Madonna del Pozzuolo, Monte Sassello ed Arcegno − giro ad anello

Today the weather wasn't quite as bright as on yesterday's tour to Monte Paglione, but the steep uphill was still sweaty. Due to the threatening rain clouds, we decided to abandon our second attempt to ride to Pizzo Leone on Corona dei Pinci. The trails down to Losone offer a lot of variety and fun, from S2 to S4 passages (S4 can also be avoided). However, they are quite challenging with the many stairs and rough passages. When you get to the bottom, you feel what you have done. But for the strenuous uphill, you get a lot of trail down, which means you almost don't have enough room on your face for a big grin 😁

The rain break was optimally used in subtropical conditions from Locarno via Ronco sopra Ascona up to the oratorio of the Madonna del Pozzuolo. Once at the top, the first Flowige S1 trail to the Corona del Pinci viewpoint begins right after the Sattel mountain. The trail of the same name (S2) begins just below this vantage point. Arrived at Alpe Zot, the trail turns back into a Flowiger S1 until it changes further down into an S2 / S3 trail and was no longer drivable due to the storm damage. Pushing was announced until I heard the first rumbling thunder shortly before Arcegno, so I decided not to drive down to Intragna, but to take the direct route to Locarno and hardly got to my car, it poured from buckets. According to the circumstances (weather) a nice but short tour. Let's hope the weather gets better the next day.

After having to cover a lot of the route on foot yesterday, today the focus was on having fun on the trails! Corona dei Pinci and its trails down to Losone are among the classics in Ticino! Demanding and flowing, and finally getting rougher and then playful again, the trails lead through the forest. A sweaty climb and a great descent..! Happy Sunday..!🌻

Another super lap in Ticino. But this time with completely different signs. What a blatant difference, a week ago we arrived in Maccagno at minus degrees. Today we started in Losone at +20C thanks to the north foehn! I did not expect that! With my long pants and winter shoes, I felt a bit out of place. 🥵😏From Monte Verita to Corafora there is a nice path along the slope then it goes on the Via ai Monti, which takes you the next 9 km to the ridge at Casone. There we turn onto the path that leads to the rusticos above the Naccio Alp. We rejected the plan to go from Naccio to Pizzo Limone🍋 ehm sorry Pizzo Leone 🦁😉 because of the stormy wind and the snow. The view down to Lake Maggiore, Locarno, the Magadino plains and on the other side of the valley to Monte Tamaro and our destination of the last tour, Monte Paglione, is tremendous! And suddenly I saw myself properly sorted with my winter shoes. 😃✌️We drive a bit the same way we came, back to the Corona dei Pinci. After that, a small navigational error brought us to a fantastic view of the Lago and Locarno. We had to climb back a short distance and cross a hollow with waist-high beech leaves before the trail fun could start. The S2 trail, sometimes also S3, leads very varied, first through open forests, sometimes very steep and later over rough paths and many stairs, where you really get shaken up, over Alpe Zot, Alpe Vigera and Dartore down to Losone. Pure Tino biking! Biking on trails like this is only possible in Ticino at this time of year. Simply 🔨 beautiful! Description by Daniela: https://www.komoot.de/tour/1023950336?ref=wtd

Ticino once again lures with sunny, warm weather and so today's tour in Losone starts at 20℃! But the north foehn is also blowing our minds and so brown leaves are constantly dancing around us and one or the other gust almost sweeps us off our bikes! In these warm temperatures, it is wonderful to pedal up the road and let your gaze wander over and over again to the deep blue Lago Maggiore and the surrounding white mountain peaks. Opposite is Monte Paglione, which offered us a very special spectacle last week! So we climb from 240m to 1,420m up to the Alpe di Naccio and if there wasn't still so much snow and the meanwhile cool wind blowing so violently, we would be up to the Pizzo Leone. So we enjoy the magnificent panorama from here and return via the same trail that we came up. If we had to push some stuff up, let's tear it down. The rocky, stony passages that we had to climb are easy to drive and that's how we get to the Corona dei Pinci and let the trail fireworks ignite! Flow, forest slalom, steep sections, roots and many (!) stairs as well as rough, stony passages offer a lot of variety and bring us back to Losone via Arcegno (super trails in the forest).

Down the front from Piz Corona, there are a few places where you have to push, but I couldn't ride the whole way. But luckily, it's downhill, so it's not that bad.