Riding the Ghisallo

[sfscott]

Hi all,

I will be at Lake Como for a few days this may, staying in Tremezzo, across the lake from Bellagio. I don't have a ton of time, and though my wife will ride on occasion, she will have zero interest in doing the ride or stopping at the museum.

Soooo, just wondering how long one should allot to doing a ride from Bellagio up to the summit and to do a whirl thru the museum. Caveat, I am a bigger guy who doesn't love hills and will be coming off of a week in France of "good living."

How many miles is the ride? What is the overall difficulty? If people are familiar with Old La Honda Rd out in the Bay Area, how would the two climbs compare.

Is this something that I could start at 7 or 8 and be back in Bellagio at 10 or 11? The idea would be to do the ride and be done at early enough to present to the wife as a morning she can sleep in, relax and be ready to do by the time I'm done. I'll have to bake in the shower and ferry back to Tremezzo along the way.

Bottom line, a older fat guy wants to do the ride but not give up the better part of a day doing so since I have a travel partner and limited time.

[sand fungus]

I did it several years ago and it was not an easy ride I started in Como and did the loop out to Bellagio and back. What I remember about the climb was that was long and steep. From Bellagio to the museum was ~ 6mi climb.

https://www.strava.com/segments/624089

You could go up the back way through Asso the grades are less steep. I think you should be able to do it in 4 hours I did a ~50mi loop with the climb to the top and was done in about 4 hours and I am not a small guy and like I said at the beginning it was not an easy ride.

Keep in mind the hours of the museum as well, as I rode up there and it was closed. The church was open but all I could do was look into the window of the museum...

[kayten]

Just check the ferry schedules and make sure you get back in time for the return journey to Tremezzo.
A straight climb and back plus look around shouldn't take more than 2 hours.
If you are adventurous and have more time, go down on the other side and do the Sormano, either the hard way or the soft way.
The wife may like Bellagio, its a nice quaint town with plenty of shops and restaurants.

kio

[herb5998]

Did it last summer from Lecco, out to Bellagio, up the Ghisallo, and descended the backside and rode into Lecco. Round trip it was 63KM, 800M of climbing, and I'm by no means a good climber. It was hot and humid on the climb, but beautiful scenery. Total time riding was about 2.5 hrs, probably 3-3.30 with stops at the museum and pictures. There are a couple tunnels to ride through, and lots of traffic, but they are relatively courteous to cyclists.