Stage 3, Gravedona - Lugano

Gravedona (206 m) at 9:30 AM - Menaggio - Buggiolo - Passo San Lucio ( 1542) - Bogno - Roveredo (Lugano) 6:30 PM. Actual riding time was 5.5 hrs for about 70 km. See map

	This time we were done, somehow. Compared to the last tour we had managed to start early on two days in spite of late nights and long routes. The original plan was to ride from Gravedona to Motto della Tappa (an 1800 m uphill), then down to Cavargna and another 1000 m uphill over San Lucio to Lugano. But for this we would have had to get up at 6 again, and no one felt like doing that. So we settled for the short version, which still included a 1300 m uphill from Menaggio to San Lucio. We started out around 9:30 AM and raced down the narrow road to Gravedona, a lovely little town, where we stopped for a short visit to the historic center. The ride along lake Como to Menaggio was very pretty from a landscape point of view. On the downside there was heavy traffic and a few long tunnels. In Menaggio we stopped for lunch. Lorenzo quit there. He needed to be in Lausanne Monday morning early and had to do some work before. Catherine brought him to the Lugano train station
	We left Menaggio at 12:30, ready for a steep uphill in the heat of the day. Temperature was around 30 °C, the sky was blue and the sun... burning. Enrico proved to be in amazingly good shape. He and I reached Val Rezzo well before the others. Especially Marc really suffered from the heat. In Val Rezzo we had a break. That was the end of the paved road. The slope, which had already been between 15% and 20% was now constantly over 20%. The trail was in rather bad shape, probably from the many dirt bikers who seem to use it as a motocross race track. Even more than the actual climbing, it was difficult to keep the balance over the rocks and potholes. Enrico took a few pictures at the beginning and once again paid by being left behind while he had to stow away the camera. Sometimes we just seemed to forget him. Sorry Enrico, and thank you very much for all your great photographs! Most had to push the bike part or all of the way. For myself, I had at a lot of fun sprinting up those last 450 altitude meters, I guess I reaped the fruits of my spring training sessions. Also, I loved the warm weather.
	Passo San Lucio rewarded us with a great view into both Switzerland and Italy. After a few photographs and a beer, we pointed our nose downward. This was one heck of a downhill race! The dirt road was in much better shape on the Swiss side, because there was a gate preventing unauthorized motor vehicles to use it. Serge proved that if he wasn't the strongest climber, he sure could ride his bike down the hill faster than all of us. I had quite a few adrenaline surges trying to stick to his rear wheel! We reached the Gasser home in Roveredo at 6:30 PM. The sun was setting on the terrace facing east. We opened the champagne and expressed our thankfulness for a safe trip. After some visits popped up we had a fine dinner on the terrace. Enrico, Serge and Marc drove back to their homes that same night. For me it was too late to catch a train. The following morning I rode the 10 km down to Lugano and caught the 10 o'clock Intercity to Zurich. Once again, we had received the gift of a safe trip, great weather and lots of fun. Personally, I'd like to thank God for all the things that are beyond the scope of our influence.

	From left to right: Catherine, François, Serge, Gottardo, Marc, Mami, Enrico

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