!
I gasp for breath and my quads burn
as I pedal up the steep switchbacks
of Vallassina Road high above Lake
Como, gutting out the last leg of
Italy’s famous cycling races. I’m a
weekend rider, not a racer, but I’ve
hired a cycling guide because I’ll see
more of Lombardy than if I took a
boat or walking tour. Pierluigi, my
guide, suggested riding to Italy’s
most famous cycling chapel, blessed
by the Pope in 1948. But he didn’t
tell me the chapel is 2,470 feet up
and to get there by bike, you have to
pedal up endless steep switchbacks.
The hairpin turns are particularly
terrifying, especially when a
semi-truck loaded down with cut
logs passes. Pierluigi turns his head
and calls out “Are you okay?”
