[Closed] Lake Maggiore, Northern Italy. Riding, guiding, local knowledge?

I went there a couple of years ago for a conference, stayed on a few days and went biking.

There is or was a bike shop at the cable car that goes up into the mountains I rented a Speccy Big Hit off them and a full face lid. There weren't any maps available so I just caught the cable car up to the very top. You can see where the trails go and where the lake is and just followed my nose back to the shore. From top of mountain to lake is a good run probably 10k or so with varied terrain some nice techy bits there were lots of Italian riders on full on downhill bikes but unless you went looking for jumps you could ride any of it on a decent trail bike. With a bit of internet searching I found an email address for cable car bike shop they can do guiding but I didn't bother.

I enjoyed it there I don't know about XC riding but am sure there is plenty given the terrain the downhill was great and I am not a downhiller I think I came down on a different route each time. There is a cafe about half way down good for some lunch. Take a multi tool as they weren't too keen on swaping brake levers round.

Stresa is worth looking round lots to see and cafes in the central square are good eating. The small islands on the lake are also worth a look.

Hope this helps.

That's great, thanks! we're looking for alpine style riding really, so DH-ish routes are ideal.

I've had a look at this too, http://www.superenduromtb.com/en
it's an italian enduro series and seems to be in plenty of northern italian spots. Anyone know anything about it?

It will tick your alpine box for sure.

First day I went riding I caught the cable car up everyone was armoured to the hilt riding Santa Cruz V10's there was me just a lid and normal biking gear and a rented bike no one speaking English and I was riding on my own. I wondered what I was getting into but all was good.

For some real DVD style action three quarters of the way down there is a small village you ride through, in the village is a road that is just downhill stairs great fun to fly down before going off road again.

excellent. Anyone know of any other locations in the area? as you go north up towards Verbania, there is a huge national park (Val Grande) with not much in it. What's the law with bike access in Italy?

I stayed on Lake Maggiore a few years back. I was talking to one of the local riders. They have some...ahem...'interesting' cable cars there

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With a somewhat latin disdain for namby pamby health and safety nonsense, they're quite happy for you and your bike to squeeze in one and there are loads of trails from the top

I was offered the loan of a hardtail the next day, but thats when we were flying back. Gutted!!

HA! love the cable car. I went to Garda a couple of years ago, and rode off the cable car there, but i was a bit cautious about riding "off piste" so stuck to the gravel...
just found this, anyone been to sauze d'oulx to ride?
http://www.alpibikeresort.com/

Bump. This came up in a quick search. We are staying in Meina for a week next month (just down the road from Stresa) and Mrs PixelMix has suggested I might like to hire a bike for a day.

Any experience of hiring in Meina or Stresa? I might just pack my road bike shoes rather than going too far so a place that hires half decent road bikes would be good (or XC bikes if there are decent trails nearby).

Pix

See my post at the start of the thread, second one down.

Thanks Pezzers. Is the cable car you refer to near Stresa? It wasn't totally clear to me from your post. Do you recall them hiring more XC/trail stuff rather than the Big Hit and the full face too? (I'm a XC mincer :?)