“But what do you do at Lake Garda if there’s no wind? Well, if there’s no wind you can go cycling, or rather mountain biking. What’s a mountain bike? It’s a bike with knobbly tyres, a five-speed hub on the rear wheel and three chainrings on the bottom bracket. It’s a new fashion from the USA for riding on trails where there’s no asphalt. Ah yes, they’re good. The Americans, I mean. They’re always out in front – so what’s with this mountain bike? Come on, I’ve got three at home, I got them from the States, let’s go windsurfing and if there’s no wind we can go and discover the trails of Garda Trentino.”

This dialogue (in somewhat romanticised form) more or less captures the exchange that Uli Stanciu had with his friends towards the end of the 1980s before leaving for a holiday on Lake Garda. Torbole sul Garda was, and still is, the windsurfing “mecca” awaiting them but, when one of them posed the question of what to do if there was no wind (which is in fact quite difficult to imagine on Lake Garda, the great freshwater sea located at the foot of the Alps), Uli naturally replied that they could try out the new form of mobility which, at least at the outset, was called the rampichino – “treecreeper” – by many here in Italy

How the idea of the festival came to life

And so it turned out. One day there was no wind and the four German friends climbed into the saddle to discover the hidden places around the great lake. The first was Punta Larici, above the hamlet of Pregasina, and from that initial mountain bike outing came, first, the magazine Bike (1989), with a photoshoot at Tremalzo, a village in the Ledro Valley that was the second stop on the tour of our German friends during their lakeside stay. Then came the idea of holding an event here in Garda Trentino that would combine their passion for two wheels with a delightful holiday.

Thus the Bike Festival was born, an occasion that over the years has brought thousands of enthusiasts to Riva del Garda, not to mention the leading bike companies, together with technical clothing, accessories and anything else that involves the world of bikes.

This article was published in the first issue of BLU, the Garda Trentino magazine. It celebrates the Bike Festival, three days of pure fun in Riva del Garda, and a must-attend event for every cycling enthusiast. The article introduces Uli Stanciu, a German journalist, editor of Bike magazine, and founder of the Bike Festival.