So I woke up this morning and decided to be spontaneous. I recently looked into talking my bike up a gondola up to Monte Tamaro which is about a 20 minute train ride to the north of Lugano. I packed a lunch and threw in a spare tube and Allen wrench in my pack and rode to the Lugano train station. I hopped a train to Rivera where the gondola is located.
A look at Monte Tamaro from the train
At the bottom of the gondola.
I strapped my bike down with a bungee cord to the make shift bike rack.
As the lift went higher the views just got better and better. I found it hard to not take pictures the entire ride up. This is a view looking south towards Lugano.
At the top of the lift you first get a glimpse of the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, built in 1992-96. The famous Architect Mario Botta was commissioned by the owner of the cableway, to build the church in memory of his dead wife.Check out this link for a great panoramic view of the church.
The next few pics are of the church
So I headed up the steep trail trying to keep my front tire on the ground all the while peeling my back tire out on the loose gravel. Eventually I had to push/carry my bike because the terrain was to much for a bike. This was my first view of Monte Rosa in the left background. It measures 4,634 meters (~15,200 feet), but these mountains start at 1,000-2,000 feet so the look that much bigger.
Looking back down the trail with the church on the tip of the mountain.
A rest stop with Monte Tamaro in the background. If you closely you can see the trail leading up the ridge to the top.
This crazy guy lives up here and was running some kind of errand on his motorcycle. I watched and waited to see if he made it and thankfully he did, otherwise it would have been certain death.
This is Walter from Lucern. We met up for the last pitch to the top. We had a very broken conversation in Italian with me either saying si si si (yes) or no capito (I don't understand). He made me laugh when all of the sudden he let out a Braveheart warrior yell/yodel down the mountain that echoed for days.
The next five pics are my attempt of a panoramic view from the top of Monte Tamaro
Looking north towards the town of Bellinzona
Looking west towards the town of Locarno and the tip of Lake Maggiore
Looking southwest towards the rest of Lake Maggiore.
Cross with Monte Rosa in the background.
This is a zoomed shot of Monte Rosa on the left and if you look really close you can see the tip of the Matterhorn in the center of the picture.
Locarno
This is a shot of the trail I headed down. It was 20 miles down into Lugano from here.
This was the scariest part of the ride. I was definitely leaning towards the up-hill slope in case my tires slipped out from under me. This was also where I passed a German woman you looked at me like I must be crazy and said something probably very similar to that.
Dropping into the treeline.
Crash #1
Crash #2
I came upon this dwelling made entirely of stone. It was abandoned, but it was still in great shape.
Looking back up at Monte Tamaro on the left. This is also where I started to hear some really strange noises coming from the woods around me. The best way to explain the sound was it was a very low bellowing long burping sound. My best guess was that it was some animal in rut, probably a sheep, goat, or Yettie. Needless to say I was thankful that I never ran into one of them on the trail.
Through the woods.
After rattling my brain for a few hours from the trail ride I eventually was spit out here. This is a shot looking down into Lugano.
So I cruised down into Lugano trying not to completely burn my brakes out due to the steep winding roads. I had to stop frequently to let my rims cool off. I actually burnt my finger the first time I checked to see how hot they were getting. All in all, it was another great day trip!
So I headed up the steep trail trying to keep my front tire on the ground all the while peeling my back tire out on the loose gravel. Eventually I had to push/carry my bike because the terrain was to much for a bike. This was my first view of Monte Rosa in the left background. It measures 4,634 meters (~15,200 feet), but these mountains start at 1,000-2,000 feet so the look that much bigger.
Looking back down the trail with the church on the tip of the mountain.
A rest stop with Monte Tamaro in the background. If you closely you can see the trail leading up the ridge to the top. 
This crazy guy lives up here and was running some kind of errand on his motorcycle. I watched and waited to see if he made it and thankfully he did, otherwise it would have been certain death.
This is Walter from Lucern. We met up for the last pitch to the top. We had a very broken conversation in Italian with me either saying si si si (yes) or no capito (I don't understand). He made me laugh when all of the sudden he let out a Braveheart warrior yell/yodel down the mountain that echoed for days.The next five pics are my attempt of a panoramic view from the top of Monte Tamaro
Looking north towards the town of Bellinzona
Looking west towards the town of Locarno and the tip of Lake Maggiore
Looking southwest towards the rest of Lake Maggiore.
Cross with Monte Rosa in the background.
This is a zoomed shot of Monte Rosa on the left and if you look really close you can see the tip of the Matterhorn in the center of the picture. 
Locarno
This is a shot of the trail I headed down. It was 20 miles down into Lugano from here. 
This was the scariest part of the ride. I was definitely leaning towards the up-hill slope in case my tires slipped out from under me. This was also where I passed a German woman you looked at me like I must be crazy and said something probably very similar to that.
Dropping into the treeline.
Crash #1
Crash #2
I came upon this dwelling made entirely of stone. It was abandoned, but it was still in great shape.
Looking back up at Monte Tamaro on the left. This is also where I started to hear some really strange noises coming from the woods around me. The best way to explain the sound was it was a very low bellowing long burping sound. My best guess was that it was some animal in rut, probably a sheep, goat, or Yettie. Needless to say I was thankful that I never ran into one of them on the trail.
Through the woods.
After rattling my brain for a few hours from the trail ride I eventually was spit out here. This is a shot looking down into Lugano.
So I cruised down into Lugano trying not to completely burn my brakes out due to the steep winding roads. I had to stop frequently to let my rims cool off. I actually burnt my finger the first time I checked to see how hot they were getting. All in all, it was another great day trip!
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