super killer ride

july 10- put it on your calendar as the day tyler cath aaron and carter, w special guest stewart, enjoyed one of their greatest rides of all times. snow down to 2000 meters forced a slight change of plans, but we left bormio on the road up the 13 switchbacks to the terri de frale, around lago di cancano, across the damn and on sweet sidehill singletrack above lago di s giacomo di fraele, up the alpe del gallo to a grassy alpine meadow, through a snow covered field, down a loose descent dodging cows. then over to livigno via val alpisella. after a tight switchbacky climb with some 100 foot drops to a gorge, and aaron riding quite close to the edge, possibly on purpose, we happened upon a near perfect alpine valley and watched the local shepahards herd the cows into the feed yard. very "sound of music" except it smelled worse. a grassy climb led to a 3000 foot descent into livigno down some of the buffest fastest, funnest singletrack we'd ever seen. wow.

livigno sits in a broad valley. cath and i immediately bought a pizza, and after a search for our van, we reconnoitered at a bar and toasted our fantastic day with some fizzy yellow euro lagers. the hero of the day was stewart (liz merritt's husband) who enjoyed the six hour ride even though it was just his second ride of the year.

we then found a very high-end euro bike store that fixed tyler's rear brake, and aaron's credit card began to seize in his pocket. with a penchant for ignoring value and making impulsive purchases, we alas had to leave before he could really do some damage. culminating in a beautiful drive through two alpine valleys and several little towns w views of glaciers, the day ended with our last dinner with liz and stewart before they head to nepal.

today we plan to back off on the intensity of the ride and taper before the BAR starts in mittenwald. we are all pumped for the transalp, and yesterday was a ride for the ages.

we'll check back in later after cocktails