I didn't set a precise destination or distance objective for today's ride. The plan was just to head north, at least to Biasca, and then further towards Dalpe as time allows. I calculated that if I turned around at 2pm I should definitely make it home by 8pm, with an hour to spare before dark. As it happens, I got as far as the turn from the cantonal highway to Dalpe around 1:15 or 1:30. There was no way I could have made the last climb by 2 (it's another 2000 feet up!), so I stopped and had lunch instead. I was home by 6:30. The descent from Fiasso back down to Biasca went really fast, but it was fun, not a white-knuckle descent like coming down from Monte Brè.
The scenery was out of this world, and there is an unbelievable section of the freeway lifted way above valley below, running across the sky and then directly into a tunnel. I, of course, was not on that freeway ... I was on the cantonal highway, weaving back and forth up from the side of the valley up to a different, smaller tunnel. The only thing that really got my fear of heights going was looking at that freeway in the sky above me.
Near the turn-around point, I had a plate of Spaghetti a la Bolognese (rich tomato sauce with hamburger, basically). It was delicious and seemed like a great choice for refueling, but later I regretted eating so much ... and I think I would select a meatless pasta in the future. Still it was a very nice break. The sandwich-board sign you can just see here has the word "open" in Italian, German, French, and English.
Overall distance: 110 miles, or 177 kilometers. 5700 feet (1737 meters) of climbing (max altitude a bit over 3000 feet, or 914 meters).
I couldn't find a good vantage point for this shot in Biasca ... you might think such a waterfall would be a vista that a town would preserve and promote, but Switzerland is just
