Paciano Trails

Paciano, Listed among the Most Beautiful Villages in Italy, is the place from which will start my itinerary full of emotions and adrenaline that I haven't felt since the Luna Park days as a kid.

Here I will be met by Stefano Scott now an assiduous companion of adventures, an iconic figure of the Bicinatura group and in this area the creator and trail builder of the paths of the "evil hill" of Mount Pausillo. Trails created in his image and likeness rough, technical, plunging, dizzying, in short for very few. If you are looking for bike park trails, don't come here. Leaving Paciano after a brief visit to the small village, we begin the climb of Bigiarello, a fairly steep trail with short rocky and technical sections that, due to the rain slowly falling, become rideable in part but if it were dry it would be a great technical climb on an ebike. The climb is not long precisely because it is steep, we soon reach the ridge where we enter the first descent of the day. I anticipate that most of the passages I mention later were typed by Stephen Scott, as was much of this description.

Quarantana Freeride

From the very beginning one encounters several challenging passages such as Lo Scannatototteri, The Dive into the Green, up to the Walls, a real natural roller coaster, and finally the dreaded Catapult that in the wet turns out to be a real Russian roulette.

Once this descent is over, after a short arduous ascent to the Rupignano, which can be covered completely in the saddle only by ebike, here we come to another descent slightly less challenging than the previous one.

Pausillo Freeride

Actually this descent is intercepted about a third of the way down because it consists of an additional part that is taken from Mount Pausillo and that we will skip this time. Ready to go and here we are immediately at the dreaded Kick in the Ass, a steep with an uphill relaunch that makes just the feeling we had when we rode that ride as kids.

After a flowing section in the woods here we are at the Pietrosetta, a beautiful rocky trail embellished in the final part by the Gradonata, a sequence of steps to be tackled firmly and without fear, with the grand finale of the Zigghe zagghe, a steep to be tackled by slaloming between the very narrow plants, and Lo Scapicollo and Il Ranocchio. The descent ends at the lowest point of the ride, and now there is the longest and toughest climb of the day to tackle, Petrarvella Up, a fixed-rock climb with just the right gradients and big steps, mind-blowing for ebikes but also doable with musculars, that make you arrive at the top with a smile on your face as if you've done a descent.

The climb ends at Mt. Petrarvella, which at 638 meters is the highest elevation in the area, small stop, which after an hour of climbing you need, and then downhill again.

Friars Freeride

This is the most enjoyable and popular descent since it can be tackled safely even with front bikes. Here you can let off a bit more brakes and the style is typical enduro although there are respectable passages such as Moana, Cicciolina, a very grim steep in a very tight bend called Lo Stronzetto and one of the most feared and ruthless passages in the area, the Volo dell'Angelo, to see it from above comes dizziness and it seems impossible to be able to bike down from a wall almost 6 meters high. Actually the passage is not difficult but it only takes courage and cold blood to throw yourself down with your bike in such an abyss, the reward however will be an incredible adrenaline rush, the video with the passage made by me and my screams are the proof. But the thrills of this descent do not end here. Having crossed the asphalt road and the Convent, hence the name i Frati, there is the second part where the highlights are The Puss in Boots, which is nothing more than a series of hairpin bends on rocks, La Giostra, a very funny up-and-down sequence, and the Rock Sesso, the final one among the rocks.

Another ascent to L'Ascensore, the name is a whole program, here there is a section called La Capraia, very technical and challenging on fixed rock where only the most virtuosos will manage to climb without ever putting their foot on the ground also because it always remains wet and slimy but then the second part turns out to be very pleasant and also offers a beautiful and particular view of the village below Paciano.

Delfo

Another descent, here the major difficulties are all concentrated in the first part with the Rock Graden and the Tourbillon, a slalom between the rocks the first one and a steep cornering freak the second one. Past these two rocks the descent is all in the chestnut forest and the feature are the hairpin bends doable even without nose press, then in the last part the challenging passages begin again with the Name of the Father, the Dentist, the Spite and the rocky finish. First part of the last ascent on the Hot Daina trail but then coming out on the roadway to Mt. Pausillo you can relax and climb gently on this cart track which is not bad since it is the fifth and last climb.

PAC Trail

The alpha and omega, the mother of all descents, the queen, the icon that has given its name to the whole area, that is how one can describe this descent that we voluntarily leave for last since it is the most beautiful and longest. The descent presents an incredible sequence of bends, banks, steeps, drops that if one had tried to recreate them artificially on a bike park we would not have succeeded. As soon as we embark we immediately have the Flipper then here is Milly T'Abbraccio, a bend with the most hugged plant in the world, followed by the Camel, the Binary and the hardest passage ever the Centrifuge, a big rock to drop or copy where from above your legs tremble just to see it, if taken to the right it becomes low speed centrifuge but both passages are very challenging because after the passage you then descend into a very steep section.

The technical passages are wasted, past the centrifuge unscathed here is the Tornantottero, the Baratto, the Rampage and you come out on the asphalt with a 36-tooth smile. A short asphalt climb to catch your breath and you resume with the Tundra, the Arsucchio, the Scornabecco, and the deadly Vasino and Bidet, but for those who really want to defy the law of gravity they can try their hand at the Paciapulco Plunge, a steep one with a gradient of over 100 percent, basically going backwards, only a few virtuosos like the originator of the passage Nicola Freetsyle have done it in the saddle, and finally it ends with Beer and Sausage being careful not to slip down below in wet weather.

After all this pop of stuff, we finish the ride after 6 hours and with 1400 m of elevation gain and battery now at zero, consumed largely on the technical climbs that as mentioned count as descents.

Details in the video. A bien tot!

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