CyclistBig Ride: An ode to LombardiaEverything around the lake breathed a profound calm, broken only by the occasional cry of a bird or the gentle lapping of the water against the shore, creating a sense of timelessness and serenity that seemed to envelop the entire scene.All I can say is, man, this place is pretty the perfect backdrop for one of Italys most celebrated novels, even. Related Posts Big Ride: The Mountain of Venice Big Ride: The Giros new star in the Alps Big Ride: The Stelvio Pass: the worlds most stunning road climb I Promessi Sposi is my favourite book; I am a romantic, says Emanuela with the bubbly inflexion of international English. Manzoni, he is amazing. There is a translation called The Betrothed you must read it.The stone harbour at Corenno, replete with a Lucia boat in the back.Mike Massaro / CyclistI explain that I read as fast as I speak and only for about ten minutes an evening before my eyelids shut themselves. But if I get the chance Ill dip into it one day, and maybe even quote a few lines.A thousand wordsThe usual plate blue of Lake Como is a rippled green, Lombardias recent rains having disturbed its waters into opacity. The mountains and scattered villages on the opposite shores reflect in a pleasingly soft focus.Its all smiles before we set off from Colico, to the north of Lake Como.Mike Massaro / CyclistI meet Emanuela at Coco Beach, her fathers cafe in Colico and her first employer before bicycle guiding took over her adult life. Coffees dispatched, we pedal off down the promenade, past leathery men out running and women walking dogs too brittle for this world. The pedestrianised path joins the main road, which, despite hugging Comos scenic shores, is remarkably quiet. The faster SS36 inland is to thank, taking the less dawdling traffic away from the lake, but unfortunately this corniche utopia stops short at Mandello del Lario. There the SS36 swings back to the water to become the only way down to Lecco.The stairs down to the harbour at Corenno are as treacherous as they are picturesque, and what goes downMike Massaro / CyclistUnlike a lot of Strada Statale this road is technically rideable, but it contains a long tunnel whose reduced speed limits arent always adhered to this is Italy. Many riders do go this way, but there is an alternative: the ferry from Bellano.To imagine it, picture Lake Como as an upside-down Y. Colico, where we started, is at the top; Lecco is at the bottom of the right leg, Como bottom left. The ferry cuts off that right leg by landing at Bellagio, the lakes most visited town and the laymans geographical crotch.Thats one of the lovely things about Lake Como. There are dozens of batelli that run back and forth, and for less than a spritzer theyll take you wherever you wish to go (bike space permitting, but youre unlikely to be turned away). But before we reach our boat, we stop in at Corenno.The Madonna del Ghisallo climb starts in earnest.Mike Massaro / CyclistThe tourist guides will tell you Varenna, a few kilometres further south, is the lakes prettiest town, but according to Emanuela, Corenno is where its at. I shoulder my bike and teeter down a long, cobbled stairway to a tiny harbour. Dressed in flowers and protecting a few bobbing boats, it couldnt be more lovely if you painted it.Emanuela points to one boat wooden, with a covered wagon-type roof and explains this is the iconic batll, a kind of all-purpose fishing boat. Theyre ubiquitous as gondolas in Venice, and are better known to tourists as Lucia boats, after I Promessi Sposis star-crossed lover uses one to flee the evil clutches of Don Rodrigo.Boats and chapelsThe ferry takes just under an hour, and proves a lovely way of spying on the super-rich in their shoreside villas. On board, Im struck by one of those brilliantly weird slogan T-shirts worn by rich foreign children My best option: play, sleep, travel as much as you can (never stop trying). You might be seven, but yours is a wonderful life my friend.Just one of the many gorgeously sweeping bends en route to the top of the Ghisallo.Mike Massaro / CyclistJust off the boat in Bellagio we bump into Emanuelas tour-guiding colleague, and with him is Alberto Elli who, as a professional cycling journalist, I absolutely recognise and know to have worn the yellow jersey for four days in the 2000 Tour de France. We push our bikes past porticoed shops selling glass swans and ornate chess sets, and remount at the foot of Comos most famous climb, the Madonna del Ghisallo.A climb, a lake and a Vespa. Quintessential Italian experience complete and theres still half of the Ghisallo to go.Mike Massaro / CyclistThis is the Queen (if not the hardest that will come) of the seasons fifth and final Monument, Il Lombardia. At 9.4km long and 6% average gradient it might not sound like much, but 1.5km of downhill near the top skews that reality into something much harder, the kind with highs of 15%. Ive ridden the Ghisallo once before, but Im amazed at how hard I didnt remember it being, and how edifying.The chapel at the top of the Ghisallo, built on the site of a vision of the Virgin.Mike Massaro / CyclistThe road is a beautiful twist up the hillside, at first under trees then breaking free to preside over the lake. The Madonna del Ghisallo chiesa waits at the top, a tiny chapel chock-full of cycling memorabilia. Next to that sits a huge bronze of Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali duking it out on the climb; and next to that is a bicycle museum. If there is a cycling Mecca, this is it. By the time the chapels square tower rises out of the horizon Im ready to pay as many respects in it as I can, before we scarper across to the museum to worship in its aircon.The Muro di Sormano, 17% average and height markers all the way up, just to rub it in.Mike Massaro / CyclistThe Museo del Ghisallo is an immense collection of bikes and memorabilia set up by Italian champion Fiorenzo Magni, he who broke his collarbone in the 1956 Giro only to ride on with an inner tube tied to his bars and gripped in his teeth to steer. Its the kind of place where a genuine Coppi Bianchi rubs shoulders with a Moser Hour record bike and a pair of Pantanis bibshorts.On our way round I hear an American with his bored-looking kids say to their tour guide, The guy had 27 tumours on his brain, so at the end of the day I think youve gotta give him the benefit of the doubt. The guide smiles wryly, weighing up his morals against a possible tip.Bring on the WallIts six blissful kilometres down then a couple more up before we reach the foot of Il Lombardias most infamous climb, the Muro di Sormano. At a mere 1.6km, infamous might sound like a misnomer, but the Sormano averages 16.6%, maxes out at 23% and presents a screw-turning 200m at 19% just before the top. Muro translates as wall.The turn-off for the Muro di Sormano, which is a bike-only path.Mike Massaro / CyclistIts story deserves a short book (you can read about it in issue 131, or online at cyclist.co.uk/sormano if youre a subscriber), but heres the condensed version: Il Lombardias race director Vincenzo Torriani discovered this climb back then a donkey track while holidaying in the Italian lakes, and decided it presented an ideal way to spice up his race. It did, so much so that it lasted just three editions from 1960 to 1962 the riders simply refused to ride it. But cycling loves pain, so the Muro returned to Il Lombardia 50 years on, risen anew in pristine, bike-only tarmac and painted in numbers that mark your ascent, metre by cruel vertical metre.The names of Muro champions, with their winning times.Mike Massaro / CyclistA big red arrow proclaiming Muro di Sormano points us left and we dutifully leave the main road. Emanuela wishes me luck in a suddenly earnest tone before spinning furiously off. I follow, passing a man who has been eyeing us up as he strims the verge. As I pass he takes off his hardhat and nods like Im a widow at a funeral.Mike Massaro / CyclistWall is the word. I shift again by impulse even though I know full well I have no more gears, then continue with my impossible task of getting enough weight over my bars to stop me wheelieing while leaving enough over the rear wheel to stop me slipping. And then I push. I push the pedals, I push the bars, I push the bike into the floor with every fibre of my being.I weave across the road to try and lessen the gradient; I rise and fall from my saddle in line with how desperate each position quickly becomes.We should really get some Cyclist stickers made.Mike Massaro / CyclistFor anyone who has ridden the Koppenberg, Hardknott Pass or the Angliru, you will understand how hard the Muro di Somrano is. For anyone who hasnt, it lives somewhere between the improbable and the physics-defying, and it has to be ridden to be believed.As I spit and grunt, Im suddenly struck by how boring this climb is, and that most sabotaging of thoughts. I could be anywhere the trees are so thick, the metre markers jeer at my every stroke, so all in all, whats the bloody point?En route to Nesso, which is downhill all the way from the Sormano, except when it occasionally serves up a false flat.Mike Massaro / CyclistBut by the top, like all such climbs, I realise the Sormano is its own point. No one cares that Ive made it, and thats the beauty: arbitrary endeavour. That plus the physical rush that happens when you stop doing something so painfully hard.Down and outThe ride back to Bellagio from where well be granted the sweet relief of a ferry back to Colico is largely downhill, but my head throbs and my legs feel like someone has drained their marrow. Mike Massaro / CyclistAs we descend, the temperature hits like waves of increasingly viscous liquid, and the trees peel away to reveal Lake Como once more. We wind through a series of roads that look down upon each other like balconies until we reach the water at Nesso.From here its only another 15km, says Emanuela, and its flat, dont worry. Only its not. The road undulates remorselessly and I find myself caught between going slow and prolonging low-level suffering or going fast and putting myself less in the hurt locker and more in the garage of full bodily fire.Sadly its a walk, not a ride, down to this bridge in Nesso.Mike Massaro / CyclistWhen we reach Bellagio I feel worse than I did at the top of the Sormano. Finally able to relax my muscles, Im overwhelmed by a sickly lightness, and I rush to a cafe to chug lukewarm water from the bathroom tap before dunking my head into the filled basin. But as ever, the body is an amazing thing, the mind a conniving bastard, and by the time were back in Colico Im feeling hollow yet somehow amazing. Precisely the kind of feeling that keeps us coming back, over and over again.Inside the chapel, which is full of cycling memorabilia. The double disc wheel bike is one of Francesco Mosers Hour record bikes.Mike Massaro / CyclistThe cycling priestHow a tiny chapel became a world-famous bike collectionCycling loves some good lore, and the Ghisallo del Madonna chapel atop the eponymous climb lays claim to some of its best. So the legend goes, the Count of Ghisallo was chased to this spot back in the 11th century a mere shrine by bandits, whereupon the Virgin appeared and saved him from certain death. That made this spot a very holy site indeed, and a chapel was eventually built, but it wasnt until cycle-loving Father Ermelindo Vigano took custody of the chapel in the 1940s that its modern-day notoriety began.As a landmark on the annual Giro di Lombardia, as well as a natural pause for anyone making the climb, his chapel had become iconic amongst cyclists, to the point Father Ermelindo felt compelled to lobby the church to recognise it. He dispatched Lombardia favourites and personal friends Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali with a petition to the Pope to have Madonna del Ghisallo recognised as the patroness of cycling, and this little chapel the ultimate cycling shrine.In 1949 the Pope said yes, and a flame of commemoration was carried back from Vatican City, which still burns (in electric form) in the middle of the chapel today. Many decades on, all manner of cycling memorabilia has gravitated to this tiny chapel, given by professionals and fans alike as a kind of offering, and displayed on its walls. Youll see Coppis yellow jerseys, club pendants, hundreds of tiny photos of deceased cycling dignitaries and, perhaps most poignant of all, the bike Fabio Casartelli was riding when he died in a crash on the Col de Portet dAspet in the 1995 Tour de France.Ride over, beers in, its all smiles.Mike Massaro / CyclistHow we did itTravelHow cool would it be to get the train to Lake Como? Well, you can. A return costs around 470 (cheaper the further in advance you book), with a typical route involving changes at Paris, Strasbourg and Basel before arriving in Lugano ten and a half hours later. Stay overnight in Lugano, then in the morning take a one-hour bus ride (10) to Colico on the northeast side of Lake Como (see Rome2Rio.com for more info). Its possible to do all this with a bike, however its probably much easier to rent one when you get there. Bike it! Bellagio has a fleet of top-end Bianchis to choose from (bikeitbellagio.com).Accommodation and foodWe stayed at Locanda Capolago in Colico (locandacapolago.com), a five-minute walk from Colicos main square and harbourside. Prices start from around 110 for a double, depending on the time of year. We ate at LOntano (ontano.net), reasonably priced and with lots of outdoor seating and lake views, and Pizzeria Il Faro (ristoranteilfaro.eu), whose staff were wonderfully accommodating of our late arrival. Go to Il Gelato del Vecio for best gelato (say the locals) and Coco Beach for cheap, chilled, lakeside drinks and food.ThanksHuge thanks to Silvia Angelini and Camillo Bertolini from travel marketing agency Days Off Outdoor Vision (daysoffoutdoor.com), who organised every detail of our trip right down to the gelato flavours, and local guide Emanuela Vola from Bike it! Bellagio, who treated us to her expert guiding and unbridled levels of enthusiasm, which were much needed for the Muro di Sormano. Finally, grazie mille to the guys at local event organisers Pro Loco Colico, who made us feel incredibly welcome in their town (see prolocolario.it for more details). This article originally appeared in issue 157 of Cyclist magazine. Click here to subscribe Related Posts Big Ride: The Mountain of Venice Big Ride: The Giros new star in the Alps Big Ride: The Stelvio Pass: the worlds most stunning road climb The post Big Ride: An ode to Lombardia appeared first on Cyclist.