9 am – Toast and Italian coffee. The weather is perfect. Mariusz knows of a mountain called Pic from his secret sources. It’s a gentle peak compared to those surrounding it, and it seems possible to ride down from the top without stopping to carry the bike. What’s more, there’s a trail leading to it that starts virtually at our doorstep. It leads us through the heart of Santa Cristina and through a former railway tunnel. There’s a little museum there that’s open to everyone.
After that we toil along narrow singletracks, alternating with wide gravel and asphalt roads. We reach a place that we joke reminds us of the lower cable car station at Hala Gąsienicowa at the foot of Kasprowy Wierch in the Polish Tatra Mountains, but with higher peaks surrounding it. The panorama unfolds as follows: 12 o’clock – the famous Seceda; 3 o’clock – Passo Cir, where we went yesterday; 6 o’clock – the town of Santa Cristina; 9 o’clock – Pic, today’s destination.
There’s hardly anything left of yesterday’s snow, so the photos will look more autumnal than wintry. Soon the trail starts to get tough, and we have to get off our bikes. Mariusz keeps joking that an E-bike is great until you have to get off and push it. I get the joke.