road which is non-technical but stony until entering a forest where the road becomes a singletrack.

This leads to a series of deep canyons and over the iconic Ponte Alto bridge.

Read about the amazing history of this bridge and the Gran Bracun (a legendary criminal) - there's a sign explaining it all. Complete the descent and then turn left in the direction of Malga Ra Stua - a restaurant which can be driven to if required.

From here make a gentle climb and then turn left and climb up very steep (you might need to push at times) terrain to the staggering Fodara Vedla plateau.

There's a really nice hut there which is roughly halfway along the ride and is a logical place to have lunch.

The hard part of stopping at the wonderful hut is that you'll have to muster the motivation to start again! Descend to Pederü on a really steep gravel road which has been damaged by years of rainfall and is sadly not in the best condition.

The last few turns are on tarmac with pebbles on, and feel a bit sketchy! Go back to San Vigilio, nipping off onto singeltracks anytime you can, and then from San Vigilio follow the tarmac road in the direction of Longega.

Just before reaching Longega, turn left on a road just for bikes and go uphill gently and then down to Piccolino.

Cross the main road and enter a singletrack just under the town of St.

Martino in Badia which leads to the nearby stone masons of Preroman.

Do a few kilometres on the road to Pederoa and then, just before the village bridge, get back onto a gravel road.

Follow this until there's a tarmac road going to the tiny hamlet of Corcela.

Keep on climbing up to Costa on a gravel road.

Cross the bridge and then continue to Badia and on to La Villa on the left of the river on a flat track.