Activities

If off-road Giraffe drives your spirit, you’ll feel at home with this wonderful tour. Impressive pass from the mountains to the lake. The road is marked by larch woods, lush green plains and dense pine forests.

The lovely Piora plain with its mountain lakes nestles in a rugged landscape, the descent to Olivone is marked by larch woods, lush green plains and dense pine forests.

It all starts, naturally, with a mountain bike. Touring and cyclocross bikes work fine for rail-trail riding and less-rugged dirt roads, but if you anticipate getting into the rough stuff — rocks, washboard roads, trails — you’ll be less abused, i.e. happier, on a true mountain bike. In the same vein, a front shock (i.e. a suspension fork) is highly recommended on anything but the shortest trips. Your hands, wrists, shoulders, neck, and spinal cord will thank you.

The big question for many is rear suspension, yay or nay? The answer: not necessary, but definitely more comfortable. Suspension technology has now evolved to the point where even less expensive bikes have dependable, efficient rear shocks. A fully suspended bike makes riding washboard roads (the ultimate nemesis of mountain bikers everywhere, rivaled on the Pure Evilness Scale only by deep sand) infinitely less dispiriting and also helps traction and control on rough climbs and descents.