IN THE PALE MOUNTAINS

The dream became real when we first saw the vertical slabs of magnesian limestone towering over verdant Italian valleys.

I flashed back to when I was little and watching the Giro, or Tour of Italy, on TV, with those unique grey-coloured mountains in the foreground. The Dolomites were especially hard because they had a different shape; they were much steeper than the Alps, making the riders suffer more than usual. To me, they always looked like they’d be way more fun on a mountain bike: the flora, the fauna, the singletrack, it was all what I imagined heaven would look like. This was what we were ready to explore.

The Dolomites are littered with hiking trails screaming to be explored by bike. Rich in history, some of the trails date back to the First World War, including the via ferrata routes, vertical iron paths etched in the mountains and used by troops to sneak