Stage 2, Thusis - Chiavenna

Start in Thusis (650 m) at 7:30 AM - Innerferrera (1500 m) - Lago di Lei (1930 m) - Passo Angeloga (2380 m) - Rifugio Chiavenna - Fraciscio - arrival in Chiavenna (325 m) around 9 PM . Riding time about 6 hrs + 5.5 hrs carrying time (4 hrs for thos who took the shortcut). Link to map.

Lago di Lei

	This was going to be the piece de resistence. We didn't know, of course. Esthi and Hull served us a wonderful breakfast. We finally managed to start around 7:30, half hour behind schedule. The downhill from Präz to Thusis was refreshing. It took us all the way to Andeer to catch the sun. There we had coffee and a short break. Marc chose to ride his own pace. Slower, but without breaks. We caught up with him after Innerferrera. At noon we reached the dam. There was a nice little restaurant and we had an extensive break. This was the the place where we left Catherine and Mami "behind", they had to drive back to Rofla and then over Splügen pass to Fraciscio.
	We rode along the lake for about 20 minutes. Then a little trail left to the right hand side and lost itself in the vague.... We started carrying our bikes. Some of us had practiced that during the spring, others just remembered Albrun pass two years ago. Or had a natural talent, like François and Marc. I had made up a contraption using belts from a bag pack, which worked OK on the Greina the day before, but forgot it in Catherine's car this time. So I had to start from scratch trying to find a suitable technique. Andy Heckmair's time was 40 minutes, so we figured we'd make it in about an hour and a half. Well, it took us about 2 hours to hit what looked like sort of the top. François and Marc had disappeared in the fog. We met two guys that said "yes, there's a trail down to Capanna Chiavenna. It's kinda steep, but you can hold on to cables hooked to the rock". Hmm... It started raining. We where tired. And here comes a sign, which says "Rif Chiavenna" to the right, and to the left. Cool, we had a choice. Which one did the others choose? We went to the right, 'cause it looked flat, while the other trail went uphill. In the meantime it had stopped raining. Now we met another two guys. They where in a hurry and looked like locals. One said "no way you can get your bikes down there. Turn round and take the other road, I do it on my trial motorbike". That sounded good! Were we finally to enjoy a downhill race? We saw Marc and François appear briefly on the horizon and tried to shout our revelation to them, but they weren't too hot on changing their course and disappeared again.
	We turned, walked (bikes on our sore shoulders) all the way to the stupid sign and took the other road. Motorbike? May be further on the nice road would begin. After almost an hour we saw what could be the beginning of a decent trail. Well, it was all Fata Morgana. The guy just lied to us, and we walked all the way to the Capanna Chiavenna. To be really true, we did ride, but not more than the last 200 meters. The other two had arrived there an hour and half before!!! However, François admitted that the trail was rather scary. And I tell you, if it was scary for him, it may just have been too much for us. Once there, it began raining again. Actually, it looked like a storm ready to break out, with some thunder already grumbling in the background. We ordered coffee, ready to accept any kind of liquid that a mountain cabin 90 minutes away from the next parking lot could offer. But man, we got one heck of a delicious espresso, in the finest Italian tradition!
	Even after Capanna Chiavenna, the trail was far away from being bikeable in any form. If the local guy we had met really used his trial bike up here, he must have been at least European champion, and been riding very slow. It took us over an hour on our feet to reach Fraciscio. Rain was coming and going. I finally discovered a good technique for carrying the bike on my shoulders. I know now, for next year... Catherine was waiting in Fraciscio. It was 8 PM. We had some local cold food, really good. We started realizing that Gravedona was possibly not reachable by bike any more. Serge was in bad shape with his knee from the long downhill walk. Some volunteers decided to ride the car to the hotel. Then Francesco would drive back and meet the rest of us on the road. Lorenzo, Marc and I quickly mounted front and rear lights. It was 9 PM now, and getting dark quickly. Rain was pouring strong. The road was steep, as it had to get from 1500 m down to about 300 in less than 15 kilometers. The brakes hardly worked on our wet rims. Lorenzo opened the way. I barely saw is tail light. But sometimes a lightning would whiten his back like a photo flash. It was an intensive ride. Shortly before Chiavenna the rain stopped.
	Chiavenna is the cradle of the Pestalozzi family. That's where our history began in the 13th century. I had never been there before. We rode by Palazzo Pestalozzi to the Piazza Rodolfo Pestalozzi. Lorenzo knew the way from a forme visit. It was 10 PM and we decided to have dinner there, in a typical Crotto, since we thought the others might be glad not having to wait for us. But when we called François, he insisted on us all having dinner together at the hotel in Gravedona. Well, Gravedona in this case meant Bugiallo. Lorenzo had only been able to find a few rooms in this little village high above lake Como, because it was high season and the lake resorts where all booked out. François picked us up at the Crotto in Chiavenna around 10:30 PM. By the time we where all at the table it was well past 11. From Lorenzo's description we had thought it was some sort of a farm with a few beds. We imagined an old lady, unhappy to to feed 8 people in the middle of the night. The more surprised we were to find a finely equipped restaurant with still quite a few people at the other tables. The rooms where all new, and the view over lake Como was breathtaking. We had spaghetti as usual, framed by a good salad and specialty desserts and accompanied by a fine Barolo.

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